Fishing Tournaments

Moreton Bay classic - August 2009

The inaugural Moreton Bay Classic, hosted by the Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club at Manly on Brisbane’s eastern bayside, presented a cavalcade of prizes – more than $200,000 worth - as part of its strategy of adding a new event to the south-east Queensland fishing calendar.

And with modest numbers of people entering the inaugural event, the odds of success of taking home one of the major prizes – a CruiseCraft Explorer 500 provided by Wynnum Marine or a Suzuki Grand Vitara four-wheel-drive provided by the state distributor of Suzuki Motor vehicles, Suzuki Auto Co, were very attractive.

While the Moreton Bay Classic slotted neatly into the time-frame created by the winding up of the Straddie Classic (prompted by the redevelopment of the Stradbroke Island Resort Hotel and environs), it also brought about another major change. Unbelievable weather.

Conditions which moved from ‘very rugged’ on the opening day to  ‘glassed out’ just a couple of days later, put smiles on the faces of CruiseCraft stalwart, Kevin Nichols; local gun fisherman Dougie The Deckie,  and Wynnum Marine’s CruiseCraft sales specialist, George Baumber, pictured here.



On the final night, it was Cameron Bastow who walked away with new CruiseCraft Explorer 500 won in the final of the major prizes lucky draw. That’s him below celebrating his win with CruiseCraft directors, from left, Nathan Nichols, Darren Nichols and Justin Nichols.

And you had better believe that the luck is still running strongly in the Harris family from Springfield – Ben Harris won the Suzuki Grand Vitara in the lucky draw – it was his brother-in-law who won the Yaris in this year’s Toyota Fraser Island Fishing Expo.  



As usual, Team CruiseCraft identities figured prominently on the leader board.

The Watt family virtually staged its own tournament with brothers Rod, Brendon and Troy and their dad, Melvyn shuffling pride of place on the leaderboard in the cobia division.

It was Rod who finally stamped his authority on the title weighing in a 42.150kg cobia that looked like it belonged in the Jurassic Park movie.

No wonder the Watt family figures so strongly in fishing photographs on the Team CruiseCraft web site and in the media.

Some great catches were recorded as can be seen here on the leader board.



The Moreton Bay Classic also saw the launch of Team CruiseCraft’s new range of clothing and merchandise.  (You can see and order the latest items under the Merchandising button on this web site).

The range includes prominent use of the number 46 on Team CruiseCraft jerseys.

Why 46?

Well, that’s because the CruiseCraft has been manufacturing since 1946. 

CruiseCraft director Justin Nichols secured number 46 as his entry number in the Moreton Bay Classic.  It is these entry numbers which are used in the barrel for the nightly lucky draws as well as the draws for the major prize draws.

Justin’s number was independently pulled out of the barrel snaring Justin a great prize as well as entry into the major prize draw. But in a display of sponsorship generosity and integrity, Justin kept his number out of the draw, refused to accept the prize and told the event organisers to pull out another winning number instead.

Boyne-Tannum - June 2009

How good can an event be? Boyne Tannum 2009, held just south of Gladstone was outstanding again this year. Calm conditions which saw some in the Team CruiseCraft contingent head 100km-plus out to sea.



The Green brothers, David and Ken in Predator logged a 235km return journey in one day. Robbie Bertram in Bad Attitude, Richard Love in Sea Hawk, RodWatt’s team aboard Code 7, Mark Newman in Serial Killer – what an event.
Furuno’s resident technology guru, Shane Beardmore pictured here with a couple of impressive reds, seized the opportunity to double-check or tweak everyone’s sounders, plotters and radar systems. He also has introduced a new style out on the water – rock ‘n fishin’.
That’s where he uses rock band AC-DC to coax fish up from the deep, while making a video of the whole proceeding and simultaneously tracking everything on the sounder.
Make no mistake, it works!



Many travelled up in convoy with a departure from Brisbane at 2 a.m.– others met up at the event.
Once again many thanks to Kevin Nichols in Broomstick for organising the convoy, the accommodation and the logistics in conjunction with the other Team CruiseCraft participants.
The results? Well just have a look at Kevin’s grassy sweetlip here, Shane’s reds and John Brown’s coral trout to get an idea. And also note how calm the seas are in the background.

Around 25 CruiseCraft vessels entered this 2009 Toyota Fishing Expo at Fraser Island. This year’s, the last event in its current format, was the biggest in the 26 year history the tournament. The increasing popularity of Explorer and Outsider 685’s was clearly evident.  The CruiseCraft Explorer 500 which was one of the major random prize draws was won by Terry Harvey of Regents Park in Brisbane who attended the event with his brother-in-law Brian. That’s Terry pictured below with CruiseCraft identities Barry and Kevin Nichols along with a representative from Yamaha.



Remember last year’s event when Team CruiseCraft participant Christopher Dougherty won a brand new Toyota HiLux 4x4 Dual Cab SR Pickup V6 petrol ute in the lucky draw? Well this year his father Peter “Pedro The Practical Joker” Dougherty from Grafton managed to make the final draw for the car. Pedro was eliminated after 40 draws which certainly had hearts beating fast in Team CruiseCraft before it was his turn to sit down in what is a last man standing lucky draw.

