Winning Blue

08. March 2005

The 6th annual Bayleys game fishing tournament was held down at Tutakaka this year and to say the least, before it even started, I was probably the grumpiest of all the crews, anglers and entertainers put together.  But it is amazing how views can change.

Tutakaka is a small but rather beautiful harbor 30nm down the coast from Cape Brett with a modest fleet of game fishing boats and a well-established club.  The last time we fished out of here was during the millennium tournament and we didn't do all that well back then.  So the keep it simple stupid, approach was used and we abided by the old saying of, "fish your feet first".

On the first day we watched the majority of the boats head north and we headed for the bream knolls, or there abouts.  The day was fairly slow for all, and I don't believe any one caught a fish on the first day, so we weren't doing that bad.  But there were a few bites up out front of the bay and the yellow fin were present in the trench.  Which meant they were feeding on something.

At 1600hrs from our position out the back of the Knights, we stopped fishing and ran up to the bay and stayed just inside the Brett at Pig Gulley.  The next morning we were first on the scene out on the trench, with glassy calm conditions and gray and cloudy overhead.  It wasn't long before we were joined by a number of other boats fishing the tournament, and we watched Barney, on "Levante" " hook up and release a stripey right behind us.  That's just how it goes sometimes and we fished the Bay and the Cape for the rest of the day, for zip. 

With the stay away night over and done with, all the boats had to be back in the harbor by 1800hrs and into the clubrooms for dinner and the usual stories that fishermen tell.  A few fish had been released and a small blue marlin of 178.2kgs had been weighed and was winning the tournament.  I had commented to a few mates that a 178kg fish was an easy fish to beat and it was still anyones game; however the retort from my mates was quick and precise.  They asked me how happy would I be right now if that 178kg fish was mine?….
 
The next day was an early start, with Eric Rush keeping me company on the bridge we headed for a spot wide of the knights.  With all our information gathered through various sources, we headed out at pace and started fishing at 0830hrs.  The water was good, 22.3 degrees and our first bite was from a spearfish.  Which wasn't a bad thing, since it was only 10minutes later that we hooked another, and while winding in the gear a third one followed our lure in.  However we weren't here to catch spearfish.  So 20 minutes later when the rigger popped off again and only a trickle of line pulled off the reel, I looked up to see a little splash.  "#$^% spearfish", I yelled at the boys, but quickly followed by, "yep this is the one we want" and when it jumped again I couldn't be sure that it was big enough.

We cleared the gear and raced after it, with Henry Smidt in the chair, just gaining line.  The fish did some spectacular jumps, speeding away from the boat and then slowed and stopped!  Henry gained line like a mad man but couldn't quite keep up, as it takes some time for 90 tonnes to slow and change direction, ie the complete opposite direction. Forward!  A few anxious moments were had before we came tight again, but we were in a good position with the rigger marker on the reel, which indicated the fish was close.
After 20 minutes we had the fish under control and along side, with it too close to let go, the boys gaffed the fish.  I raced down and Jerry and I struggled with getting the head through the door, but with a little more help we hauled the fish on the deck.  Completely out of the water, we all see the fish's girth and it is bigger then we had called it.  But its still, going to be sooo close.

Once measured, we wrapped the fish up and continued fishing, but pulled the pin to get to the weigh station at 1600hrs.  The measurements with a 10% added for condition was 176kg.  The tail stump measurement indicated 160kg.

It was a very nervous and rather somber crew in the bridge as we ran back to the weigh station.  The scales pulled down to 182.2kg.  So it was a happy and relieved angler, and team, with a whole lot of celebrating ahead of them.

Many thanks to Bayleys, for hosting another fantastic event.  We look forward to next year!

Good Fishing.  Tom