Megafish winners: Crew reels in $36,000 worth of prizes

The Hawke’s Bay Megafish winner said his win was the second-best catch of his life - the first being his wife.

Mark Barnett hauled in the winning bigeye tuna - which weighed a whopping 104.8kg - on the boat First Edition and walked away with more than $20,000 worth of prizes.

Megafish winner Mark Barnett (in front) and his winning crew on the boat First Edition.

Entered in the competition were 156 boats with 614 anglers, with Barnett coming out as the overall winner.

In first place with 377.5 points was the boat Sequel. In second place with 350 points was the boat First Edition, and in third place with 266 points was Blackmail.

Barnett said he felt “pretty cool” about his win and said they caught three fish in total.

“We [were] on a pretty well-equipped boat, so got it in within half an hour.”

He said it “hurt” to reel in the fish due to its massive size, and noted it was the biggest he had caught in his time fishing.

Barnett has fished since he was a teenager and said the team effort was well worth it, as the crew walked away with a shared $36,000 worth of prizes.

As for the fish, it was sent to the smoker, and they had already got the first half back.

Mark Barnett with his winning 104.8kg bigeye tuna.

He said he loves this type of fishing as it provides him and his mates with a challenge.

The heaviest fish in the competition was a blue marlin weighing 156.2kg, which was caught from the vessel Blue Moon by Nathan Dunn.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.