Whakatāne Sportfishing Club

The Whale Plumbing Junior Fishing Tournament ran from January 7 to 10 and was a huge success, with 94 young anglers enjoying three fantastic days on the water and landing some impressive fish.

Conditions were near perfect, with great weather and a cooperative ocean throughout the tournament, only beginning to cut up late on the final afternoon.

A big thank you goes to sponsors, Whale Plumbing, Shimano, Hubbard Contracting, Tracks Concrete, Playground Entertainment, and Awakeri Rail Adventures, whose generous support helped make the event such a success.

We also acknowledge the dedicated weigh master’s and the many club members working behind the scenes to ensure all fish were recorded and photographed accurately.

We were pleased to host a visiting Bay of Islands team from the BOI Swordfish Club, who fished aboard Nightshift and enjoyed three excellent days trolling the ocean.

The tournament produced some outstanding moments and results, including an unforgettable encounter on day one when junior angler Olliver Pask was fishing a live bait for yellowtail kingfish and hooked up to a black marlin estimated at around 300 kilograms. Olliver battled the majestic fish for an incredible six hours before the line finally parted, allowing the marlin to swim away to fight another day.

The tournament also saw three pending New Zealand and world record fish landed. James Porter, fishing on Braveheart, landed a 12.19kg skipjack tuna on 37kg line. Toby Boswell, aboard The Gambler, caught a 34.6kg yellowtail kingfish, while Kiana Skead, fishing on Aquarius, landed a remarkable 19.6kg yellowfin tuna on 6kg line, an incredible achievement.

Congratulations to all the anglers who took part in the junior tournament. It was a pleasure to see so many smiling faces at the weigh station throughout the event.

Next up is the Whakatāne Fencing Ladies Tournament, running from January 23 to 25. This is the weekend when the ladies take charge of the boats. Entries are now open online and at the Whakatāne Sportfishing  Club. Do not forget to have your team including the skipper and deckie wear their purple Whakatāne Fencing Ladies Tournament T-shirt to prizegiving to be in to win. The theme this year is purple.

Club nights start up again for the year on Wednesday, January 28 and Friday, January 30.

Come along and enjoy an evening of fellowship, happy hour, raffles, and plenty of fun and laughs.