Big tournament weekend on the water for anglers in Tauranga

It was a successful tournament and fishing weekend for (l-r) Isaac Holmberg, Kyle Ericksen and Caitlin Holmberg. Photo / George Novak

There were some hefty catches being weighed in Tauranga yesterday evening as anglers competing in the Hirepool Trailer Boat Tournament showed off their weekend's work.

Tauranga's Kyle Ericksen, 25, was one of the about 210 anglers who took part, hooking 12 bluenose yesterday with his friends Isaac and Caitlin Holmberg.

The heaviest weighed in at 14.8kg.

Ericksen said it had been a good weekend of fishing.

The event, held on Saturday and Sunday was hosted by the Tauranga Sport Fishing Club at Sulphur Point Marina.

Club manager Roly Bagshaw said while the weather was not great on Saturday, yesterday was better.

"We had a successful weigh-in [at the weekend] as you can see is going to be busy – it will be steady right through," Bagshaw said yesterday.

It was still too early to say what the biggest catch of the weekend was, he said.

At yesterday evening's prizegiving, there were first, second and third prizes to award in the weigh-in category for a variety of fish species caught – marlin, spearfish, snapper, kahawai, skipjack tuna, albacore tuna and wreckfish.

There was also a prize for the heaviest trevally, john dory and gurnard caught and first to third places for the ladies and junior category across all species.

There was a "wally of the day" prize and a best hero shot prize for a photograph taken out at sea.

Some of the prizes up for grabs were for the measure and release category for kingfish and snapper. The anglers competing have measuring mats and photograph their catches on board the boat before releasing the fish back into the sea.

Bagshaw said the measure and release category was gaining popularity, especially with some of the smaller fish.

"Releasing them is becoming pretty common practice," he said.