Yellowfin is the buzz!

During the Icebreaker tournament, held last weekend, over 80 yellowfin tuna were caught, the majority being tagged. Local legend Bruce Smith told me that yellowfin in these numbers last happened in the early ‘80s! Although not in the tournament I just had to have a crack and secure one of these tasty gamefish so on Sunday morning I headed out to the 150m mark armed with a range of tuna lures.

The tournament channel was going crazy with report after report of yellowfin captures – exciting stuff. Then the starboard outrigger exploded but the fish soon dropped, followed by the port outrigger which stuck. This was one tough crazy fish and we struggled to retrieve the topshot only to see it disappear into the deep again six times. Eventually, we tuckered the fish out and were surprised to find it was a striped marlin! The lack of surface action was explained by the hook being firmly stuck in its eye so into the smoker it went!

The snapper fishing has been consistent and sometimes awesome. Last Saturday we fished with the forestry boys that I work with over the winter. One of them, Rob, had been threatening to come up and fish with us for three years and finally made it. We didn’t disappoint and found a large school of snapper at the 60m mark. Slow jigs of any description were grabbed on the descent, the windup, or even when sitting in the rod holder.

It didn’t take us long to get enough to feed the whole crew with fillets that night at the Swordfish Club. More recently we managed, just, to get a feed at the 50m mark and it pays to look around. The middle ground, at least for me, has been hit and miss but we have secured a couple of good-sized pannies there.

Russell TOP 10 Holiday Park Icebreaker 2024, tournament roundup.

The fish showed up and the sun was out with fair winds. We had 29 teams competing this year and the fish just didn't stop rolling in through channel 3.

Russell Top 10 Icebreaker results below:

• Longest M&R Snapper – Lester Perry, Lazy Boy II, 84cm - $5,000
• Heaviest Snapper – Lester Perry, Lazy Boy II, 10.3kg
• Longest M&R Kingfish – Tyler Davey, Argo, 110cm
• Heaviest Kingfish – Toby Patterson, Ballistic, 12.3kg
• Heaviest Tuna – Talia Jordon, Nautic Hunt, 55.3kg
• Angler Most points – Gavin Norman, Charge ‘D’ Affair, 1750 points
• Team most tag points – Charge ‘D’ Affair, 4250 points (1 tagged marlin, 15 tagged tuna) $5,000

Next on the BOI Swordfish Club tournament calendar is the CMP Juniors 4-5th January ‘25, followed by the Cater Marine Small Boats 18-19th January ‘25.

Come into the shop to check out the latest in gear, get your bait, ice and berley, and most importantly, some genuine intel! We are open from 9.00am to 4pm, every day. As always, if you urgently need some supplies after hours just give me a call.

Garry Townley
Screaming Reels
(021) 029 56596
www.screamingreels.co.nz