Congrats to the naki team for hosting a great fishing comp..
The weather was going to be a cracker for the comp and many yak fishers entered the comp in the last week . Friday nights registration saw more late entries bringing the total number to about 65 and while waiting for the briefing, secretive plans were whispered as teams were formed. False times and spots were mentioned to put possible followers off the trail.
I hit the sack at 12.30 after inputting data into the computer and running tests to ensure that all would run well at the first weigh in. I was up again at 3.00. Our leaving time had been brought forward an hour to 4.00 as a few yak fishers were hot on the trail of our spot. Others took a more laid back approach and arose at 10.00 (probably due to the fact that the previous night had been spent testing beer to to confirm that all glasses tasted the same)
We arrived at WC at about 4.45 and critiqued the situation, however the ute headlights beamed onto a surfless sea. Car parks were at an abundance as the the other yak fishers had underestimated the eagerness of Team Naki.
We paddled for about 1/2 an hour with our head lights parting the dark, leaving a halo around each yak. At this point we were discussing the possibility of a team name change to "The Fucarwee Tribe" as all you could hear above the sound of the paddles cutting through the water was "where the fu*k are we". Wondaboy assured us that we were on the correct course according to the GPS. "Just head for that star". "Do you mean the one that's moving" I exclaimed. This didn't comfort me, as with my eye sight being not exactly 20/20, even with my head light, I couldn't see much past the end of my yak and the only way that I was going to find the buoy was to hit it.
The shout went out "it's over there". Shortly afterwards anchors were dropped and and the days fishing began. The morning proved to be bounteous with Team Naki binning snapper up to 15lb and a spattering of gurnard and Kahawai thrown in.
We packed up at 1.00 as I had to be back in time to set up the computer for the weigh in.
We arrived back at the beach only moments before the Taranaki Terrors. The show and tell began and even though the Terrors were, as some considered, the best dressed,
The scales clocked our biggest snapper at 7.22kg, followed by a 6.745kg, which left us 2nd & 3rd consecutively behind a 7.57kg snaps landed by Aaron Farley of the BBK Local team. Team Naki were at the top of the teams leader board, with the Taranaki Terrors trailing by 100 points and closely followed by the Naki Boys. A total of 162 fish were weighed in on the first day, with kingis and John Dory to be the only species to be conspicuous by their absence. Most anglers had a beer in their hand, a smile on their face and a story to tell, in between secretively planning their next days adventure.
A succulent roast pork buffet meal followed and that in turn was followed by a well narrated and illustrated presentation by Mark Jones of the Adventure Philosophy team on their circumnavigation expedition of Georgia Island. Thanks very much to Peter and Bronie from Canoe & Kayak for organising this and for the rest of their sponsorship.
The night ended early for all, except those who still had organising and computer work to complete; Oh yeah and fish to attend to. (bags not doing it next year)
After hitting the sack once again at 12.30, I was soon awoken when the alarm radio burst into life at 3.00. We adopted the same routine as the previous day, however the paddle out was much quieter and less enthusiastic. The fishing was slower and pannies seem to be the order of the day. Squid played with our baits as they sank to the depths, with the odd one being hooked and binned. At one stage I was reeling in a pannie snap, when a squid shot up from the deep and grabbed my fish. Reeling in slowly, I grabbed the squid by the tail and threw it my bin. The irony of all this was that the squid, once the predator, was now in the bin to be used in future as snapper bait. The news had got out about our spot and it wasn�t long before another 5 yaks had joined us, including � of the compliment of the Taranaki Terrors. A fizz boat screams in and proceeds to tie up to the bouy just metres in front of wondaboy under a hale of abuse from the surrounding yakers. Unperturbed the boaties proceeded to send line after line to the depths and shortly showed the results of their catch, Adams anchor
A yaker paddled in from further out and we soon realised that it was Nubee with his new Marauder, with rods sticking out in all directions and a vibrant green flag flying at the back, it gave the impression that it was a float left over from the last Mardi Gras Parade. A commotion stirred behind me and I reeled to see Dogfish going head to head with a Mollymawk in a fight for his stray line.
One o�clock had come around, so it was time to head in with a lesser catch than the previous day; some pannie snaps, a kahawai or two and some gurnard.
Excitement was rampant back at the weigh in with rumours that a monster snapps had been landed. I weighed my fish and proceeded to punch data into the computer. Suddenly the noise of the crowd escalated as the rumours turn to fact when Andrew Wright from team Bucket slaps a 12.88kg snapper on the scales. �what a monster�. The smell of cooked fish wafted through the air as fisherman grilled their days catch on the Bar b Que supplied by Butlers bar & cafe.
With bellies full the prize giving commenced with Rodney Langton taking out the early bird prize, the Cobra Marauder going to Andre van der Eist (wookie), Biggest snapper at 12.88kg to Andrew Wright (joe90), john dory at 1.56kg to Jason Bond, trevally at 2.91 to Roger Witts, gurnard at 1.03 to Derek Meyer, blue cod at 1.21 to Steve McEwen & kahawai at 2.65 to David Leatherby. No king fish were landed. Oh and yes Team Naki took out the teams event with 2025 points, one very small snapper ahead of the Taranaki Terrors. Many spot prizes were given out before the tired and weary anglers headed for a well earned sleep.
Many thanks to all that participated and to all that helped and a special thanks to all our sponsors.
NM
That's where the welly snaps went to! Excellent report- hope I can make it next time.
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