2019 GFAB TRAILERS BROADBILL CHALLENGE – REPORT

This year’s it was decided to run the Broadbill Challenge over a longer duration (18^th April – 31^st May) as we were keen to see anglers maximising their time on the water as the weather this time of year is usually more unpredictable so it was fingers crossed for a few more settled periods that what we had last year.

With the cash being won last year our premiums went through the roof! So after looking at numerous options for providing a cash prize this year the Fish Committee did a superb job finding a solution and was again thrilled able to offer the incentive of $10k to anglers should a fish be caught over 260kg.  Unfortunately returning with the cash prize meant that the tournament fee had to be increased to $75 which didn’t deter the 77 anglers that signed up. Among the anglers that signed up this year were proven talented anglers, skippers and teams that were sure to test the $10k offer.

We didn’t have to wait long for the weighmasters phone to be ringing  with a large sword being reported on Good Friday the 19^th April! YIP that’s day one!  A preverbal dream team of angling talent had assembled on Bandit and looked to have hit the ball out of the park with a fish that had been reported as perhaps going close to the 260 mark.  Angler Michael Easton after an exhaustive battle and with the help of the team secured what could only be described as a beast of a fish, this later loading the scales to 274kg.  Unfortunately the fish was non-qualifying after a gaff rope rule was breached.  This was such an amazing fish, for most of us the biggest we had seen so clearly it was disappointing for everyone.

A week later Elevar landed another “CLanker!” with Isaac Churcher on the rod a little further from home in the Stoney Creek sponsors grid (White Island) This fish was fat, really fat and weighed in at 199.20kg and immediately became the fish to beat.  The 4^th May brought about the third fishable weekend, giving many of the boats the opportunity at least to spend some time on the grounds. The team on Crows Nest has been practising the “day time thing” and hit pay-dirt with a nice tagged sword estimated at 180kg for angler Craig Parnwell. The same day Jamie Lee off Fascination 2 hooked, battled and landed and later weighed a 143.2kg sword again very short but very fat.  Cherie Elmsly and brother Hayden got in on the action the following day on their boat Satisfaction with a smaller but solid fish, this one being tagged and swimming away strongly to fight another day.

The Reel Bay fish was the next to be hooked in the High Duty Plastics grid #24 on the 11^th May. It was played alongside Campbell Carters sword (fishing aboard Bandit) which came to the boat minus a bill and estimated at 80kg, this was TnR’d and sent back home while the battle on Reel Bay raged on. Paul Kite was locked in a solid battle with a very stuborn very large fish, the guys had seen it on the surface and called it as a good one but it wasn’t until it was boat side over 4 hours later and the lads unable to get the behemoth through the transom gate did they realise just how big this fish was.  Getting this fish to the weigh station given it size became a matter of urgency with the $10k riding and what a good call it was!  When lifted on the gallows the fish only just squeaked over the 260kg mark by 300grams, that’s about one Heineken! So all of a sudden the Reel Bay fish was the one to beat and just three weeks to go…..

A mid-week hit out on the 14^th May and taking advantage of the clear calm weather saw Stuart Roberts on board Miss Trev land a really nice sword estimated at 170kg. This one he decided to put a pin in and no doubt secretly hoped this might qualify for the last tagged fish.  The following weekend Michael Easton struck again, this time fishing on Reel Heaven with Luke Dolman.  This broadbill was not quite the monster they were hoping for and was tagged and the lads carried on chasing the trophy.

It was to be Reel Heaven again in the spot light on the 25^th May with all of the lads entered in the H&F Snapper Classic, but strangely ended up sword fishing?!  Mid-morning Luke coming across Channel 3 reporting John Milnes as being hooked up to something good. As the hours rolled on expectations soared as to the size of the fish and I’m sure the good fellas on Reel Bay could see the $10k potentially disappearing to a better fish. John played that fish for 10 hours, that’s one hell of an effort! Hooking what was clearly the Mike Tyson of swordfish, punching well above its weighed (which ended up being 166.9kg) Nice fish and unbelievable effort guys!

