BEEF cattle and game fishing are worlds apart but for soon-to-be hall of fame inductee Laurie Wright they are the perfect match.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
The 63-year-old captain, who runs Bimini Park Brangus and Working Dogs with wife Julie at Lake Eacham on the Atherton Tablelands, west of Cairns, will be inducted into the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame (IGFA) next month.
Laurie is one of five captains and crew members who will be honoured at a gala dinner at the IGFA headquarters in Florida, America.
The awards recognise those that contribute to the sport fishing by invention, outstanding catches or have set a noteworthy example of their trade.
“I’m very humbled,” Laurie said when the North Queensland Register visited. “It’s not one of those things that you expect. The awards are selected by your peers – those people that you respect and work beside which makes it mean much more.”
Laurie’s induction recognises a stellar 38 year career in the game fish industry, both here and abroad. He arrived in Cairns in 1979 from the Sunshine Coast, where he owned a surf and dive shop, and took a job on a boat owned by well-known game fisher Peter Wright.
He spent the next four years crewing on the boat during the Cairns marlin season, which runs from September to December, and spent the off-season in waters around the world.
“Cairns is a world mecca for game fishing,” Laurie said. “There’s nowhere else in the world where you can catch and release a 1000 pound marlin. It’s the thrill and adrenaline when you pit yourself up against a species of fish that usually gets the upperhand. Its hard to describe.”
Laurie led the Cairns industry in its fight against the re-zoning of the Great Barrier Reef and chaired the black marlin 40th anniversary celebrations in 2006, one of the largest fishing tournaments ever held. He is the secretary of the committee fundraising to erect a black marlin sculpture on the Cairns Esplanade, and has captained many boats where catch records have been broken.
Laurie said the industry had changed greatly in the four decades he’d been involved.
Boats are bigger, with the average 10 metre game fish boats now taken over by 20 metre-sized vessels.
Technology has changed too, along with attitudes.
Laurie said in the old days fish were killed but today 99 per cent are caught, tagged and released.
“A 900 pound fish was tagged at the Lizard Island tournament in 2014 and six months after it was caught and it came to the surface at Peru,” Laurie said. “It had travelled 5716 nautical miles in 180 days.
“We would have no knowledge of that kind of migration without our participation.”
In an ironic twist, Laurie’s family has life-long ties with both beef and game fishing. His great uncle owned the first purpose-built game fish boat in Australia while his grandfather’s brother, Colin Wright, was part of the syndicate that brought the first Brahman cattle to Australia.
