The Whakatāne Sport Fishing Club hosted its popular Hams Fishing Tournament over the weekend.

With the tournament focused on bottom species such as snapper, gurnard, and tarakihi, a special ham was set aside as a prize for the coveted yellowfin tuna category.

Saturday saw 23 boats and three jet skis, totalling 86 anglers, head out in hopes of trading fish for pork.

Club representative Rochelle Fleming was pleased to see the event finally return.

“This is an annual event for the club, but we haven’t been able to run it since 2022 due to weather events.

“This time the weather was perfect, and the sea conditions were what we had hoped for,” said Fleming.

A total of 152 fish were weighed in throughout the day, with strong quality across the board and plenty of positive feedback from anglers.

With Pak’n Save sponsoring many of the hams, prizegiving drew a full crowd.

Corey Munn claimed the heaviest trevally at 4.59kg.

The hotly contested tarakihi section was won by Jason Good with a 1.64kg fish.

The red gurnard prize went to Barry Spry, and the snapper category was taken by an excited Wendy Johnson with a 7kg catch.

The prized yellowfin ham went to Connor Stables, who landed an 11.995kg tuna off the boat Stabilizer.

The yellowfin season is off to a promising start across the Bay.

Last Friday, Mathew Gebert landed Whakatāne’s first yellowfin tuna of 2025, weighing in at 18.6kg.

“The fish was caught in 160 metres, inside the vents, which is the Eastwind Clydesdales sponsor grid.

“A lot of people were spotting yellowfin, but no one could seem to get them to bite.

“We started by trolling around the 10-mile reef to look for bait at the surface temperature breaks, but all we found were pods of orcas.

“So, we headed out to deeper water. Once we turned around and were heading home, we got a bite out of the blue,” said Gebert.

He was quick to acknowledge the team effort behind the catch.

“My mate Alex Cloke and my five-year-old son Mason were on the boat. It’s a team effort to get a game fish,” he said.

As the club launches its new Yellow Funtastic tournament, running from December 1 to 20, staff are hopeful the yellowfin-only event will attract plenty of enthusiastic anglers eager for a top catch.