bluewatermag.com.au 81The 25th Broken Bay Invitational was held in early February, with the fleet of
42 boats and 188 anglers competing in often boisterous seas. Janet West won
Champion Female Angler Capture with her 71.6kg whaler shark on 6kg tackle.There were 212 gamefish tagged and
released during the Port Macquarie
Game Fishing Club’s annual Golden Lure
tournament in January. Champion boat for
T&R was awarded toThe Omenfrom the
Newcastle & Port Stephens club.Tournament News
The 25th Broken Bay Invitational was held in early February,
with the fleet of 42 boats and 188 anglers competing for a cash
and prize pool of $90,000.
The weather was tough for the first day, but didn’t stop the team
onWorkhorsetagging the first marlin within the first hour. The Lake
Macquarie boatVengeancealso hooked-up early, with Chad Kadvanagh
capturing a 353kg tiger shark on 15kg line which was enough to secure
them Champion Boat Capture and Champion Male Angler Capture for
the tournament. The following day they did battle with an even larger
shark, which after a long fight turned out to be a large great white that
was quickly tagged and released.
The Broken Bay team onCarnage also had a great white shark
encounter on the first day, battling another large one for five hours
before female angler Janet West could bring it boatside to be tagged
and released. On the second day, Janet captured a pending club, NSW
and Australian record whaler shark weighing 71.6kg on 6kg tackle. This
was enough to secure the team Runner-Up Boat Capture and Champion
Female Angler Capture.
The Sydney boatCromptonhad a great weekend tagging one blue
marlin and two striped marlin to win the Champion Boat Tag & Release
title. Several boats battled it out for second place, with the award going
to Kurly with two striped marlin and a shortbill spearfish. Champion
Junior angler was taken by Ralph Chapman who landed his first striped
marlin. Champion Junior Small Fry went to James Fordham onRowdy.
The Port Macquarie Game Fishing
Club’s 34th Golden Lure tournament
was held in early January, with
glorious weather and a record
number of entries.
Coinciding with the annual run of
juvenile black marlin over the inshore
grounds, and with the lure of blue marlin
over the shelf, tactics played a big part in
deciding the winners from the 59 boats
lining up for the sailpast.
The fishing was fantastic over the four
days of major competition, resulting in 212
tagged gamefish, comprising of 136 black
marlin, 26 blue marlin, 3 striped marlin,
32 sharks and 15 dolphinfish. Many more
fish were lost in the battle and there were
plenty of wahoo, dolphinfish and the odd
yellowfin kept for the BBQ. There were
another eight fish brought back to the
weighstation, including six blue marlin, one
striped marlin and a tiger shark.
The battle for Champion Boat Tag &
Release went down to the wire, but the
Golden Lure winner wasThe Omen, just
in front ofGame Changer.
The champion boat for Heaviest Marlin
over 150kg was also hotly contested, with
the winner beingEllmadwith a 164.2kg
Broken Bay Invitational
Golden Lure tournament – Port Macquarie
blue marlin just in front of Pheel the Bite
with a 163kg blue marlin. The champion
boat for Blue Marlin Tag & Release went
to Seaka.
The proposed dates for the 35th Golden
Lure are 4 to 12 January 2019.- Janeck Kaczorowski