THE 2018 Garmin Billfish Shootout has been run and won off Port Stephens, NSW, and by all reports the tournament was a huge success. There were over 166 boats with 766 anglers competing this year, and between them they tagged and released 152 black marlin, 90 blue marlin, 43 striped marlin and 7 spearfish. This made it the biggest tournament of its kind in Australia.
A liost of the winners can be found in the table below. Tim Dean on board Calypso came ever so close to winning the major prize of $100,000 but just fell short with his fish of 231.4 kg. This still won him a healthy cheque of $12500.00, so he and his team were delighted.
Nigel Rushworth and the organising committee would like thank all their sponsors for their support.
| Tag & Release | Winner & Points |
| Champion Team 1 | Billistic – NPSGFC 112500 points |
| Champion Team 2 | Rabbit PHGFC 110500 points |
| Champion Team 3 | Reel Trouble GLGFC 100000 points |
| Champion Team 4 | Wildthing NPSGFC 87500 points C/B |
| Champion Team 5 | Freedom CCGFC 87500 pointsC/B |
| Champion Team 6 | Cookie PHGFC 86000 Points |
| Champion Team 7 | Hoodlum SGFC 75000 Points C/B |
| Champion Team 8 | True Grit NPSGFC 75000 Points C/B |
| Champion Team 9 | Casey SGFC 75000 Points C/B |
| Champion Team 10 | Smartbill SGFC 72000 Points |
| Champion Male Junior | Thomas Frima 37500 Points |
| Champion Male Junior | Brody Mckay 35500 Points |
| First marlin Tagged by a Junior | Oscar Flett 17/02/18 8.50am |
| Heaviest Marlin Min 236kg | Not won |
| Heaviest Marlin Min 150 kg | Calypso NPSGFC 231.4 kg Blue Marlin |
| Heaviest Shark Min 350 kg | Victory 2 LMGFC 375.6 kg Tiger Shark |
| Champion Boat T&R under 8m | Not won |
| Prize was split into 5 x $1000 draws |
