BlueWater Boats & Sportsfishing – July 2019

bluewatermag.com.au 19

Who will win

the BlueWater

Swordfish

Tagging

Award?

To encourage moretag and release
ofswordfish,overthepasttwoyears
TrishandTimSimpsonhavedonated
a Bodo Muche bronze swordfish
sculpturevaluedat$1138.50forthe
BlueWaterSwordfishTaggingAward.
Once this year’s entries are finalised
in July, the award will be presented to
the boat tagging andreleasing the most
swordfish in Australianwatersduring the
12 monthsup until 30 June.Thewinner
willbeannouncedin thenextissue.
Up until late May, Tasmanian father
and son team Mason and Daniel Paull
were leadingthe fieldaboard Terminator,
releasingthree solidfish offStHelens in
northeast Tasmania.Thefirstwascaught
on 22 Februaryandestimated at160kg,
the second was caught on 20 April and
estimatedat210kg.Thesewerefollowed
byDaniel’smonstercaughton8 Mayafter
a four-and-a-half-hourbattleonstand-up
60kgtackle.Daniel’shugeswordfish was
estimated at 310kg! He said it still had

a longline hook stuck in itsjaw, so had

obviouslywonthatpreviousbattle.

Up off Sydney, Chris Cleaver has also

been catching swordfish. Fishing out of

hisEdgewatertrailerboatCleavedge, Chris

submitted tag cards for two juvenile

swordfish estimated to be around 30kg.

They were caught in April while fishing

to the south of Sydney. Excitingly, the

second fish was also satellite tagged as

partof thenewNSWDPIGreatSwordfish

Race.

Finally,ontheothersideof Australia,Ben

KnaggsfromtheExmouthGFCrecently

enteredwitha juveniledaytimedeep-

drop swordfish caught off Exmouth

while fishingaboardBuckhunter. Ben

said he dropped another much larger

sword within sight of the boat, which

wouldalsohavebeentagged if hehad

managedto getit alongside.

Checknextissuetofindoutwhowon

andwhat fishcamethrough in the final

weeks!

THE AWARD

Once entries are finalised, the

BlueWater Swordfish Tagging

Award will be presented to the

Australian boat tagging and

releasing the most swordfish

during the 12 months up until

30 June 2019. The winner will

be announced in next issue.

After a four-and-a-half-hour battle on stand-up

60kg tackle, Daniel Paull tagged and released

this enormous swordfish off St Helens in north-

eastern Tasmania. It was estimated at 310kg!

Ben Knaggs tagged and released this juvenile
swordfish off Exmouth in Western Australia.