Kingfish Tournament 2024

Click Here for the tally.    Click Here for the Prize List.

We had 10 teams and 27 anglers this year, which is a bit better than previous years, and the weather was kind to us as well. On the first day the hook-ups were relatively constant all day, and anglers managed to catch 20 kingfish, with most weighed in, and some measured, photographed and released. Heaviest fish of the day was caught by Tineke Smith aboard KC, with a fish of 25.55kg on 6kg line. Fran Jordan aboard charter boat Nautilus landed the 2nd heaviest fish of 20.9kg on 10kg line, and 3rd heaviest was a fish of 20kg for David McAinsh on Lady Luck. Plenty of fish weighing in the high teens also came in to weigh, with KC catching a total of 5 fish for the day, and there were 4 fish caught from Lady Luck and Harlequin. Another notable fish was one of 17.9kg caught by junior angler Kael Gee aboard Storm Trooper, and on 8kg line.

On day 2 it was a polar opposite of day 1, with only 10 hook ups called in all day, and 5 fish landed. The biggest fish of the day weighed 22.45kg, and was caught on 6kg line by Kurt Bennetto on Harlequin. Tineke landed another good fish of 17.05kg and the junior anglers on Storm Trooper did really well to bring in a fish of 15.25kg for Kael Gee and one of 13.90kg for Ben Wigley.

Day 3, the final day of the kingfish tournament was a bit busier than day 2, resulting in 7 kingfish to weigh in. The heaviest fish of the day was hooked and landed by Kurt Bennetto, a nice fish of 21.75kg on 6kg line from the Taheke Reef. Not far behind was a fish of 21.15kg caught by Sean Mackay on Scrawny. Dave Chambers on KC bagged his 3 fish for the day, with fish from the Cavallis ranging from 13.3kg to 18.8kg.

After all the catches went into the mix, and points were added up, we had prize-giving, and everyone was eager to see who had won the Tuturoa Cup - Tuts or us, with Harlequin catching good fish for Tuts, and KC also having good catches for us. After calculations were completed, our top junior angler was Kael Gee who had 2 fish, and the heaviest junior's fish of 17.9kg. Tineke's fish of 25.55kg did not get beaten so she had the heaviest fish of the competition, followed by 2nd and 3rd places for Kurt Bennetto. The angler with the most points tally was Dave Chambers who had caught 5 fish for 1493 points, again closely followed by Kurt Bennetto who also had 5 fish, for 1413 points.

Trophy time and Tineke won the Lady Jess Trophy, and a special win for Tineke was to win her mom's trophy; the Anna Smith Memorial Trophy. Tineke's, Stu's, Dave’s, and John's catches all contributed to KC winning the Kilwell Team Trophy and the Tuturoa Cup for Whangaroa, but it was a close one; another couple of fish for Harlequin and it would have been awarded to Tuts! so Harlequin gave it a real good effort and fished well.

Many thanks to our sponsors - Burnsco in Opua, Wild Gear / Darlin Imports and Makana, and to Pete & Brenda Saul for the Lady Jess Trophy and Kilwell for their team trophy.