Canberra club cancels 2026 yellowfin tuna tournament over fuel uncertainty

Fuel uncertainty has already knocked Canberra Game Fishing Club’s 2026 Yellowfin Tuna Tournament off the water, and that means more than a missing weigh-in. For crews weighing a tow to Bermagui, the club’s decision changes travel plans, boat budgets, and the whole rhythm of the season before a line was ever wet.

The club cancelled the event because ongoing fuel uncertainty could affect travel and operations, and it said the committee did not make the call lightly. The tournament had been scheduled for May 16 to 18, 2026, and the NSW Game Fishing Association calendar still listed it when the cancellation was announced. Canberra Game Fishing Club said the yellowfin tournament means a great deal to the local fishing community, and that it shared the disappointment of anglers who had been expecting another Bermagui weekend on the NSW south coast.

That weekend is built around more than a single blast at tuna. The 2025 tournament rules set entry at $100 per senior angler and $50 for juniors and small fry, with a Saturday-night barbecue included, which shows how much of the event depends on crews, families, and a full club program, not just the heaviest fish on the board. A 2025 social post said 37 boats and 116 anglers took part, and the winning yellowfin weighed 66.6 kilograms and earned $10,000 cash. Earlier coverage of another Canberra Yellowfin event put the field at 81 boats and 290 anglers from 22 clubs, the kind of turnout that takes both fuel and confidence to sustain.

The club’s cancellation also lands against a long Bermagui backdrop. Canberra Game Fishing Club says it was formed in 1964 by Canberra residents who owned the steel cruiser Blue Marlin, and it still hosts its annual yellowfin tuna tournament at Bermagui each May. Bermagui’s gamefishing history goes back to the first marlin caught off the town in 1933, and the Bermagui Big Game Anglers Club says it was founded in 1936, after the sport took hold there. In 2025, the Canberra event was branded as the Bill Dunkley Memorial Canberra Yellowfin Tournament after Bill Dunkley died on February 28, 2025.

Fuel prices in Bermagui were still biting on May 18 and 19, 2026, with unleaded listed around 192.9c/L at one station and 199.9c/L at another. That is the economics the club was staring at, and for a tuna weekend built on long runs and long odds, the first thing to go was the tow itself.