The Queen's Birthday weekend saw fantastic action at the Cavalli Islands with several boats and their anglers fishing with very light lines in the shadow of the Teapot, surrounded by shoals of bait fish being worked by yellowtail kingfish.

This was the weekend for all those light tackle specialists to come and do battle with those steely blue and green fighting machines. Twenty three kingfish were caught over the 3 day competition, along with 11 snapper, 10 kahawai and a trevally. The Diomedea Cup presented to the team with most points for weighed kingfish was hotly competed for among the Franks brothers; David, skipper of ‘Diomedea', Lawrie on ‘Lady Luck' and Kyn on ‘Lady Margaret', and Stu Sheard skipper of ‘Kahlua II'. These boats had teams of anglers vying with each other to catch the biggest kingis on the lightest lines, so they were using lines rated from 4 - 10kg and live baits. The first day saw 3 fish for the boat ‘KC' caught on 10kg line and in the 15kg range, 2 for ‘Lady Luck' on 6kg line, and 1 for angler Jon Terrell of W.S. Laurie on ‘Diomedea'. These fish put ‘Lady Luck' in the lead with points after the first days fishing. This was a good first day effort considering the weather was not the kindest to the anglers and skippers. Some good snapper were also landed on the first day, with Paul Tidswell on ‘Delightful Lady' weighing in a fish of 4.4kg caught on 4kg line. The small boat ‘Seaweed' had a team of anglers from Auckland who concentrated on using 1kg line, and skilfully boated some good kahawai of up to 1.44kg on the first day, which took up to 15 minutes to catch.

The second day the weather was kinder to the anglers and another 8 kingfish were caught with a huge fish of 27.1kg caught on 6kg line by Lawrence Franks on ‘Lady Luck', which took 50 minutes to boat. ‘Lady Luck' landed another kingfish of 22.8kg, ‘Lady Margaret' also landed another fish, 2 for ‘Diomedea' and 3 for ‘Kahlua II', which kept ‘Lady Luck' in the lead for the Diomedea Cup. ‘Seaweed' landed a great snapper of 8.26kg on 6kg line from the Cavallis, which took 20 minutes to boat. The junior anglers aboard ‘Pipihura' put in a great effort reeling in kahawai of 1.66kg and 1.82kg on 2kg line.

Day 3 again saw the boats competing for the Diomedea Cup anchored around the Teapot surrounded by shoals of bait fish being worked by kingfish - an exciting sight. The day saw ‘KC' and ‘Lady Luck' land another kingfish, 2 more for ‘Diomedea' and 5 for ‘Kahlua II', fought on 4kg line. This kept the competition for the Diomedea Cup open until the last fish was weighed and the points calculated. At the prize-giving the teams waited with bated breath for the outcome, and when the winners were announced an ecstatic roar arose from the team of ‘Kahlua II' who put in the effort on the last day to win through.

The battle with the kingfish stole the show over the weekend, but the hard work of all the other anglers was also impressive especially when you think how easy it is to snap off on 1 and 2kg lines. The team aboard ‘Seaweed' showed their expertise with light lines as Michael Nicholson had the heaviest snapper of 8.26kg on 6kg line, this fish also winning him the Challenge Cup No. 2 for the heaviest gamefish other than kingfish. He also caught the snapper with most IGFA points with a fish of 1.8kg caught on 1kg line, and the prize for the kahawai with most IGFA points with a fish of 1.44kg caught on 1kg line. Junior anglers also showed their skills in this area with good kahawai and snapper being landed, and Zane Rutledge on ‘Fusion' winning the prize for the heaviest gamefish by a junior with a snapper of 3.6kg on 6kg line caught at the Cavallis.

The major prizes were sponsored by Lion Red this year, with other prizes generously sponsored by the Roadrunner Tavern & Wholesale, St Paul's Cannery and the NZ Fishing News.

Results: for kingfish - 1^st: 27.1kg Lawrence Franks, 2^nd: 23.8kg Bob Dowd, 3^rd: 22.8kg David McAinsh, 4^th: 21.9kg John Smith, 5^th: 19.9kg Jon Terrell. Diomedea Cup: ‘Kahlua II', Challenge Cup No.1: 27.1kg Lawrence Franks. For snapper - 1^st: 8.26kg Michael Nicholson, 2^nd: 4.4kg Paul Tidswell. Challenge Cup No.2 - 8.26kg snapper for Michael Nicholson. Skipper heaviest gamefish - Lawrie Franks with a 27.1kg kingfish. Junior heaviest gamefish - Zane Rutledge with a 3.6kg snapper. Single kahawai most IGFA pts. - Michael Nicholson, 1.44kg kahawai on 1kg = 144 pts.

More details and photos can be found www.whangaroabiggamefishclub.co.nz

Our next competition is the Kingfish Tournament on 7^th-8^th July - see you on the Weighstation.

Sandra Moore