Full field for Extreme contest

There was a full field of 300 anglers and 85 boats at this year’s Extreme Boats tournament fished out of Whitianga in the first weekend in November.

Conditions were tough with strong winds out of the westerly quarter preventing all but the biggest Extremes getting out wide.

Open to anglers fishing out of an Extreme built boat, this tournament is a measure-based one with anglers allowed to enter just one fish per day for each of the tournament species – kahawai, kingfish, snapper and trevally. After two days fishing, 158 fish had been measured, the photographs being registered with the officials.

On day one Andy Pryor, fishing aboard Ambush, measured the longest snapper at 71cms – a nice fish but quite beatable. On day two Daniel Watkins (Miskita) came close at 70.5cm, but not quite cracking it for overall bragging rights.

The kingfish section was a little more clear-cut. On day one George Burke recorded a 106.5cm fish aboard Midnight Express but was beaten on day two by Grey Drayer on Tiamat with a 116.6cm entry.

Top trevally honours went to Bevan Mills with a 55cm fish caught aboard Therapy, while Wendy Patrick took out the overall kahawai section on day two with a 60cm entry landed from Y-Knot.

There was a prize for the longest fish caught on Catch tackle, samples of which were in the starter’s pack. This went to Richard Brown fishing aboard Reef Knot with a 103cm kingfish.

Craig Spence aboard Poppa was one of five anglers to produce the average length snapper of 44.5cm, his name drawn first.

The tournament was successful from several perspectives. The Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club’s facilities are ideal for this type of event which attracted a prize pool of around $60,000 in value. Mercury Bay offers a variety of angling opportunities regardless of boat size and most weather conditions.

The event has a family feel about it, the same boat marque helping to create this. There is also a large contingent of Extreme Boats staff there to help with every aspect of the tournament from setting up the stage, co-ordinating the entries and assisting with launching and retrieving vessels at the ramp.

Results:

Snapper - day one: Andy Pryor 71.0cm, Craig Vickery 59, Glen Patterson 56.5; day two: Daniel Watkins 70.5, Nicole Barnes 68.5, Paul McIvor 66.5.

Trevally – day one: Bevan Mills 55.0cm, Nikora Walters 52.0, Clinton Barnes 50.0; day two: Tom Steiner 51.5, Tom Parkes 51.0, Jayden Kramer 46.5.

Kingfish – day one: George Burke 106.5cm, Kirk Bunting 106.0, Richard Brown 103.0; day two: Greg Dreyer 116.5, Craig McLean 108.0, Wayne Kirkwood 103.5.

Kahawai – day one: Kevin Taylor 59.0cm, Clinton Armitage 57.0, Laurie Powell 56.5 day two: Kevin Taylor 59.0cm, Ricky Goodlet 58.5, Laurie Powell 56.5.