As the season for tournaments draws to a close the club has been fortunate enough to have completed our programme.  The weather has been great for fishing for months with the bar workable for long periods and a stream of anticyclones crossing the country.  Reports from fishers out there is most species are biting well and even some complaints of the large schools of kahawai snapping baits before a snapper can be caught.  It does show what can be achieved if a fishery is managed correctly.  Great to see some of the members out there chasing broadbill. Some great fish have come to the scales in recent weeks.  Indications from some of our surface longliners is that the broadbill fishery in this area is as good as anywhere in the country.  All about getting out there and doing it.

Placemakers “Know How Can Do” 7 Species & Snapper Tournament.

This was run on the 6th of April with  111 anglers fishing out of 34 boats.  Good weather, and it seems the fish were biting.  The crew lead by James Ennis on 'Wotzwork' scored the major prize with all 7 species and a total weight of 6.74kg.  Other crew members were Sarah Wilde, Stu Ennis and Colin 'Choco' House.  Seven other boats landed 6 of the 7 species and 10 boats landed 5 of the 7 species.  The snapper section was keenly contested and prizes awarded for men, ladies and juniors.  Les Brinkley on 'Blu Beat' won the mens section with a fish of 6.29kg.  The ladies section was won by Debbie Thomsen on 'Sika'' with a fish of 2.92kg and the juniors heaviest fish weighed in at 3.62kg and was caught by Sarah Standen on 'De-Stressor'. Congratulations to all the winners and a special thanks to our fantastic sponsor, Clarrie, Jose and the team from Placemakers Whakatane.

Broadbill report.

This part of our fishery has been firing in March with 3 nice fish coming to the scales.  The club has been promoting the day time catching of broadbill after our workshop last year.  The challenge to take out the Shimano package (included was a Shimano Tiagra 80 wide combo plus shimano gear) and  the $1000 cheque was struck when Brett Frost landed a 194.2kg fish on the 24th of March.  Right behind this on the 26th of March Mark Coffin landed a monster of 309.4kg.  This may be the heaviest fish weighed in for the season in NZ.  Not to be outdone Chris Firken on the 28th also brought to the scales a nice fish which weighed 186.4kg.  These fish are the ultimate tester of gear and one fish was played for about 4 hours.  Rumour has it that the angler is not ready for another such challenge.  Mark Coffin also landed a Mahimahi while out wide which weighed in at 5.68kg.

Surtees Boats Only Tournament  

This tournament is always a hit with the Surtees owners and will be held on the 20^th and 21^st of April. In it’s eighth year being held at the club Surtees Boats also celebrates it’s 20^th year of being in production. So congratulations to the team at Surtees Boats “Built to Fish”.

Trout tournament.

Pencil in your diary the weekend of the 11th and 12th of May for the clubs annual trout tournament.  Always popular with anglers for a relaxing weekend away from the briney.  Briefing will be held at 7.30pm Thursday 9th May at the club.  

Raffle nights.

Wednesday and Friday  nights are up and running with good crowds each night.  Be sure to be there on Wednesday for the $1000 draw and the Oyster farm draw which stands at $500.  Great meat raffles as usual. 

Daylight saving has gone but there  are reports of great snapper catches out there so put on the warm clothes and get amongst them. 

Tight lines.