To wind things up it was to be Michael Easton that had the first word and the last, catching the biggest and the smallest and finally tagging the most when he put a pin in a nice estimated 70kg fish again in HDP #24 on the 30^th May.

What an event it certainly had a bit of everything! Congratulation to Reel Bay and Paul Kite not only winning the $10,000 but also cementing a new Club 60kg Mens Record. Well done also to all of our anglers.  Thanks to everyone that came to the prize giving it was fantastic to see so many of you there celebrating the fishing the fish and comp, and finally thanks gain to our awesome sponsors!

RESULTS

SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE !

*Just a quick side note here to say thanks guys for sharing the fish about, I know all of the staff were raving about how delicious the fish was (a real treat) Thanks!

2019 Hunting & Fishing Snapper Classic REPORT

First up it was awesome having Hunting & Fishing back on board this year, sponsoring the great H&F clothing and supplying the fancy kit from Diawa, Finnor and Coleman.

What wasn’t so great, was the hard call around the dodgy weather (although it has to be expected this time of year!) So after a long look at the forecast for the 18^th and 19^th May we decided to pass it up! This was much to the horror of some anglers that had spied a glorious Saturday morning.   But this only gave us at best one day of fishing as Sunday was to be blown out, combine this with a full moon and it was all looking pretty average. But what grabbed or attention was a large high over Australia that was tracking our way!  That was enough to swing the 50/50 call, and as the week progress it was a huge relief to see the fine weather materialise for the 25^th and 26^th May.  Fortunately our anglers were looking at the same forecast, this mobilising 92 keen snapper fisherman into registration, this number up on the 76 the previous year.

After briefing many of the teams ripped straight into it, making a course for Mayor Motiti and the East Coast, with such settled weather and a small swell the fishing options were plentiful.

Day one and with little radio chit chat it was difficult to determine how everyone was doing and with only two teams weighing 2-3kg snapper at the weigh station the first day it was still pretty much a mystery as to what was being caught.  In actual fact the weather was simply so good it was understandable that teams didn’t return on Saturday as fishing the change of light “bite” was a much better option!

Sunday, day two of the vent and we were blessed with another stunner.  A few of the teams had already reported a good evening and morning bite so it was clear there were to be some nice fish coming in.  The weigh station opened at 3pm and was kindly manned by Lee and Deryk was steady for the whole two hours as teams checked in with their catches.  A few wreck-fish were recorded, some respectable terakihi and plenty of really good Snapper.  Clearly most anglers were just weighing there good ones as the average over the 47 fish weighed ended up at a respectable 3.827kg and by chance Rebecca Burman fishing on Riba was closest winning the average weight prize!

Junior Kaesharn Hedgeman had a great comp winning 3^rd heaviest Tarahihi, 3^rd heaviest wreckfish and taking out the heaviest fish for a junior with his 7.605kg bluenose.  The biggest wreck fish for the comp was a nice 16.1kg bass, while the largest Tarakihi 1.485kg to Jeff Davenport caught out of High Duty Plastics sponsors grid.

SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE

Snapper Classic RESULTS 2019

On the Snapper scene, we had some crackers coming through the weigh station with the top 4 all over 7kg. The winning heaviest fish was caught by Takawai Edwards with a 9.005kg Snapper on his boat MARLIN out of the Champness Roofing grid.  In the measure and release snapper section, the father and son team of Lawrence and Jonathon Flude on board Gulfseeker took out all three prizes with Snapper in-between 74.05-79.5cm.

Thankyou again to Hunting & Fishing and to all of our anglers that enjoyed the snapper fishing over last weekend!  We hope to see you all back next year!

OMOKOROA ITM BILLFISH BONANZA 2019 REPORT

It was fantastic this year to have what looked like a brand new naming sponsor for this year’s Billfish Bonanza with Omokoroa ITM coming aboard.  In fact it’s the same Oregon ITM group that incorporates the Mount ITM that leant their support to last year’s event, so again we have been privileged to receive such wonderful backing for what is our last blue water event for the summer.

