LADIES 2025

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I can’t believe it ….. 3rd year the sea conditions have been fairly good for us lady anglers who want a good time out at sea, and a fish too! Theme this year was hillbillies which promised to be fun at dress-up time. The good forecast prompted 49 boats carrying 122 anglers to take part, more boats than One Base.

Day 1 was the best sea conditions and the best fishing day with a steady stream of hook ups during the morning, and several in the afternoon. The result was 7 stripys tagged and released, and two landed, which unfortunately were under-weight. Aynslie Holland weighed in an unexpected broadbill for the comp. which went 108.6kg, but not unexpected for Fah Out who are amassing a great billfish tally this season. It was good to see so many fish tagged, especially as the billfish weights had been low this season, and using the sliding scale of points for tagging again, made it worthwhile to tag and release. Three good yellowfin were boated and brought in, the heaviest of 61.4kg was caught by Shanelle Te Hira on Sea King V, then 2nd was Aimee Nobelen with a tuna of 45.8kg from Nautilus, and 3rd was a fish of 43.8kg for Robyn Bertram on Indica. The talk of the day was also of a seldom seen wahoo which was weighed in but was unfortunately disqualified on a technicality, but they are rarely caught and seen, so that was a surprise. We also lost a flag buoy with 3 going out and only two coming back in, so one is hopefully still bobbing around out there, and will find its way back home eventually. On the evening, the best team uniform was judged, and the winners were the ladies on Opium with some very fetching red check shirts. The early bird prize was also drawn and won by Jemima Foster. Then it was time for the lucky draw for the Air NZ mystery travel prize so the ladies who had been drawn out came and fetched their numbered bottles and the eliminations begun. The two left standing were Jemma Parrish and Bradie Wilson and with the next number drawn, Bradie was the winner, and Jemma got a stay for 2 people at the lovely Whangaroa Lodge Motel. The poems were done a different way this year, with poems submitted for overnight judging, and the winner to be read out on Saturday.

Day 2 fishing was a lot slower with the hook up action not warming up until the afternoon. Sandra Jones on Miss Chris tagged her 2nd striped marlin of the contest, and Tracey Dedman on Kat’n’Fiddle also tagged one. Another stripy was weighed in, but the angler was very disappointed when that fish was also underweight, the ladies were struggling to find a striped marlin for the Calcutta, which qualified i.e. 90kg or over. As the sea was not so forgiving the 2nd day, there was some shallow water fishing, with some decent snapper weighed in, the heaviest of which was 6.75kg for Jill Gillette on Blackjack. The tuna were still around and 3 came in to be weighed, with Keryn Moffat on Replay catching the heaviest tuna of 54.8kg. Saturday evening and the fishing was done, and time to party. The fancy dress costumes went on and amongst posing and laughter the winners were judged to be the team on Blackjack with some very authentic representations of hillbillies. The winning poem came from Bacchus, and when the crew found out they had won, they scrambled for their glasses and read out the poem, which will be in our next yearbook. They won money from our patron Snooks Fuller.

Trophy time, and the broadbill caught by Aynslie remained the heaviest billfish and as none of the landed striped marlin qualified, the broadbill won the Calcutta. It also won Aynslie the Hair by Chris Trophy and a basket of hair products from Chrissie Mowat, the Weighstation Trophy, and Dutton and Donna Watson Trophies. Sandra Jones on Miss Chris had the most tagged billfish & shark, so won the Showcase Jewellers Trophy which had just been redone for this year, along with a G-Shock watch, and Keryn Moffat won the Kingfish Lodge Trophy and a lovely basket of hair products from B-Hair for the heaviest gamefish on 24kg line.

The trailer boat who gained the most points was Seas the Day, skippered by Josh Henwood, who had 650 points from a tag & released marlin on 24kg line on day 1. Josh won $1500 towards a charter on Nautilus. The generous prize from Pete & Raewyn of a Hawaiian holiday was not won as no blue marlin were caught, and they have been scarce all season. Now prizes had been dished out it was time to dance the night away with DJ Venom.

Our lovely sponsors were Kilwell Sports, Hair by Chris, Bohemian Hair, Pete & Raewyn, Nautilus Charters, Snooks Fuller, Keoghan’s Showcase Jewellers, Air New Zealand, Whangaroa Lodge Motel, IceyTek, Kerikeri Reflexology, Redwoods Café, Darlin Imports and BBQ BOI.