Club NZ National Fishing Tournament 2024

Click Here for the fish tally                         Click Here for the prize list

This year the contest was postponed from its original date and held a few weeks later, in mid-April, with the hope that the weather would play ball. The date approached and the weather wasn’t looking too flash but we went ahead anyway. We ended up with 15 teams: 6 for our club, 3 teams for Ngunguru and Northland Clubs, 2 teams for Kamo Club, and 1 team for the Quota Club. Our sponsor for the tournament was Burnsco in Opua who provided heaps of their own brand and Edge fishing and boating gear.

Day 1 weather was atrocious, with heavy rain for most of the day, so the teams took advantage of breakfast at the club and went out a bit later in the day, if they went out at all, and mostly they fished in and just outside the harbour, as outside the harbour was rocking and rolling! So, just a few snapper, kahawai and a trevally were caught. The biggest kahawai went 2.05kg on braid to David Wright on Boat With No Name, for Ngunguru. David also weighed in a trevally of 2.25kg on braid. The heaviest snapper weighed 5.6kg caught by Steven James on Bill Collector, on mono, for our own club, and a good 2nd heaviest snapper of 4.1kg was landed by Paul Sullivan on Nauti Buoy, on mono, for Kamo Club. Our heaviest other fish was a John Dory of 2kg caught by Mike Turner on Christina, for the Northland Club.

Day 2 was slightly better, at least the heavy rain had gone through, and the water in the harbour was like a mirror as the teams started out for a fishing trip, but the wind was soon back as the sun climbed into the sky, and it got really windy at times, and changed directions, so the sea outside the harbour was still rough and nobody trolled, but some boats ventured out as far as Stevies and Cone Rock after kahawai, snapper and kingfish, and mysterious ‘other’ fish. At the end of the day, we weighed in 12 kahawai, 5 snapper, 2 grandaddy hapuka and a kingfish. The heaviest kahawai weighed 2.4kg caught by Tom Clunie on Dak Attack, for the Northland Club. Steven James on Bill Collector brought in the heaviest snapper of 7.95kg for our club, hotly followed by a fish of 7.2kg for Ben Gibbs on Christina for the Northland Club. The kingfish weighed 12.5kg and was caught by Colin Bale also on Christina.

At prize-giving we had a lot of lucky draws for marlin, tuna, and trevally, but we had a lot of happy anglers who won a prize to take back! We also had the early bird entry draw which was won by Joe Campbell on Pelican, and a Burnsco lucky angler draw of a 70L chilly bin which was won by John Dunbar on Hawkeye, fishing for Ngunguru Club. There was only one trevally caught in the end, by David Wright on Boat With No Name also from Ngunguru, so he got a prize of a rod and reel, tackle bag and jigs. David also won 1st place for kahawai on braid, with a fish of 2.05kg, and for kahawai caught on mono., Tom Clunie on Dak Attack fishing for the Northland Club won, with a fish of 2.4kg. There had been plenty of snapper weighed in, so the prize sheet was full there, with the heaviest snapper on mono. being caught by Steven James aboard Bill Collector, a fish of 7.95kg, fishing for us. The heaviest snapper on braid weighed 2.9kg and was caught by Matt Taylor on Des-Tinny, fishing for Ngunguru. The average weight snapper was a good size of 4.42kg, with Paul Sullivan’s fish of 4.1kg, closest to the average. There was only the one kingfish caught during the contest, so that 1st prize went to Colin Bale on Christina, fishing for Northland. The heaviest other species turned out to be a grandaddy hapuku of 2.45kg caught by John Dunbar on Hawkeye, for the Ngunguru Club. The lady angler with the heaviest fish (after sorting out a few name/gender issues) was Diane Noble from Kamo Club, fishing on 2 Easy, who landed a kahawai of 2.05kg.

Then it was time to add up the points from all the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd placings for each species, and work out who had won the coveted national and northern region trophies. The winners turned out to be the Northland Club with 410 points, 2nd was the Ngunguru Club with 300 points, 3rd was Whangaroa with 150 points, and 4th were the Kamo Club with 130 points. The Northland Club were ecstatic that they had won, and it very well done by them, so congratulations to the winners, and a big thanks to everyone taking part in the contest, and having fun despite the weather! Whangaroa as host club looks forward to seeing you all again next year, and possibly winning the trophies.