This year the forecast looked outstanding and although it didn’t live up to its promise, the weather didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the 139 anglers that turned up this year. With about 10 boats deciding to take the starboard turn out the entrance and take the long trip towards the eastern BOP. The rest of the teams seemed to concentrate their efforts on the High Duty Plastics, Port of Tauranga and Tarpaulin Makers grids that had all been producing very large striped marlin prior to the tournament.

Thanks to Shimano NZ the prize stage was looking packed with a wide range of high end shimano rods and reels including 5 Talica 25 combos for the tag and release billfish prizes, again encouraging those on the water to be tagging their fish.

Over the three days six striped marlin were tagged, many lost and seven marlin weighed in at the Club.  For a couple of anglers this was their first marlin and a bucket-list moment! A special mention to Tony and Aidan Brown realising the dream of a first marlin for Lee Lawson after 10 years on his boat Monaco!

The day one action really belonged to one angler being Karl Boielle off the trailer boat Happy Hour.  On a day that Karl couldn’t convince any of his mates to take a day off work, and determined not to miss a day on the water and ended up fishing solo. By mid-morning across the radio came “Happy Hour hooked up” not long after the message that Karl had just tagged a striped marlin.  We didn’t need to wait much longer before we heard “Happy Hour hooked up” again, and yes the result was another tagged striped marlin. In the last few hours of daylight Karl was trolling home reflecting on a great day when “bang” a strike on the short corner, this time a Blue Marlin!  What an amazing day!

The winning fish this year came off the trailer boat Night Mair with Wilson Crocker being one of the first time anglers, taking grand honours and ‘first place heaviest billfish’ with a mighty 250.4kg Blue Marlin.  The team on Night Mair had spent the night before sword fishing all night and were  a bit sleep deprived in the morning.  But it only took them five minutes of trolling before this massive Blue Marlin helped them shake off the morning fuzz.  A stubborn fish the fight lasting almost 4 hours!

The next biggest fish was another special Blue Marlin weighing 233.9kg to Alana Duncan off the boat Riba.  Alana’s fish had died during the fight and she spent a gruelling 3.5hrs getting this fish back to the surface in stand up equipment, one heck of an effort that gained her the ‘Heaviest fish for a lady angler and second heaviest billfish.  In third place was Mikey Lee’s 181.3kg on board Fascination 2, a beautiful looking fish and a great way for the team to round of a very successful tournament season.

Some nice Mahimahi this year in the 11-12kg range this year with the largest going to Louise Stewart off Ocean Monarch with a 12.26kg hen taken from the Stoney Creek grid.  Another incredible highlight for the tournament was the absolute beast of a Shortbilled Spearfish weighing 34.5kg on 24kg by junior angler Ezra Keenan claiming first place in this shortbilled section. This one being a pending Club, New Zealand and World Record!

Thanks to all of our anglers, the lucky ones and not so lucky for fishing this wonderful event, also a big thankyou to Omokoroa ITM, Hool Marine, Petroluem Logistics, Glass Art and NZ Bayfisher!

STONEY CREEK ONE BASE 2019 – ROUND UP!

Who could have picked 2019 was going to be such a boomer.  Its takes a little bit of everything for an event to come together to be great.  Good anglers, some good fish,  a bit of nice weather, supportive sponsors, you need a good team behind the scenes, a good tournament radio operator but most of all you need a bit of luck!  This One Base and our 30^th Anniversary year we got a bit of luck and all the other elements came together in what turned many are calling one of the best One Base Tournaments in recent times.

This year with the wild card anglers the One Base hosted 115 teams comprised of 407 anglers everyone leaving the Tauranga entrance on Wednesday 6^th March in what was a spectacular shotgun start. The four day forecast looked really settled apart from a spike on the Friday afternoon which was actually “bang on” so at least this forecasting allowed the teams to make plans to stay safe.

