Firstly, congratulations to all anglers who participated in our 30th Annual Yellowfin Tournament.  Congratulations to Paul Jones on Sea Mode who was the eventual winner with a 67kg Yellowfin Tuna on 24kg line.

Our tournament started off with 11 boats taking advantage of the early entry discount and on the evening of the briefing there were another 20 boats registered.  It was sad to see a few boats namely: Black & Blue, Amigo and Anthony Watson’s boat unable to fish as all had motor or hull problems, see you all next year no doubt. It was really great to have 32 boats enter our competition and with the weather report being excellent for the first 2 days anglers were chomping at the bit to start fishing.

Friday was a near perfect day and it wasn’t long before boats were calling in captures of Yellowfin Tuna between 40 & 60kgs. The crew on board Sea Mode were having a ball with captures and a total of four fish the biggest being: 67kg, 55kg, 51kg, 44kg and a Mako Shark weighing-in at 102kg all were captured.  Master Will Hodge (Junior Angler) caught his first Yellowfin Tuna & what a beauty it was.  It took Master Will approximately four hours to capture his fish of 53kg’s on 24 kg line.

The bench mark had been set and all boats and crews were really looking forward to Saturdays fishing. The wind was up a little but the fish were on again with Jodie Clarke (Lady Angler) landing a beaut Yellowfin of 51kg on 24kg line.  Other notable captures were Tom Scott : Blue Shark - 103kg, Angus Chirnside: Yellowfin - 50kg, Daniel Broardsmith 32.5kg on 15kg, Ronnie King: Stripped Marlin 96kg, Ole Ersvaer: 51kg Yellowfin, Steve Plevey: 51kg Yellowfin, Daniel Huges: 54kg Yellowfin and there were many more. There were also some good Makos of 80 to 95kgs either captured or tagged.

Saturday night saw our Tournament Dinner at Tura Beach Country Club and congratulations for putting on an excellent evening. Our monster raffle was a huge success with many prizes on offer. Sunday the weather was not kind at all thus only 15 boats took to the water and were logged off come lunch time.  On Sunday afternoon the presentation commenced at 4pm with about 100 odd members and their guests plus out of town entrants that had come from as far away as Melbourne and Albury. Refreshments along with bar snacks were served and the presentation commenced.  Sea Mode was the big winner of the tournament taking out the major prizes and congratulations to Paul Jones and his crew.  To all of the other winners congratulations on your achievements. From what I’m told  several crews partied on and there were a few sore heads on Monday morning.

A heart felt thank you goes to all of those folk who assisted in the organising of the tournament, the anglers, members and especially all of our sponsors, with out your support we could not run this event.

Plus the very professional volunteer radio operators who looked after us while we were on the water THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR COVERAGE

See you next year Snappy

By now all anglers should be aware of the new Tag and Release scoring system that has come into calculation from the 1st August 2009. For those anglers who do not already know MBGALAC had submitted a detailed submission to hold the NSWAGM in Merimbula next year. If this submission is successful it will be great for our club and Merimbula itself. Clubs will be represented from as far as Coffs Harbour, Norfolk Island and Newcas-tle with a total of approximately 30 clubs in attendance.
As far as the Game Fishing is concerned there is little happening at the moment and this is mainly due inclement weather. Looking at Southern Zone results most clubs in the Southern Zone up north are targeting sharks with notable captures being recorded.
Shellharbours Trent Kilmore on Reckless captured a Mako of 168.7kg on 15kg line and Junior Female Rebecca Finney captured a Mako of 104kg on 15kg line. Another good capture on 6kg line was a Mako of 82kg to Richard Gillmore also on Reckless. These boats from up north of our Southern Zone target sharks as there is little else to target at this time of the year, so if it happens up there it should happen down here. We are only hoping and praying for some good weather for a change…..
It was great to read the last issue of Blue Water Sports magazine which featured a tremendous three page article of MBGALAC captures of Southern Bluefin Tuna. It was really interesting to read about the long liners and their targeting of specific species. (Well worth reading)
We haven’t had any replies on our two record claims at this time. However, we expect to here something very shortly. As soon as I have any news I shall relay it on to the members concerned and no doubt it will spread around fairly quickly.
Don’t forget to have your boat, trailer and fishing reels serviced for the coming season. On a fi-nal note don’t you just love it “GO CATS”

See you on the water Snappy.