Weipa
Fishing Classic is one of the best events on the peninsula.
There is some great fishing, some great big fish, some great
prizes ... and guess what - you
don't have to fish to win the biggest prizes!
Yes - that's correct - this
event is not only made for fishers but everyone, which is
the reason why it is so popular.
Cooktown,
Port Douglas, Cairns - here is something to think about:
Instead
of making it interesting for fishies alone - why not make a fishing event highly
popular with everyone in town, and make money in the process :-)
While
fishing is a great way to spend the day time during this event and
definitely pays off with prizes of thousands of dollars, the major prizes can be won by
anyone who has paid for the nomination to be in
the draw (fishers have
to pay the nomination fee so they are of course also in
all the prize draws).
Things to Win
And the prizes
are not
small - in 2015 the major prizes were a velocity boat and
a Can-am quad bike - keeping the crowd keen and attending
every night.
The 2,200 tickets were
sold out in the days before the event started, and
competitors were drawn each night into the final lucky group of 30.
All prizes worth more than $100,000 in total, there were also fishing prizes, many
different raffles
and random draws.
The 30 people who ended
up in the final draw were all given good prizes one by
one, while closing in on the last people left in it, who won the main
prizes.
The third prize
was an 18 carat gold pendant with an Argyle diamond.
The second prize
was a Can-am commander 800 DPS that came with BRP accessories and a
trailer.
And the first prize
was a 5.2 metre
Sea Jay Velocity Boat that came with a 115hp Yamaha 4 stroke outboard,
GPS, VHF marine radio, safety gear and a trailer.
The lucky winner
was Darren Carroll from Toowoomba - good on him :-)
Things to Buy
There were T-shirts, caps, hats, stubby coolers and many other souvenirs to buy,
... and there were exhibitors
and stall holders
including ARB 4x4 Accessories, Cairns Honda, Trinity Kawasaki, Pacific
Toyota, Weipa Auto and Irelands of Cairns only to name a few.
Licensed bars
and food outlets
- seafood baskets and souvliaki, gourmet sandwiches and roast beef
rolls, sausage sizzle, Asian food, fish and chips and more.
Other Fun
Kids fun
- Weipa Fishing Classic mascots, jumping castle, fish throwing
competition, shooting gallery and bubbles, stilts and balloons, glow
sticks and show bags.
On-screen fishing simulator, tug
of war,
... and cast net and lure casting competitions,
... special guests, and live music
entertainment on the stage.
Fishing
And then of course - the
fishing.
Despite the seas having been a little rough, particularly on the last
day, some great fish
were brought in,
... weighed,
... measured,
... and the winners
announced on both Saturday and Sunday.
There are Open, Women's and Juniors' categories, and the
fish had to be caught on a hand line or rod and reel in the
waters around Port Musgrave and Albatross Bay, starting at midnight
Friday.
The eleven species
eligible for Open category were
barramundi, jew fish, coral trout, trevally, mackerel, queenfish,
grunter, tusker, fingermark, king fish and reef fish (nannygai and red
emperor).
The six species eligible
for Juniors were barramundi, grunter, queenfish, bream, blue salmon and
king salmon.
There are obviously also minimum
sizes for all fish species (on the photos is random fish,
some but not all are the winners).
Lots
of fun - a
great event we will be returning to :-)
Get
this 50 pages
guide totally for FREE.
It
contains information that helps you getting started with planning of your trip.
You get to make early-stages desicions such as when to go, how long time you
should take, how to get
there and get
around, where
to stay (general info), what
will it cost..
and a short insight to what is there to see and do in Cape York.
This complete 300 pages
travel guide is all you need before and during your trip. Besides the
background chapters on the peninsula's history and wildlife; and the comprehensive detail about all
the places (down to prices, opening hours and full contact
detail), it has invaluable information on at least 10 four wheel drive tracks,
at least 30 guaranteed FREE
camping spots on the Cape (and at least 150 on your way to
the Cape), at least 40 best
swimming holes, all mapped; as well as practical things -
from fuel, roads, wireless internet and mobile phone reception,
how to deal with the national
parks booking rules; and Aboriginal land entrance and camping permits
and alcohol restrictions - to vehicle preparation and accessories and necessary recovery
gear by my vehicle-recovery-guy partner).
Not to mention locals'
tips on how to spot that croc and palm cockatoo ;-)
If
you liked the books or
this website, let others know about it!
Link to it from your website, your blog, your forum post... Share it on Facebook, Tweet
about it...
Every link helps other travellers!
Thank you for doing the
right thing and letting others know :-)
This site uses British
English, which is the English we use in
Australia.
Disclaimer:
Although
best efforts have been made to ensure that all the information on this
website is correct, this site is not to be blamed should there be a
mistake.
This is the ORIGINAL Cape York Travel Guide run Locally on the Peninsula.