BATEMANS Bay Game Fishing Club’s Tollgates Classic was a hit with local and travelling anglers when more than 100 marlin were tagged and released at the weekend.
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Forty-eight boats set out from Batemans Bay to what’s known as the 80-fathom area, more than 15kms out to sea, and the group reeled in 106 billfish across the three days.
Jervis Bay’s Jakob Murphy also waits for confirmation on whether his 19.1kg short-billed spearfish is a junior NSW record.
Batemans Bay Game Fishing Club president Bruce McKenzie could not explain why it was such a successful tournament.
“Above the century-mark is very rare and it turned on exactly at the right time for us,” McKenzie said.
“We’ve never caught as many as that before.”
McKenzie also praised the anglers for their sustainable fishing practices which reflected the changed approach to game fishing.
“The best part from our perspective was that only two of the 105 marlin caught were killed,” he said.
“As a fishing fraternity we encourage sustainable fishing and in days gone by, half would have been killed.
“The anglers did not want to kill one but knew it would win a competition so it went straight to the smoke house.”
McKenzie said the support of Batemans Bay Marina attracted a range of anglers from across NSW.
“We had 10 clubs represented at the event, which was more than normal,” he said.
A number of the Batemans Bay Game Fishing Club members shared in the success on the weekend.
Peter McMasters took home the champion angler capture award with a 162.5kg blue marlin and his boat, Fearless, took out the heaviest marlin by a team award.
Kyle Betts had the highest pointscore for a senior male in the tag and release division, which also gave him the champion angler tag and release prize with 57,529 points.
Batemans Bay’s Ultimate had the highest pointscore tag and release by a team and Frigate tagged the second most marlin with six.
The champion boat in the capture division was Jervis Bay’s Dad’s Boat on 8,795 points. Bermagui’s Hardaradditt was the champion tag and release boat, tagging and releasing the most marlin with seven.
Torren Mann took out the highest pointscore by a junior with 21,500 points and his brother Jayden Mann won Friday’s day prize, reeling in a striped marlin.
“Both champion anglers are from Batemans Bay,” McKenzie said.
“Another good part was the two striped marlin were caught by small fry, which means both were caught by people under 11 years old.
“Most men haven’t caught one.”
Most anglers set out between 6am and 7am and revelled in the favourable fishing conditions before returning to the weigh station at Batemans Bay Marina by 5.30pm.
“In the mornings it was absolutely calm but it was fishable all weekend,” McKenzie said.
“I think people were happy and pretty worn out from catching fish.”
McKenzie believed the change to prize formats, which included a shootout prize and early entry prize, brought more anglers to the competition.
“Everything we did this year was different,” McKenzie said.
“People wanted some changes and they came for it so we’ll do it again.”
Full tournament results can be found at the club’s website http://batemansbaygfc.org/.