On the first days fishing, 4 yellowtail kingfish, and a kahawai were landed. Three kingfish were caught from the boat ‘Kahlua II' with angler Jane Rooke landing 2 fish, and Winky Bannister also landing a fish. One of Jane's fish was almost as tall as her, weighing in at 28.2kg. It was tempted onto the hook by a live kahawai and took 40 minutes to land on 6kg line. Jane is an experienced light tackle kingfish angler but this capture was especially exciting, as when the line passed it's testing, the fish turned out to be a new women's club line record. This particular record had been held since 1972 by a famous lady angler of the club; Barbara Brittain, with a fish of 22.22kg. This fish has already beaten the heaviest kingfish of last season (27.1kg) and is a pinfish for the club. With this capture Jane went on to win 4 major prizes. Jane also caught a fish of 16.3kg, and fellow angler Winky on ‘Kahlua II', also landed a kingfish of 14.4kg on 4kg line. These fish all fell for live baits fished at the Cavalli Islands.

Due to the bad weather on Sunday, the fish weren't biting and only one snapper was landed. This was caught by Paul Tidswell on ‘Delightful Lady' off Flat Island, with a Berkley Gulp Lime Tiger soft bait. The fish weighed in at 4.02kg and was skilfully caught on 4kg line, and gave Paul the 1^st prize in the snapper section of the competition. Full details of the prize-list and catch tally can be found on our website www.whangaroabiggamefishclub.co.nz

By Sandra Moore