DECORO SNAPPER KINGFISH TOURNAMENT 2018 REPORT

IN CONJUNCTION WITH ROCKGAS TAURANGA.

With the weather gods smiling on us for the weekend we were able to confidently call this years Snapper Kingfish tournament ON.  However those same weather gods played a sneaky hand by serving up close to 20 knots of wind on a variable 5 knot forecast for the first day.  With teams tucked away at Motiti, Mayor and White island the later part of Saturday, these northerlies sent many teams in early and forced the others to seek a bit of shelter. Sunday was much better and allowed the boats to spread out and with this came some stunning results with the hard work that was put in.

Overall the fishing reports varied considerably from team to team with many finding the coastal fishing tough over the sand.  This was in contrast to those teams targeting snapper over reef structure with reports of spectacular soft-baiting and solid snapper in the 40-60cm region both around Motiti and Mayor with Plate Island fishing pretty well also. It was so good to see more and more anglers releasing their Snapper and nice for our sponsors and us as organisers to know these events don’t always need to impact heavily on local fish stocks to be regarded as a successful event.  The top three release Snapper were absolute beauties measuring 74, 75 and 76cm respectively with the winning fish going to Aidan Brown of In Pursuit.  In the weigh category there were only 15 fish weighed (versus 18 in the M&R!) With the best of these pulling the scales down to 10.695kg and caught by Jamie Lee fishing on Reel Heaven.

The kingfish fishing had been pretty good at Mayor and Schooner over the weekend, with anglers talking about how the top-water fishing had been hotting up and how much of the fishing had been extremely visual.  The flip side of this is the bronze whaler populations anecdotally looked to have increased with many hooked kingies this past weekend unfortunately falling to these veracious predators.  The longest kingie category this year went to Kyle Erikson fishing off Elevar (114cm) who not only picked up an incredible Accurate fishing combo but also took home the Dave Foley Memorial trophy.  Only 2 kingies weighed in versus 22 in the measure and release, with the biggest weighed being awarded to Jason Hamlyn fishing off Riba.

It was great to see so many of you back at the Club on Sunday for prize giving and enjoying the lucky draws and atmosphere.  Finally a massive thankyou to our sponsors namely Decoro, Rockgas Tauranga, NZ Bayfisher Magazine and Okuma NZ!

2018 Snapper Kingfish Results

2018 INTERCLUB REPORT

After the disappointing lost last year there was always a steely resolve among our anglers, that this year would be different.  The comment was made by so many anglers that the great prizes on offer from Penn and Decoro were only really a distraction in terms of what was the goal, that being to bring the Shield back to our Club.

The rivalry between the Mount Club and ours is truly alive and well with the competition now into its 24^th year.  Club dominance has been a hall mark of this competition with early domination from Tauranga then for a long spell the Mount dominated 2007-2014, the Tauranga SFC only picking up in a win in 2015, a cancelation in 2016 and then the loss in 2017.

This year the fishing was tough going, however there were some outstanding results. Notably the sizable snapper this year, with all the top ten being over 5kg and the top 3 all over 9kg. The crew on King Hit were on fire dominating both the Kingfish and Trevally sections.  The Tarakihi were also dominated by Tauranga boats as was the Gurnard and John Dory categories.  The communication this year among our interclub group was outstanding ensuring no holes in the species schedule were left unplugged.

So…this year I’m thrilled to announce that the Tauranga Club has won back the Interclub shield in emphatic fashion.  Turning up with 99 anglers versus 54 for the Mount, it was always going to be a tough task for the defenders.  After the dust settled it was a complete white wash with the Tauranga SFC recording 291 points versus the Mount’s 134.

Having so many keen and committed anglers on the water this year was the difference.  Now with two trophy victories a piece for each Club over the last five years, the flip flop nature of who wins the Shield only makes the importance grow year on year.  The sense of pride among our group was clear on Sunday evening, so well done everyone.  So enjoy that well-deserved beer, and let’s enjoy the moment BUT make it a promise to return next year and defend our log’o wood.

SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE!

Hunting & Fishing SNAPPER CLASSIC Report June 2018

Well we were blessed finally with a fine weekend (after weeks of dud’s) that co-insided with the Hunting & Fishing Snapper Classic, this giving 75 anglers the opportunity to get out there a good couple of days on the water.  This past Saturday was an absolute pearler that saw the ramps teaming with trailers and the marina carpark full.

So with such nice weather the teams headed out far and wide as well as some targeting the coastal shallows.  Both Motiti and Mayor were reasonably tough going until a late afternoon bite opened the flood gates on plenty of 2-3kg fish.

On the coast down towards Rogers Road it was the kayaking duo named “Downtown” using nothing but paddle power who secured all of the biggest snapper, the biggest a 7.715kg for the comp.   1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places all went to Michael Brown and average weight to Ross Brown in what commonly known as a white wash!…well done fellas.  Just goes to show you don’t need a big flash boat to catch quality fish.

