NZBGFC News
June/July 2007 edition
NZ Nationals success
Great weather and good fishing throughout New Zealand contributed to one of the better Nationals event hosted by the NZ Big Game Fishing Council. There were 40 clubs involved covering the length of the country, together they had 379 teams and 1327 anglers competing for national honours. The contest produced one world record claim for junior angler Steven James who caught a 106.2 big eye tuna on 37kg line. Steven was fishing as a team member of Gloss/Reel Passion for the Whangaroa club. The fish earned Steven and his team several titles including New Zealand and Junior champion for Tuna, Champion line weight angler for tuna, plus the Carol Attwood Memorial trophy.
The heaviest fish of the contest was a 296kg blue marlin caught by Ian Philpott fishing for team Bushwacka from the Waihau Bay club. Caught on 37kg line the fish gave Ian NZ Champion line weight Billfish angler, plus runner up as NZ Billfish angler. This title went to Douglas Hayward with his 211.3kg blue marlin on 24kg line fishing on Tuds Tuggers for the Tairua-Pauanui club. Both these fish were caught off the Bay of Plenty near East Cape which is a well known habitat for blue and striped marlin. The biggest contingent of anglers were fishing in this area representing many of the Bay of Plenty clubs fishing predominately out of trailer boats launched from Waihau Bay.
Striped marlin as New Zealand’s most prolific billfish have their own separate sections as a billfish in the Nationals. The champion team title went to the Primetime team, from Whangaroa. Team members Paul Le Cheminant, Mike Lovell and Colin Hooper tagged 14 marlin between them to win the title. Best single fish efforts to win NZ Champion and 10kg line weight angler categories for striped marlin went to David Kahlenberg. Fishing with team Ahab for the Whakatane club his 110.4 fish narrowly led on points from the biggest striped marlin of the contest. This was a 152 kg fish on 15kg line caught by Dave Jackson fishing on Independence from the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club. Only 0.05kg lighter was the 37kg line weight champion angler Nick Fistonich fish of 151.95 kg fishing off the West Coast of Auckland for the Muriwai club. The title of overall NZ Champion Striped Marlin angler went to Tai Ostick fishing for Whangaroa on the boat Mexican Wave who tagged and released 6 striped marlin for his winning effort.
The shark section was a South Island affair and the deep south of Dunedin was the place to be. One of the few places where the weather did not oblige for the contest but did not stop the hardy anglers there from venturing out when they could. Over 95% of the sharks were tagged with team Rosie Lee from the Tautuku Club winning top team champion for sharks with 49 tagged and angler Warren Joyce taking top tagging honours with his 30 fish caught. The heaviest shark of the contest was a 196.4 kg mako caught by Te Kaha angler Paul Stewart.
In the other sections standout performances were recorded in kingfish by the team Pursuit whose team members tagged and released 83 fish and landed 4 to easily win top team champion. The heaviest kingfish though was caught by Todd Michell from NZ Land Based club with his 32.54 kg fish caught on 15 kg line and winning Todd the Champion Line Weight angler for this category. The heaviest snapper was caught by Warkworth club angler Oliver Woodward whose fish of 8.62 kg on 6 kg line also earned him Champion Line Weight Angler for the category. Top team was a closely fought contest with only 1.9 points separating winning team Piddlers from Houhora over team Screaming Noodles of the NZ land Based club.
Striped Marlin research
Another good outcome of the Nationals contest was the successful deployment of six satellite tags into striped marlin for the NZ Marine Research Foundation as part of it’s ongoing striped marlin research project. The research team based themselves in the Waihau area during the Nationals and relied on the good-will of contestants to call the team in to transfer the marlin while on the leader to the research boat Brave Hart skippered by Waihau club President Clyde Fraser. The fish still counted as a tag and released capture for the contest and the research team then evaluated the condition and liveliness of the fish to warrant the risk of attaching the expensive satellite tag.
Of the six tagged, four are reporting frequently and good data is being received from them. One fish did not return any signals and this fish is now considered lost due to mortality or equipment failure. The remaining fish with a satellite tag has had spurious returns and its fate is uncertain at this time. The data gained from the good satellite returns of fish will be added to the overall project data base which has now 32 fish tagged so far over four seasons with a combination of instant position reporting tags and accumulated data tags that report at a defined period after capture with position, light, water temp and depth activity. This season’s program also includes an attempt to free tag two marlin who have not been subjected to line capture to see if their behavior patterns differ. This will be attempted by a diver in a meat ball situation attaching the tags in free swimming marlin by dart from a specially adapted spear gun. It is hoped to report the success of this in the next issue.
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