"Marine North Tutukaka Coast Snapper & Kingfish Tournament  2009"

WHOPPA SNAPPER TAKES OUT THE MARINE NORTH FISHING TOURNAMENT

A record number of anglers and loads of snapper proved a great formula for the opening of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Clubs 2008/09 fishing calendar on November 15th and 16th at Tutukaka.

The opening tournament sponsored by Marine North, Yamaha and Fyran boats attracted a huge turnout with a Fyran boat and Yamaha outboard going off to one of the many anglers by way of a lucky draw.

Saturday - Day one of the contest and while it dawned fine and sunny, the sea conditions were less than ideal. However, this did not deter most of the intrepid anglers and by the 5pm close, lots of great snapper had been weighed along with one kingfish.

The Tutukaka Coast Lions were once again busy filleting snapper and kingfish for Hospice. A big thank you to all anglers who kindly donated their catch!

First in the Kingfish section on day one was Hagan Ross fishing on "NZ Fishing World" with a kingi weighing in at 11.56kg.

Taking out the Junior section for the day was Manu Scott-Arrieta with a snapper tipping the scales at 1.4kg.

Angler Chris Morrow bringing a 7.86kg snapper to the weigh station recorded the 3rd heaviest of the day, while second place forced a tie with both Kelton Ryan and Glen Douglas's snapper coming in at 8.42kg. But taking away top honours for day one's snapper section was Wayne Johnson with a whoppa snapper of 12.14kg.

Sunday day two and while the weather continued to warm up, the sea conditions did not. While the fishing could not quite reach the heights of day one, the weigh station warmed up about 3 o'clock with plenty of snapper and one more Kingfish.

Shiloh Rumbal fishing on "Vicky-Jane" brought in a 16.58kg fish to take out 1st place in the day two Kingfish section.

Two junior anglers weighed in snapper for the day with Bevan Johnson landing the second heaviest with a 1.92kg specimen and Ruby Taylor fishing on "Lady Melissa" the heaviest with a nice 3.1 kg snapper.

Third place in the snapper section went to Bryce Rowlands fishing on "Jeremar VII" with a 6.98kg snapper while Dave Grant on "Reel Xcuse" weighed in a respectable 8.24kg snapper for second slot. It was Russell Heywood fishing on "Lady Melissa" that took 1st place for day two with a lovely 8.4kg snapper.

With only two Kingfish weighed in for the contest, it was Hagan Ross who took out second place in the overall Kingfish section with Shiloh Rumbal taking out the top spot and receiving a load of prizes including a Rod & Reel courtesy of Leigh Distributors.

It was young lady angler Ruby Taylor who took away the overall Junior section with her 3.1kg snapper with Bevan Johnson on "Double Rose" in second.

Wayne Johnson's 12.14kg snapper, landed on "Score", couldn't be beaten and took overall honours in the Snapper section and the Lions share of the prizes that included a Sea Anchor courtesy of Kamo Canvas and another Rod and Reel from Leigh Distributors. A draw for second and third place saw second going to Kelton Ryan on "Divider" and third place to Glen Douglas on "Bosca" with their respective 8.42kg snapper. Rounding out the snapper section taking away 4th place honours was Russell Heywood.

With a load of lucky draws, tension was starting to build. The penultimate draw saw a beaming Tom Kelly skipper on "Vicky-Jane" walk up to take away a fantastic Bradley Smoker - happy smoking Tom!!

And then the Big One! It was a very emotional Mike Hemmingway who stepped up to the stage when Marine North's owner Paul Dunn drew Mike's name out of the bucket for the Fyran Boat and Yamaha outboard.

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