Well done to Mitchell Tombleson releasing the biggest snapper for the event, a 75cm beauty.  It always pleasing to the M&R section getting more popular with plent of fish released this year to fight another day!.

Off shore, the deepwater bluenose cleaned up the wreck fish section. Well done to Vaughan Craven and Graham Burns placing first and 2^nd with Trevor McLaughlin taking out the terakihi section with a 1.55kg fish.

So a wonderful few days on the water for most, with most anglers returning with a healthy feed for the families. Well done to all of those anglers that weighed fish and of course a big thankyou to the team at Hunting and Fishing Tauranga (and Scotty for making it to prize giving!) The Finnor, Daiwa, Coleman prizes went down a treat as did the stunning H&F clothing!

2018 GFAB TRAILERS BROADBILL CHALLENGE REPORT

The stage was set again for that exciting time of year when the 80W mono sets get switched out for the deep drop sets, concrete bricks and diamond lights.  The Broadbill Challenge was back and with an exciting twist, with the help of Bay Insurance Brokers we were going to offer a $10,000 cash prize for the first Sword caught over 250kg.  Of course the fish needed to be caught inside chart and in accordance with IGFA rules.  Statistically it looked like a longshot as there had only ever been one fish caught over this mark in the Clubs 95 year history, this going to L Chinn back in 1969. What we do know is that these fish exist in our waters and although not abundant, it presented the perfect challenge.  Better yet, it was considered by a few that the 250kg benchmark was somewhat achievable, with the recent improvements in our knowledge of these fish, the gear and of course the techniques.

Clearly many of you thought that this target was achievable at this year as this year we had 89 hardy anglers sign up for the challenge versus just 39 last year.  The wonderful prizes were also somewhat of a motivator from Decoro, Stoney Creek and NZ Bayfisher and of course those fantastic trophies from Glass Art.

May 1^st and day one produced a lovely day seeing a few boats rolling out and it didn’t take long for the phone to ring with news of the first tagged sword down in FMT Mortgage Finance #13 by Cody Joss on board Matilda, this one hooked at 11.20am and taking just 20minutes to the boat.  What a great start!  Things stepped up a gear at 3.15pm that same day with a call from the lads on King Hit indicating that they were hooked up to a nice one in High Duty Plastics #24.  This was landed just before 6pm and with the guys struggling to get it in the boat, questions on landed started to fly as to whether this was a contender for the 10k!  Late Tuesday night this fish pulled the gantry scales down to 174.7kg in what could be described as almost the perfect start to the event and the bar being set high from the first day.

The next weekend although the weather was not the kindest the entire comp was “chomping at the bit” to get out and it looked like that many of the teams were making the effort.  The 4/5^th May produced some nice fish over the weekend with Dayle Lee getting a nice fish on a night bait. I understand this was the first time the guys on Fin Finder had tried this, and boom! This fish tipped the scales at 93.1kg.  Brothers in Arms struck the next day with an almost identical fish weighing 92.8kg landed by Jason Beck after an hour on the rod, all these again out of High Duty Plastics #24.  Further north Jans Decision also had a bite at 2.45pm, this one being tagged after an hour and eventually ended up being the last tagged for the comp.

The 12^th May saw Isaac Holmberg on Elevar hit the mark hooking and landing a nice 98.9kg broadbill out of Walling Enterprises.

The weather interruptions have become standard part of trying to fish through May, with the regular storms causing frustrations as anglers become shore bound and we had to wait another week for the next proper window before the next fish, and the wait was worth it!!!

  For more photos CLICK HERE

Decoro SNAPPER KINGFISH TOURNAMENT 2017 RESULTS

Thanks to everyone that turned out for this years Snapper Kingfish Tournament. After a shocking weekend last weekend and the postponement to the 25/26th we were blessed with a much kinder forecast and some pretty good fishing.  The boat ramps were chocka this past weekend and when we get the good weather the fishing options and possibilities open up with teams spreading themselves right through Chart 54 in pursuit of the longest and heaviest snapper and kingfish.

This year was the second year of the measure and release format with Decoro and its proving to be a winner. Not only do we kill fewer fish, in general we find that the bigger fish are being released as the best prizes reward the longest fish versus weighing. We are thrilled to be running an event with 124 anglers who are “on-board” with this concept and it’s a great look for the Club to be running events such as these.

Congratulations to all of the winners also to those that just turned out, got among the fishing action and just enjoyed yet another great comp at the Club !

A massive thanks to Kane and Gina from Decoro for all of your assistance with the fantastic prizes, also Jodie from NZ Bayfisher Magazine Stu and Karina of Rockgas Tauranga  for the ongoing support!

Snapper-Kingfish 2017 RESULTS