The Townsville Sportfishing club was initially formed on the 17th of July 1975 at the old boat shed where the present ferry terminal now stands. After a meeting of the Townsville Amateur Light Gear Angling Club (TALGAC).

At this particular meeting some heated words were exchanged by some members about the previous club trip and the resulting points scored by some participating members, the then TALGAC secretary remembers that the recording of this meeting was a difficult task to say the least.

After the abovementioned meet a few people stayed together to discuss the events of the meeting, this group included the likes of Ron Poole, Don Bailey, Colin Northey, Bruce Glanville, Malcolm Florence, Ian Ballard and Don Mclean. It was decided that this disgruntled group would meet again with the specific aim of setting up a new Sportfishing Club in Townsville.

The meeting took place at Don McLean's home on the 23 rd of July 1975 and included the above mentioned plus some other interested TALGAC members.

It was unanimously decided that the group would proceed with the aim of setting up a new fishing club and a notice appeared in the yet to be formed new clubs first newsletter giving details that the inaugural meeting was to be held in April at Don McLean's residence.

The official inaugural meeting of the club was held on the 31 st of July, once again at Don McLean's house.

Approximately 40 people attended and showed individually and as a group a huge level of support for the creation of a new club.

This meeting set the stage for a further meeting in August where it was decided that the club would become affiliated with the Australian National Sportfishing Association (ANSA). The club numbers swelled that year to a point where the club was the largest Queensland based fishing club outside of metropolitan Brisbane.

Weighing scales and other items were initially purchased through a generous donation of $10 per member which then allowed the club to become financially secure enough to run successfully through the initial period until more members could be found.

Many of the members who were instrumental in forming the Townsville Sportfishing Club have gone on to bigger and better things in the world of Sport Fishing. For example, the famous Vic Crystal who is the well known fishing writer , Malcolm Florence who was one of the pioneers within the Fishing Media industry and more recently Eddie Riddle who created his own Fishing based television program, others have gone on to make a living from fishing tackle such as Tim Staudinger from Bumper Bar tackle, others have held executive positions in organisations such as ANSA National , Sunfish Recfish and the newly formed Fishing Party.

One of the most important aspects of the club is its membership of ANSA. In order to be a club member one has also to be a financial member of ANSA, this covers individual membership with an insurance cover and allows individuals the opportunity to be able to claim - state national and world records, it also teaches the principles of fishing with Sport, Conservation and Integrity in mind.

ANSA is at the forefront of recreational sportfishing policy making bodies and continues to push for a better deal for recreational fishers to allow us to continue to enjoy our sport.

The name of the association (Australian National Sportsfishing Association) may give the impression that to be a member one needs to be a “sports” fisho and only use light lines. Many club members choose not to fish competitively or prefer to use heavier line. To fish with light line or to be competitive within the rules and guidelines of the association is purely a personal choice, no pressure is exerted on members to fish in any particular way.

For club competitions the club uses line classes 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 15 kilo line.

Club competitions are organised once a month on a pre- determined yearly calendar. Comps range from lure fishing only to land based, fresh water or estuary fishing, which caters for all different fishing styles.

This system ensures that no particular type of Fisho is given any advantage over another style or method.

The club also meets twice a month once for a general meeting, the other being a tackle night, where members participate in discussions or lectures on a wide range of topics ranging from fly tying to Outboard maintenance to camping and 4x wheel driving .

The club caters for many different types of angler from both the beginner to the die hard expert, it is an extremely family friendly Club with a number of the families involved at the initiation of the Club, still participating. The Club has seen many kids growing to adulthood and are still actively involved with the club.

This alone is testament to providing a stable and consistent environment for the youth of today.

The Townsville Sportfishing club is the organising group for the Annual Fishing and Outdoor Fishing Expo held in Townsville at the beginning of June.