Vanuatu Here We Come!

Despite the bad weather conditions, the Air Vanuatu Tradewinds Resort One Base Contest was held at Tutukaka from the 4th to 9th March.

Obviously not in favour with the weather gods, the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club Contest Committee had few options available and made the tough call to extend fishing to include Sunday 9th March and also to extend fishing times.

Wednesday 4th March and Thursday 5th March saw heavy seas and fishing had to be called off. Friday dawned a little brighter and, after a check on conditions, Start Fishing was finally called at 11am to the obvious delight of everyone.

The first to hit the Marlin score board was Dave Manson fishing on Rueben Jack with a Striped Marlin tipping the scales at 106.2kg. Next on the board was John Douglas on "Collective Soul" with a tagged Striped Marlin estimated at 85kg shortly followed by John Imhof skipper of "Sealord" with another tagged Stripey estimated at 95kg. Regrettably for the "Shopan" crew, what was to be Graham Smith's first tagged Marlin, suffered from a propeller strike and had to be called as disqualified - better luck in the future Graham! Two further Striped Marlin were tagged on this Day One of fishing, the first by Alan Fraser on "Beretta" estimated at 80kg and the second by Jason Gibson on "Mamma Mia" estimated at 90kg.

Saturday morning and with conditions finally on the improve everyone enjoyed a full day's fishing. Evan Daysh fishing on his charter boat "Harpoon" landed a Yellowtail weighing in at 12.48kg on 10kg line, but first Striped Marlin for the day went to skipper Greg Currie on "Beretta" with their second tagged Marlin of the contest estimated at 80kg. Joe Love fishing on "Deception" tagged the next Stripey estimated at 95kg and then it was the turn of Steve Coldicutt on "Wild Card" with his fish estimated at 75kg. Day Two of the contest continued well, and despite a good number of dropped fish, the next to be recorded were two landed Striped Marlin, the first to Bryce Thorne on "Psycho" weighing in at 104.4kg and the next to Kimberley Bines on "Collective Soul" weighing in at
81.4kg. These were followed by Pete Millen on "Marlena" tagging and releasing a Striped Marlin estimated at 80kg, Warren Dixon on "Lady Jess" estimating his tagged Marlin at 90kg and Peter Johnstone on "Kayben" tagging and releasing the first fish for the boat estimated at 80kg. Kelton Ryan was next to register with a tagged and released Mako shark estimated at 40kg on 15kg line, but certainly the catch of the day was a fine Blue Marlin by Grant Sagar on "Diversion" tipping the scales at 163.6kg

Sunday, the last day of the contest, saw another tagged shark to Kelton Ryan, this time a Hammerhead estimated at 30kg on 15kg line, and Ross Gibbons landed a great Yellowtail that went 20.2kg on 15kg line. The first Marlin of the day was tagged and released by Brandon Dolan on "Finfinder" estimated at 90kg. Then all was set up for a nail-biting afternoon when Terry Cooksey on "Wild Card" tagged and released a Striped Marlin estimated at 90kg, giving their team equal share of the lead with two tagged Marlin. Despite everyone's best efforts no further fish were caught on this final day.

To the Finals - the overall Shark section went to Kelton Ryan fishing on "Divider" with 60 points for two tagged Shark and the heaviest Yellowtail of the Contest went to Ross Gibbons on "Harpoon" with his 20.2kg catch on 15kg line with Evan Daysh, also fishing on "Harpoon", in second with a 12.48kg specimen on 10kg line. "Harpoon" also took out the Tautuku Trophy for the winning team in the Yellowtail section.

The landed Marlin section went to Grant Sagar for his 163.6kg Blue Marlin, also receiving the Jill Going Memorial trophy for the angler with the most points overall for the contest, the Maui Trophy and the Hotel Trophy for the most points for a single fish, and the Angel Brown Trophy for the Heaviest Billfish caught on a lure. Second place went to David Manson with his Stripey of 106.2kg followed by Bryce Thorne with a Stripey of 104.4kg and in fourth place was Kimberley Bines fishing on "Collective Soul".

The tagged Marlin section was less than straight forward with eight teams having 1 tagged Marlin each forcing a lucky draw for places third through to tenth. With two tagged fish each on "Wild Card" and "Beretta" a further draw was then required for places first and second. The end result saw the "Wild Card" team, skipper Russell Carde, Terry Cooksey and Mark Barden, take out first place in the Tagged Marlin section with the "Beretta" team in second.

Then came the Big One - the trip for four flying Air Vanuatu staying at the Tradewinds Resort Port Vila, for the team with the most points for Billfish overall. Yes you guessed it !! - Another draw with both "Wild Card" and "Beretta" on 240 points each with their two tagged Marlin respectively. Both teams jointly received the McCoy and Thomas Winning Team Trophy Marlin Section, The Engraving Systems Trophy for most Tagged, the Ngunguru Motor Lodge trophy for the Launch with most points. Skippers Russell Carde and Greg Currie shared the Bryan Bell Memorial Trophy for the Skipper most points weighed and tagged Billfish and also collected the Interclub Trophy for the club most points on behalf of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club.

And the lucky team to be pulled out of the draw was ......... the "Beretta" team of skipper Greg Currie and anglers Glen Adams, Alan Fraser, Alan Johnson, Cliff Metcalfe and Stu Parker - Vanuatu here we come!