The first day set the scene well with Fascination 2 tagging and releasing a striped marlin as did Crank later on in the day.  Young junior Angler Tom Fowler did exceptionally well landing a very respectable 19.3kg kingfish giving him the ‘first junior to weigh an eligible fish award’, while Neil Beattie weighed in what turned out to be the heaviest snapper for the event at 10.26kg.  The team on Bar Tender had the “midas touch” after winning the team beverage crate proceeded on day one to catch and weigh the comps first marlin with a 210.9kg Blue Marlin out of the Stoney Creek grid.  Angler Brad Pedersen later when on to win the Shimano Raffle taking home Shimano electric reel, as well as owner Steve Prole picking up second place in the striped marlin section with a 142kg fish.

Day two results were busy with the ‘after 6pm’ weigh station activity the evening before.  Strangely the marlin just got bigger into the night!  A 140.5kg Blue Marlin for Jason Eynon on Sundance Kid, then a wonderful 226.7kg blue marlin to Ian Thomas on Cobra, with festivities topped off with a whopping 300.2kg Blue Marlin to Adam Milnes off the boat Black Label, this one carrying through to be the biggest gamefish for this year’s One Base.  Adam backed his marlin up with a beautiful 41.2kg Yellowfin Tuna both caught out of Furuno Blue Beam grid, this fish taking first place in the Tuna section.

Kristen Zaloumis managed a nice 110.35kg Striped Marlin for their boat Outer Limits, awarding Kristen the Heaviest Fish caught by a Lady Angler in the One Base.  Okura 2 also made weigh in and once again did well in the kingie section placing Butch Waterhouse in first place in the kingie section with a 20.82kg fish and team mate Kerry Clark taking out both first and second in the measure section.  In the longest Snapper section Tony Wood took out the competition with a 79cm moocher, with Aidan Brown doing really well in second with a 72cm.

Day Three and the teams hunkered down in preparation for the wind which seemed to hit the teams down east a little earlier.  Mahimahi from both Sansparel and Riba caught the day before arrived in, the biggest a lovely 13.52kg fish for John Mertrom.  Draydon Layne fought, landed and weighed a beauty short billed spearfish of 23.7kg that managed to hold off the others for first place in the Spearfish category as well as giving him the heaviest fish for a junior.  A real bonus to this catch is the Spearfish is a pending junior record for 60kg and pending NZ Record!  Another solid fish was the 23.7kg Albacore caught by Kevin Houlton on Forte, this one narrowly missing being another Club record.  Congrats to the In Pursuit team weighing a fine 126.7kg Stripey, but unfortunately were eclipsed when the winning 171.6kg Striped Marlin was weighed by Brent Hogg off Valhalla, this fish taking first place in the NZ Heaviest list for the season to date, and for the One Base it was fittingly the winning Striped Marlin!  Great fish guys! Well done also the team off Fascination 2 weighing in a beutiful 226kg Blue marlin as well as tagging two other and t&r spearfish to give them champion boat for 2019!

Day Four being a shorter day still had plenty of action on the radio.  Bar Tender manged their last minute 142kg Striped Marlin, and Nora threatened the Spearfish category with a nice 21.3kg fish, while Ryan Kahn weighed in his solid 192.9kg Blue Marlin off Ocean Pacific unfortunately not even making the top three!  Of course all the tag and release marlin paperwork came through totalling 16 TnR marlin (5 of which were Blues) all of these anglers receiving a gold Tiagra 50W thanks to Bay Insurance Brokers.

It was a solid four days of competition with good weather and some world class fish and home for some of the best fisherman in New Zealand here competing.  In short this year was nothing short of magical!  Thank you to all of our sponsors and supporters, thank you to out TSFC team here and last but certainly not least a massive thankyou to Deryk for a wonderful job over VHF Ch 3 for the four days.  SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR!