The GCGFC Inc. Light Tackle Masters 2012 was held over the weekend with 36 boats, 151 anglers and crew tagging 19 marlin over the 3 days.
Jugs, skippered by Ross McCubbin cleaned up winning Champion Boat Overall, Champion Boat over 8m, Champion Boat Heavy Tackle, Champion Female (Danielle Caelli), & Champion Male (Ben Caelli) with 4 blue marlin tagged taking home a total prize pool in excess of $17K. Additionally they have gained entry to the 2012 IGFA Offshore World Champion Event in Cabo San Lucas.
In the Light Tackle section, Fire Up skippered by Brett Smith took out Champion Boat Light Tackle with a huge number of other gamefish species tagged during the tournament.
Congratulations goes to all who competed in the adverse weather conditions!
Full tournament round-up:
The tournament committee made the right call to include a heavy tackle component in the competition in the leadup (with the small black marlin fishing on the inshore grounds slow again this year). And the weather forecasters also got it right, unfortunately, with the conditions less than ideal for all three days of fishing.
Teams and boats from as far off as New Zealand, Coffs Harbour, Mooloolaba, Townsville as well as a good number from the Surfers Paradise club ensured that we all made many new friends and the social side on the dock was pleasant. World-class, multimillion dollar boats such as Shaka, Kiwi, Mistress and Castille III were competing against trailer boats of all sizes, the smallest being Carona, a 5.4 metre vessel that toughed it out for all 3 days. (Update: Mick tells me the actual smallest boat of the comp was in fact the 5.2mtr Kevla Cat Team Garmin who slogged it out for the three days and tagged a blue marlin to just miss out on the Under 8m prize on countback.)
Day 1: 36 boats headed out into the 2 to 3 metre swells and some consistent strong wind, and despite the conditions Reel Screamer skippered by Scott Watson called in the first marlin only an hour after lines in, a nice blue on heavy tackle. Soon after they were hooked up again successfully tagging another blue. Ross McCubbin skippering Jugs then got into the action with another 2 blues in 2 hours while Brett Alty skippering Mistress tagged one. The rough conditions saw many other hook-ups lost. (Celebrations for the crew on Reel Screamer unfortunately did not last long when it was discovered that their leader lengths were too long and both fish were disqualified.)
Day 2: A slightly reduced field went out again but in slightly better conditions. Jugs was back on the scoreboard early with a marlin tag followed by the boys on Sea Eagle and Larva. Plenty more marlin were hooked, but again most of the fish were able to defeat the anglers. By the end of the day Jugs was leading on 4 marlin tags with several boats on 2. (Again excitement turned into despair when the crew on Larva were told that their fish was disqualified due to excessive leader length.)
Day 3: Under similar rough conditions many boats decided that they could not catch up to tournament leaders Jugs on heavy tackle so elected to fish light tackle inshore. And then, after a few hours Jugs decided to give all a sporting chance when they went home early. Female angler Cath Doggett on Hook Me Up got 2 blues before 10am and the experienced team on Amigo had rubber hook syndrome with 8 black marlin up, but only one to the boat. (The boys were understandably frustrated with their conversion rate, suffering more pain to their egos when the only fish tagged by Mick Keogh was disqualified for excessive leader length.)
A big thank you also goes to Pakula Lures and Larva Lures who joined together to donate a lure roll for auction raising $2,500 for charity. Scott Watson made the winning bid and is now the envy of many club members.
Thank you to Alisa Schofild and Les Corby for the report!
