2019 Hirepool Trailer Boat Tournament Report
It was wonderful again to see the Fishing and Adventure syndicate of sponsors back again this year, and with such great sponsor support it was obvious the prize table would again be stacked high with incredible prizes.
Its seems every year the trailer park on Sulphur Point just gets busier and busier, and this year was no exception. With stellar weather from Boxing day the ramps were once again heaving with activity and with marlin and spearfish being caught in the days prior to the event there was certainly a good buzz around the timing.
Once again this year the early focus was on the weather and with a bit of a blow showing 15-18knots from the south west, and it really didn’t look bad enough for a postponement. Annoyingly Friday, our first fishing day greeted us with a strong wind advisory but with anglers already on the water, it was up to our skippers to make the right safety calls for the teams and assess the changing conditions themselves. The sou’wester did still provide plenty of fishing opportunities with many of the species on our schedule inshore.
So all in all 126 anglers battled what were some challenging conditions. 155 fish were entered into the tournament, one third of these in the Honda Measure and Release section. The longest kingy stretching out to 113cm for angler David Hunt while the longest Snapper was caught measured at 72cm and released to claim 1st place longest snapper!
In the weigh sections the heaviest Snapper was caught by Scott Parry from the Fishing & Adventure show weighing in at 9.78kg (Scott also took 3rd with a 5.36kg fish!) and junior Tyler Speed featured strongly with a 7.005kg snapper.
It was nice to see the wreck fish category competitive again this year with 14 fish the best a 17.2kg Bluenose caught by Joe Gordon of Mangawahi Mitress. Darren Richardson managed the winning the kahawahi and Sharryn Clark the biggest in the Skipjack section.
Congratulations also to Hayden Speed and the Mayhem team for their fantastic hero shot winning the Raymarine Hero Shot for 2019, and likewise congratulations to all of our anglers for competing and enjoying this years Hirepool Trailer Boat event. Finally a shout out to all those skippers who did a great job keeping your people safe on the water!
To see all the tournament and hero images check out the Tauranga Sport Fishing Club Facebook Page!
RESULTS 2019
A massive thank you to our wonderful sponsors Black Magic, Okuma, Honda Marine, Raymarine, Surtees Boats, Topcatch, Wet & Forget and NZ Bayfsher Magazine.