NZ 6kg Light Tackle Contest 2024

Click Here for the tally                Click Here for the prize list

We had a fantastic turn out for the contest this season as the weather forecast was excellent, with settled seas and weather – a big bonus! We had 13 teams and 38 anglers.

On the first day, the fishing was steady all day, with 14 kingfish weighed in, but also 14 kingfish measured, photographed, and released. The biggest fish released measured 103cm, for an estimated weight of 13.4kg caught by Dave Chambers on KC. The heaviest fish brought to the weigh-station weighed 17.40kg and was caught by Hamish Sheard on Shagz. The anglers on Rowe’De’O (including 2 juniors) were the only anglers to bring in fish caught on 4kg line, with the 2nd heaviest fish of 15.50kg caught by Blake Barker, amassing lots of team points. The outstanding teams for the day included KC, Rowe’De’O and El Pescador, all vying for the Diomedea Cup. We also did some DNA sampling at the weigh station using fin clippings of the kingfish, for a PhD student at Victoria University in Wellington who is studying kingfish populations around the country, to better understand population movements, interactions, and dynamics to better advise on the best fishing and breeding practices.

The second day of fishing started to show the competitive streaks in the leading teams, with them checking how many fish each other had caught, on what line, and calculating points. The team on KC were leading with 3182 points with Rowe'De'O close behind with 2736 points, and El Pescador 3rd with 2068 points. The tally for the day included 13 kingfish released and 8 weighed in with the top fish having good weights. Fish of the day was a kingfish of 26.2kg caught by Tony Ward on El Pescador with 6kg line, closely followed by a fish of 24.5kg for Dave Chambers on KC, on 6kg line. The biggest released fish measured 107cm for Dave on KC. On Rowe'De'O, the team had their 4kg line out again, catching a fish of 11.7kg for junior angler Charlie Rowe, and one of 10.85kg for junior angler Blake Barker. Cody Kelly on the same boat had 6kg line out and landed a fish of 19.75kg. We also had a couple of snapper on the weigh-station, one for Alastair Sheard on Shagz, of 5.8kg, and one for Carol Smith on Christina, of 4.55kg. It was all to play for on the last day, to win the prestigious Diomedea Cup, and prizes from Burnsco.

Last day of fishing was another beautiful day on the water and the contest was wide open, making for an exciting finish, with every caught fish counting towards the scores. Snapper of the day was a fish of 10.1kg for Tony Ward on El Pescador, and there were 4 more snapper at the weigh-station. There were 21 kingfish caught and they came on the bite around 9am after a foggy start. Of those kingfish, 6 were released, ranging from 78 to 98cm in length. The heaviest kingfish for the day weighed 21.45kg and was caught on Rowe'De'O by the skipper Brad Rowe, and son Charlie had the 2nd best for the day, at 20.45kg. The competition between El Pescador, Rowe'De'O and KC was hot in the air as through the day teams caught another fish and edged ahead, to fall behind again as the other team caught their next fish; it was an exciting finish to the contest! When all the points for kingfish were added up, KC had caught 18 kingfish and Rowe'De'O had caught 16 altogether, but the use of 4kg line on Rowe'De'O for some of their fish, put them ahead on points and they won the coveted Diomedea Cup, with KC coming 2nd. In the junior section Charlie Rowe had the heaviest kingfish and the most kingfish points tally, to win the Reo Cup, and the angler with the most kingfish points for the Challenge Cup No.1, was Dave Chambers on KC who caught 11 kingfish for 2517 points. The heaviest snapper and the winner of the Challenge Cup No.2 was Tony Ward on El Pescador.

We thank Wild Gear for their prizes of engraved wooden cutting boards, and Burnsco at Opua for being our major sponsor.