Conditions for the first three days were not good which allowed the unbelievable talents of Bill Corten to shine. He took around 21 corporate guests of Toyota offshore in a series of runs to the Gardner Banks and brought home some magnificent fish like the red he is pictured below holding.

Fraser Island 2009
(Continued from previous column)

By Tuesday and Wednesday, the weather had deteriorated to the point of prohibiting launching from the beach. The photos below show how everyone kicked in to assist the launches and retrievals while the weather window remained open.



On Thursday conditions improved but with swells of three to four metres running. That still allowed the Team CruiseCraft participants to bring home a haul of parrot, hussar and red throat emperor.

Friday also was a “no go” day with very light winds but a huge swell. The Team decided to sit it out, but one non-CruiseCraft identity decided to chance his luck. In doing so, he finished up with a swamped vessel on the beach.

Tea Tree Snapper Championship - Mornington Peninsula - Victoria November 2008

It was a long haul for Queenslanders Kevin Nichols, David Green, Richard Love, Brendan Watt and John Daffy, but they towed two Explorer 685's down to Melbourne to join local CruiseCraft owners in Victoria's premier snapper fishing tournament held on the Morning Peninsula.



Local knowledge was a major factor in determining the results which saw local and visiting Team CruiseCraft members over-shadowed by some great results including Allen Rayner claiming the championship title with a 7.22kg snapper. Jason Angel nailed one at 7kg and John Dafilis brought in a 6.54kg specimen. Of the Team CruiseCraft members, it was local enthusiasts aboard Master Blaster - an Explorer 600 - who managed to get snapper aboard.



There were plenty of Australian salmon around which made for a spirited session of fishing, but the snapper were a little rod-shy. The event provided a great opportunity to catch up with Team CruiseCraft members which is one of the main reasons for entering events such as this.

Fraser Island - May 24 - 30, 2008

The Toyota Fishing Expo at Fraser Island saw another strong contingent of vessels from Team CruiseCraft. They included Bill Corten in his brand new, special build Explorer 685 Reel Affair; diesel engines guru Richard Love in his Outsider 685 Sea Hawk, David Green his Explorer 685 Predator, Rodney Waite in his Outsider 625 Code 7; Brett Seng in his Outsider 625 Black Jack and Kevin Nichols in his twin engined Explorer 685 Broomstick.

Leaving aside the honor of winning daily prizes for the best fish species, the stand-out part of the event for Team CruiseCraft, other than the camaraderie, was Christopher Dougherty winning himself a brand new Toyota HiLux 4x4 Dual Cab SR Pickup V6 petrol ute.

It is valued at over $50,000. Christopher won the vehicle in a "last man standing" lucky draw. That's Christopher pictured above with Toyota's Marketing Manager for the Northern Region, Simon Clarke.

And also in the winners' circle was Leanne Read who took home a CruiseCraft Explorer 500 with Yamaha F100 motor and trailer valued at over $45,000. A number of Team CruiseCraft owners were 'first timers' this year at Fraser.

By being part of the team, they were able to get a few great tips on trailering up the beach, extended drawbar beach launches and places to stay as well as having the safety of other Team CruiseCraft vessels nearby when fishing offshore.

Boyne Tannum Hookup June 6 - 8 2008

Offshore conditions just do not get any smoother - have a look at this photo taken 30km offshore in this year's Boyne-Tannum Hookup. Mirror-like conditions with plenty of red throat emperor just waiting to be caught.



This event is held just south of Gladstone each Queen's Birthday long weekend in June.
All the regular Team CruiseCraft fishing guns were there as well as a few additional first-timers which was great to see.



Mind you two years ago the conditions were positively evil and last year they were good - it is a changeable event in terms of weather so don't think "glassy" is the norm. But one of the great attractions of this event is that despite inclement weather, you can always find a place to fish even if it's up river, hugging the shoreline.

Boyne Tannum Hookup June 8 - 10 2007

Another strong showing with Richard Love's Sea Hawk (that's him pictured below with a serious nannygai and laughing deckie, Laurie Jenson); Ken Green in his beautifully refurbished Explorer 570; fibreglass repairs guru Arnold Kurz in Cher (which carried a stack of 11kg-plus red emperors back to shore); fine wine aficionado Ray Osborne in his appropriately named Jag 1; event regular Robbie Bertram in Bad Attitude; stalwart David Green, gentleman Brett Seng, ski racer David McInnes, Kevin Nichols, CruiseCraft director Justin Nichols, southern rogue Pedro Dougherty and John Daffy on rotating shifts aboard Big Predator and Broomstick; as well as red hot fisho's Rod and Brendan Watt in Code 7 and Sniper.



The weather improved markedly over the three days raising the stakes from the nearby cobia grounds east of Facing Island to the Cod Shoals and then a serious offshore assault on Fitzroy Reef around 90km offshore.