Juniors Weekend & Interclub 2023

(Due to bad weather, the contest was cancelled in 2024)

Click Here for the tally

Click Here for the prize list            Click Here for Interclub Results (to come)

This year we finally had some decent weather and sea conditions for our juniors, so we had a lot of interest which was so good to see, with 26 boats and 52 anglers taking part. We saw quite a few of our regular anglers, but it was refreshing to see that some of their siblings were now old enough to fish as well, and there were some completely new faces too.

The prizes this year were really good, with lots of electronic devices such as Kindle, Switch, lap tops and tablets, along with the more conventional fishing rods and tackle. The contest was well sponsored by Twin Coast Marine / Stabicraft / Mercury / Suzuki, Northland Hedge Cutting Services, Darlin Imports, Nautilus Charters who generously donated a charter to go with the Whangamel Perpetual Trophy, Red Gill Lures, Fish 4 Tucker, and Whangaroa Marina.

Eva Candy on Senator started the catch ball rolling at 8.40am, by tagging a mako, then all was quiet until about between 3 and 4pm when there was a bit more action. Lola Scott on Excalibur tagged a spearfish of about 15kg, on 15kg line, Brace ya Self hooked up for about 10 minutes, then there was a little flurry of the smaller species such as skippies, kingfish, kahawai and snapper. Koby Farmilo on El Pescador landed a good kahawai of 2.4kg, and Aiden Gerrard on Catch 22 brought in the heaviest snapper of 4.35kg. Just for the contest, skipjack tuna qualified at 2kg or more, so Jayden Brown on Hazel G had the heaviest skippy of 2.25kg, and Joel Fowler on Can Do landed the only kingfish at 6kg.

On the 2nd day, there was still plenty of trolling going on, and the need to catch a bait first, which resulted in a flurry of skipjack catches for half an hour in the morning, with the heaviest skippies put aside to be weighed in, and the other skippies rigged up in the hope of catching a bigger fish. The biggest skippy of the day, weighed 2.3kg and was caught by Randell Sturge on Gunslinger. Over the next few hours Brace ya Self hooked up again, but dropped it, then Gunslinger hooked up and 25 minutes later, 8-year-old Karly Sturge boated her first marlin, a stripy which sadly did not go weight, but she was none the less stoked with her first marlin catch. Miss Chris and The Immigrant managed to hook up as well, but not for long, then the next hook up was by Catch 22, young Aiden Gerrard was on, and three quarters of an hour later, using 37kg line, he had boated a blue marlin.

Aiden’s and Blair’s blue marlin weighed in at 168kg and was the heaviest fish of the contest, which won Aiden the Whangamel Perpetual Trophy and charter, and other prizes. The heaviest snapper was of a weight that any angler would be proud of, a fish of 9.55kg, caught by Hunter Finlayson on Wetta, on 8kg line, off Karikari Peninsula. Hunter also caught the 2nd heaviest snapper of 6.5kg, with a close third place snapper of 6.45kg for Nikisha Blakeman on The Immigrant.

The club was so excited to see more juniors taking part this year, so hopefully the weather next year is kind to us again, and we see our juniors back to fish with us. Eligible results will be put forward for the Interclub contest between us and the other northern fishing clubs, and we will see if we win any trophies.