Adam Hoey, part of Team Hoey, won the competition with a 2.95m, 231kg Blue Marlin.

Adam’s catch netted him a cool $12,500 … but had his fish been 4.6kg heavier he could have brought home $100,000 from the 236kg category. The record for the competition stands at 235kg.

The $100,000 prize money wasn’t claimed and will be on offer again in 2019.

Team captain is Adam’s brother Jason, who was runner up in last year’s competition with a Blue Marlin measuring 2.80m and 187.5 kg.

Jason explained there might be a little luck involved in bringing in the powerful Marlin, but there’s much more planning.

There’s many decisions to be made: whether to use lures or baitfish; how to rig them; water depth and temperature; wind and currents; weather; trawl speeds and much more.

Much of it can only be learned by experience – and the Hoey boys have learned a lot from their father Tony as well as putting time in to study the finer points of their sport.

They have fished with the same boat and crew for a number of years now, and put a lot of faith in their boat captain Tim Dean of Anna Bay. 

Their cousin Steven Hoey, also on board, fished well but in the fight lost two large fish, both Marlins, a Black and Striped.

Adam’s catch means Team Hoey is now eligible to compete in the 2019 Offshore World Championship in Costa Rica – the largest and most prestigious sportfishing tournament series in the world.

Subject to obtaining sponsorship, they’re certainly entertaining thoughts of going over.

One thing’s for sure, the same team members will again contest the 2019 Billfish shootout with another chance to bring in a $100,000 catch.

While the competition, run by Newcastle and Port Stephens Game Fishing Club, is aimed at catch and release, Jason said the larger marlin such as Adam’s catch allowed local marine biologists to research the fish.

Data contributes to their monitoring of the species and fishery management.