The Most Meritorious Catch
Every year the NZBGFC has its special awards in recognition of the past season’s fishing effort by the members. While we have the expected first and heaviest of each species each season we also have some well sought after trophies to award that are decided by the factor we call meritorious. A look in the thesaurus describes this as commendable, praiseworthy or estimable so it becomes a subjective award. We have two trophies that are awarded under this category. The first is the Old Man and the Sea trophy which is open to all anglers. This trophy dates back to the beginning of the Council where it was donated by Jack Warner of Warner Brothers movie fame. In celebration of the release of the movie on Ernest Hemmingway’s book Old Man and the Sea, Jack gifted the Council this magnificent trophy. Like the name of the trophy the awarding of trophy is more about the story rather than the fish although a big fish certainly helps the story. The second meritorious trophy is only available to our junior and smallfry anglers. Called the Juniors Cup it was created to inspire the budding anglers of the future to strive and be recognized for doing something special.
To be eligible for either you must first do something extraordinary as an angling feat then have your own club accept this as such and make the nomination to the NZBGFC. With each submission a full account of the special feat is needed describing what happen and justifying their nomination for the trophies. To select a winner the NZBGFC appoints an independent panel of judges who have the experience, knowledge and expected seniority to make the subjective call needed to determine a winner. It is often a very difficult task and this year was no exception. The quality of the submissions was some of the best we have had. Each one of the final accounts is worthy of a good yarn on its own in any popular fishing magazine and all the nominated anglers showed an incredible desire to get out fishing and at least give it a go despite the often less than favorable conditions or boat set ups. Starting with the juniors the judges had the following to contend with.
Steven James was fishing with friends on the charter boat Reel Passion. He was helping retrieve a spare line after a strike that had his fellow friend hooked up on a good sized tuna and settled in for the fight. To his surprise he found he hooked up a fish while winding in which he quickly recognized and struck. Fortunately the boat had duel chairs which helped but as his fish came second in time the boat team decided to concentrate on the first fish and let Steven battle his fish as best he could. With a double strike on there were several cross overs and Steven had to swap seats or stand up in one corner of the cockpit with his 37kg rig. The first fish was successfully landed and resulted in a 90kg big eye tuna. The team effort was then diverted to assist Steven who managed to stay in touch with his fish but had lost a lot of line, estimated at 800 metres. Tiredness was setting in as line was recovered and the fish doing what big tuna do under the boat circling just out of reach of the trace. Steven refused to give up and with the encouragement of his crew and a dosing in cold water mustered enough energy to complete the catch, a 106kg big eye tuna. This was later ratified as a NZ junior record.
14 year old Lewis Pavlovich was on his first ever day out game fishing on a friends boat called Vincere. It was a day he will remember for a life time. Lewis’s fishing crew was also inexperienced and consisted of the owner of the boat who diplomatically confesses to being of mature years and his 14 year old son and 12 year old daughter. The first strike of the day was an unsighted fish which fell to Lewis to angle. It was a struggle for him on 24kg standup rig and no quarter given, a huge change from the snapper fishing that had been Lewis’s previous fishing experience. The fish was finally worked to the surface to reveal a blue marlin but not yet ready to submit. The fish stayed away from the boat which was restricted in maneuvering but Lewis got his pump and wind rhythm going and managed to duly subdue the fish. A fight that took 1 ¼ hours and the prize a 157kg marlin. He somehow wrestled the fish into the cockpit and set home only to run over another marlin which they tagged and released an estimated 110kg striped marlin.
8 year old Luke Gregory is categorized as a “smallfry” in fishing age groups. This is a very fishy term to that we use to describe all anglers 10 years or younger. Luke was on a family outing on the well known Primetime when he hooked up on a marlin on a 15kg rig. With some time needed to angle the fish, consideration was given that it may well be a NZ record and advice sought from their club Whangaroa. John the skipper and father of Luke is well qualified in estimating the weight of fish on the run and called it at 85kg just under the NZ recommended minimum weight, however it would still qualify only if it was a record. Luke made the call to release the fish after tagging, a huge decision for an 8 year old and well deserving of his nomination. It could also be classed as one the worlds oddities where the smallfry catches the apex predator.
And the winner is … Steven James from the Whangaroa Big Gamefish Club.
In the Old Man and the Sea trophy there were two accounts of anglers fishing in the burgeoning pacific bluefin fishery off the west coast of the South Island. This area is well known for its less than friendly sea conditions, poor access from ports across notorious bars and lack of dedicated game fishing charter boats. Alex Carey’s effort reflects all of this plus jury rigged game chairs that failed while fishing on 60kg gear with a monster bluefin on the end of the line. His epic battle lasted 10 ½ hours and he suffered numerous discomforting injuries while struggling with an improvised chair and foot rests. Several times Alex was ready to hand over the rod due to exhaustion and every time managed to find an ounce more effort which was finally rewarded with a 225kg fish and one very sore but happy angler.
The other bluefin capture was by Toni Peak. Again there was no specialized game chair and she had to fight her fish on 37kg stand up gear. After two earlier bust offs and the need to re-rig a third fish was struck with Toni being the angler on what was obviously a big fish. The fish was hers as a reward for being awake all night and she settled down to do some serious angling at 4.30am in the morning. Her battle saw the dawn rise, aching legs, arms and feet and a fish that gave no quarter with constant high pressure on the angler. 4 ½ hours later Toni achieved a successful capture and was now the owner of a 240kg tuna angling feat. A historic fish for Toni, her club and ladies records.
Toni also features in the nomination of her husband John when they both went out fishing together in their 23ft trailer boat Insane for their first attempt at a broadbill drift. They put their first baits in the water at 6pm and waited. John had just changed one of the baits approximately 3 hours later when he immediately hooked up. It was suspected as a likely broadbill and assistance sought to get other helpers on board should he land the fish. 3 ½ hours later all on stand up John was rewarded with a 257kg broadbill that took 4 people to pull aboard. The decision to go out fishing was well justified and paid a great dividend as this was the first broadbill ever caught for the club, the Mt Maunganui Sportfishing Club.
Geoff White 252kg blue marlin on 37kg gear was the heaviest for his nominating club the historic Whangaroa Big Gamefish Club. It took him 55 minutes to land. Also from Whangaroa was Cory Palmer’s nomination of a capture of a 208kg broadbill from a 76 year old boat albeit set up for game fishing. Cory’s fish was fought close to the boat with spectacular runs and jumps that could be seen at night with the fish lighting up, a rare sight for broadbill.
Finally we had an angler catching a shark nomination. It was a notoriously difficult thresher on 15kg line. Angler Michel Marchandise did not land his fish but chose to tag it after 7 ½ hours of angling which was another huge call as his estimated 200kg fish would have been a claim for a NZ record.
The Old man and the Sea trophy winner was … Alex Carey from the Houhora Big Game & Sports Fishing Club for his epic Bluefin Battle.
|
