Fishers forced to sling hook

by Carly Udy | 8th March 2010

Boat-cleaning duties took over what was meant to be the finale of the One Base Fishing Tournament on Saturday, as the tournament was called early because of rough seas.

Close to 500 competing anglers on 150 boats had the four-day tournament cut short by a day.

Tournament manager Grant Holley said the early finish was disappointing, but anglers still had more fishing time this tournament than any other year, with fishermen not required to come in each night, unlike previous years.

In all, 41 qualifying fish were weighed in -  seven marlin, 23 kingfish, one tuna and 10 snapper. In addition, two striped marlin were tagged and released. One striped marlin, two sharks, one mahi mahi and one snapper were weighed, but did not reach qualifying weights.

The heaviest fish was a 187.7kg blue marlin caught by Lawrence Flude, aboard Gulfseeker. The heaviest kingfish weighed 28.7kg and was caught by Dave Bryant, the largest snapper weighed 12.04kg and was caught by Gary Wood, and Don Mumby landed the heaviest tuna, a yellowfin weighing in at 59.2kg.

Read more in today's Bay of Plenty Times