FEBRUARY UPDATES

PIN FISH

Striped Marlin : 136.75 kg Peter Cross

Blue Marlin: 184.70 kg Scott Robinson

Black Marlin: Nil Weighed

Yellowfin Tuna : 43.90 kg Graham Bell

Mako : Nil Weighed

Hammerhead : Nil Weighed

Kingfish : 15.15 kg Peter Cross

Snapper : 7.72 kg Paul Harris

Kahawai : 2.838 kg Brian Taplin

The following are heaviest to date but do not qualify for pins

Shortbill Spearfish : 21.50 kg Gay Grey

Albacore Tuna : 12.155 kg Brent Turner

Skipjack Tuna : 4.00 kg Richard Woods   

Hapuka : 32.10 kg Wolfgang Weinzettl

Trevalli : 2.686 kg J Bergersen

(As at 20/02/2006)

FEBRUARY UPDATE

UPCOMING

Landbased - Now the 1st-2nd of April. Some excellent prizes up for grabs. Scroll down further for full details.

Counties vs Tairua-Pauanui Challenge

This annaul event is on again! The lads from Counties are coming over here on the 1st of April to challenge our club. Entry and briefing at the club on Friday night. 

As predicted the wieghmasters for the TPSFC have been kept even busier over the last few (but oh so short) weeks. Tairua has been experiencing an unheard of run of big Blue marlin in its waters - behind the Alderman Islands. These fish have never shown up in such numbers with several over 200 kilos coming from the Alderman Island area - including one tipping the scales at 320kg which was weighed at Whangamata (and then Whitianga!). Why these big fish are here is not clear but can probably be attributed to a number of factors including the above average water temputures and over abundance of bait. Striped Marlin are also here in both numbers and size.

NEWS FLASH

Local boat 'Inn Keeper' has made a splash this week boating a Stripey on Monday the 13th of February. Inn Keeper's Skipper is local businessman Peter Cross who owns and runs Tairua Punters Bar here in the main shopping centre. This stripey was the first for the boat, however even better was to come. The following day Pete himself landed a 136kg (300lb) Striped Marlin. Landed on 24 kg stand up tackle in 45 minutes Pete was understandably rapt with his boats second marlin in as many days. The fish was in great condition and will prove a hard pin-fish to beat.

NATIONALS

The Captain Morgan NZBGFC Nationals ran from the 18th-25th February and the club had four teams entered, the 'Pacific Rangers', 'Challenger II', 'North & South', and 'Ocean Cowboy'. Fishing was allowed country wide with points going back to the club. Club members tagged 8 striped marlin with 'North & South' and 'Ocean Cowboy' getting four a-piece. TPSFC came 17th equal overall (top three fish from each club). It may not seem that high but there are alot of clubs to compete against. Putting things into perspective we finished equal with  Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club and Whangaroa Big Gamefish Club. Full results for the NZBGFC nationals can be found at http://www.nzbgfc.org.nz/nationals/results06/default.asp 

TOURNAMENTS

OKUMA STAND-UP

The Okuma Stand-Up Competition held over Auckland Anniversary Weekend in January was an outstanding success. With almost 160 anglers competing it was perhaps one of the best tournaments hled in respect of fish caught. Five marlin were caught with two of them tagged. One aboard Challenger II by Shaun Thomsen and the other by Shikari. The heaviest Striped Marlin was caught by Max Kennedy aboard his boat Aria and tipped the scales at 88kg. Max also took the overall honours for the tournament winning the overall top team prize and the Mike Martin Memorial Trophy. 

The heaviest Yellowfinn Tuna was caught by Graham Bell and went 43.9kg which is now also the pin fish. Top Lady was Gail Inskeep aboard 'Polar Bear' landing a marlin on the Saturday in some 'testing' conditions. The fish was tail wrapped which provided  quite a workout for Gail on stand-up tackle. Full results are at the bottom of the page (also see the newspaper cut-outs in the club folder at the clubrooms).

Also Wolfgang Weinzettl caught a whopping 32.10kg Hapuka and Paul Harris caught a 7.72 kg (16.9lb) snapper. Tournament organiser Graham Bell said the tournament was a great sucess with 49 boats participating and some excellent catches. He was also pleased that all categories had been won thanks to some good fishing action across the two days and looks forward to an even bigger and better tournament next year.

PENN REEL TUNA & LIGHT TACKLE

The Penn Reel Tuna & Light tackle tournament also enjoyed a great number of competitors with 90 anglers aboard 31 boats. Top tuna was landed by Richard Woods aboard Lucky Strike with Warren Maher taking out 2nd and 3rd places. Unfortunately no yellowfinn were landed which was the case with most of the latest east coast tournaments.

In the light tackle sections Carl Muir scooped the kingfish pool with a 11.10kg fish and Carl Sanders-Edwards nipped into second with a 7.6kg fish. Wayne Short caught the heaviest snapper at 5.10kg and also scored top Kawahai at 2.45kg. Lucky Strike was in the prizes again with Karen Mackie winning top lady. Paige Taplin took out the juniors section whilst fishing aboard 'Mai-Waka'. 

OTHER NEWS

Four boats from the TPSFC took part in the One Base Fishing Classic held next door at the Whangamata Club. Held over the 9-11th of February the Tairua Boats did well. Ice Berg landed two striped marlin during the tournament and Challenger II also tagged a stripey with Shane Thomsen the angler. This was Shane's first marlin who is now one very happy angler!

UP & COMING

FISH 'n' CHICKS

Ladies day is fast approaching and there will be some fantastic prizes going. Held on the 11th March there will be $1500 in travel given away, also up for grabs are TVs, Stereos, homewares, vouchers and much much more. Entry fee is $20 (membership not required for the competition) and there are also prizes for best dressed team and Poems. Briefing and entry is at the clubrooms on Friday the 10th March from 6:00pm.

LANDBASED

This year the land based is held over the 1-2 April and has a return trip to Australia up for grabs. Pen this date in your fishing diary, there will be more details coming up.

Happy Hunting!

Scotty Robinson

Phone 027 410 5450; email [email protected]

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Okuma Stand-Up

Top Boat: Aria

Heaviest Fish: Max Kennedy

Mike Martin Memorial Trophy: Max Kennedy

Champion Junior Angler: Regan Robinson

Champion Lady Angler: Gail Inskeep

Marlin (weighed): 1st Max Kennedy, 2nd Gail Inskeep, 3rd Gylnn Jones (jnr)

Marlin (tagged & released): Sean Thomsen, Shikari

Yellowfin Tuna: 1st Graham Bell, 2nd Don Taylor, 3rd Graham Bell

Kingfish: 1st Chris New, 2nd Jason Harris, 3rd Paul Harris