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NSWGFA Interclub tournament – Port Stephens
Always held over the last weekend
in February, this year’s NSW Game
Fishing Association’s Interclub State
championships saw 121 boats and 559
anglers converge on the picturesque
waters of Port Stephens for one of the
country’s largest and most prestigious
game fishing tournaments.
The numbers of marlin found in the
lead-up to the tournament had been
extraordinary, with smaller black marlin on
the inshore reefs, an abundance of striped
and black marlin along the continental
shelf edge and a solid run of blue marlin
beyond the edge. While the weather
made conditions uncomfortable with winds
consistently over 20 knots and a solid swell
throughout, the hot fishing set the scene
for a closely contested and action-packed
weekend. In its 56th year, the tournament
certainly lived up to all expectations,
delivering truly exceptional fishing.
Day one saw great fishing both inshore
and out wide, with local boatBorn Free
scoring an early lead with 11 tagged
marlin, followed by Shelby, also from
NPSGFC, with eight marlin. Meanwhile,
Workhorsefrom BBGFC was leading the
Capture category with two blue marlin
caught on 15kg tackle.
The inshore fishing was slower on the
second day, but the wider ‘Carpark’
grounds continued to produce large
numbers of marlin and despite the rough
weather it was easy to see how the area
earned its nickname. Female angler Kelly
Sweetman caught a 63.2kg yellowfin
tuna on 15kg tackle aboardPublic Enemy
that would go on to win Heaviest Other
Gamefish for the tournament.
With such large numbers of marlin
present, it was still anyone’s game at
the beginning of the final day. The ever-
consistentFreedomtagged seven marlin
for the day, and numerous other boats
released six, including Born Free who’stotal rose to 28 marlin and a shark, all
tagged on 15kg tackle. This won them the
Marquis Shield for Champion Boat Tag &
Release, followed byPro-fish-entin second
place with 17 marlin and two sharks.
Workhorse captured another two blue
marlin on the final day to win the Broken
Bay Trophy for the Champion Boat Capture,
withRampagecoming in a close second.
Day three also saw PHGFC boatCookie,
skippered by Daniel Klein, capture a 178kg
blue marlin to angler Jeff Nolot, which won
the heaviest marlin of the tournament. The
heaviest – and only – shark captured was
Lumpy’s124.4kg whaler.
Amy McAndrew was awarded Champion
Lady Angler, Keira Tubman and Rhys Jolly
were awarded Champion Junior Female
and Champion Male anglers respectively,
and Sam Eggins won Champion Small
Fry Angler.
Two of the Interclub’s most prestigious
awards are the Teams trophies, for which
teams of three boats represent their club
for the title of Champion Club in both the
Tag & Release and Capture categories.
This year, the Golden Hook for Champion
Club T&R was awarded to Newcastle &
Port Stephens GFC’s Team 2, consisting
of Born Free, True Grit and Weekend
Detention(who were unable to fish due
to engine issues). Close behind was
Broken Bay GFC Team 2:Murrifin,Anyfin
andBig Blue, with only the line class used
separating the two teams.
The Interclub Shield for Champion Club
Capture was awarded to Broken Bay
GFC’s Team 3, consisting of Rampage,
Workhorse and Ted’s Toy, ahead of
LMGFC Team 1 in second place.- Josh Dickson
With 455 marlin caught between
121 boats over three days, this year’s
NSW Game Fishing Association Interclub tournament at Port
Stephens delivered some of the best fishing seen in many years.