TUTUKAKA ANNIVERSARY
TOURNAMENT LANDS A GREAT STRIPEY 2009
Tutukaka turned on the weather for the long weekend and the combined
Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club Anniversary Tournament in conjunction with
Team Daiwa and the Captain Morgan's "Hook a Huge One" Contest. With some 46
boats and more than 100 anglers taking to the water, expectations were high
for a great tournament.
Day One and conditions could not have been better. First honours in the
marlin stakes went to Craig Bridger on "Oh2Fish" with a tagged and released
Striped Marlin estimated at 95kg on just 15kg line. Kelton Ryan fishing on "Divida"
landed a great Snapper weighing in at 7.54kg on 6kg line to eventually take
out the honours for the Snapper section of the Captain Morgan's "Hook a Huge
One" Contest and also managed to tag a Mako shark estimated at 30kg on 15kg
line. This was followed by a tagged and released Blue Shark estimated at
140kg by Andy Osbourn fishing on "Scorpio" and the day was finished off
nicely with a Striped Marlin weighing in at 110.2kg by John McCall fishing
on his own boat "Silva Fox".
Day Two, another magnificent day off Tutukaka. Sightings and Hook ups
continued throughout the day, although for a lot of boats the fish would
simply not play ball. First on the board for the day was Grant Johnston
fishing on "Viper" with a beauty Striped Marlin weighing in at 114.4kg,
followed by a tagged and released Stripey estimated at 95kg on 37kg line by
Graham Judd on "Silva Fox". Smiles all round for Junior Angler Jacob Van
Loghem fishing on Dad's boat "Game On" weighing in a Striped Marlin at
83.2kg. Steve Babe on "Stashtin" recorded two Snapper for the day weighing
in at 6.46kg and 6.62kg on just 4kg line to take out the top prize in the
Anniversary Tournament Snapper section, with Kelton Ryan on "Divida" a close
second with a 6.54kg Snapper on 4kg line. First Kahawai of the contest
weighed in at 2.14kg by Nicholas Mayhew on "Hooked on Protein" and another
fine Snapper of 6.46kg was recorded by Manuel Springford fishing on "Bosca".
Honours for the day, went to Joy Keene on "Königheim" with a great Stripey
tipping the scales at 142kg on 24kg line.
Monday, the final day, saw a slight turn in the weather and the fish
remained elusive. Dave Macfarlane on "Scorpio" tagged and released a Mako
shark estimated at 80kg and two Kahawai were weighed. Fishing on "Hooked on
Protein" Michael Mayhew's Kahawai weighed in at 2.32kg but was "pipped at
the post" by Steve Babe on "Stashtin" with a 2.68kg specimen taking out the
heaviest Kahawai section in the Captain Morgan's "Hook a Huge One".
In the final line up, "Oh2fish" and "Silva Fox" with one tagged Marlin each
took out the tag and release marlin section and Craig Bridger and Graham
Judd share the WDSAC & MORE FM trophy for the angler tagging and releasing
the most Marlin for the contest.
A very happy Barney MacGibbon walked away with a 6 rack digital smoker by
way of a lucky angler draw courtesy of great sponsor "Bradley Smoker", but
Top honours and an armload of prizes from the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers
Club and Team Daiwa was Joy Keene on "Königheim" with her 142kg Stripey. Joy
took out the Heaviest Marlin section, the Angler most points Marlin section
and was awarded the John & Val Going Trophy for the angler landing the
heaviest fish of the weekend.
Sunny skies and Silky smooth seas - One of the best Anniversary weekends
ever at Tutukaka!!