UNDERTAKER BURIES THE COMPETITION AND TOPAZ SHINES
AT THE 2016 SHIMANO PORT HACKING 100
The largest and richest Central Zone Tournament of the season, the 39th Shimano Port Hacking 100 was held over the weekend of 14th and 15th May 2016.
66 boats and 276 anglers competed for a prize pool well in excess of $100,000 saw the tournament a huge success.
Magnificent weather of light breezes greeted the fleet on Saturday morning and made fishing conditions very pleasant over the whole weekend. Constant Facebook updates via the club page enabled families and friends to keep track of the action in real time over the weekend.
The lure of the $50,000 prize for the heaviest blue marlin over 200kg saw many of the marlin boats head wide with heavy tackle. Meanwhile the shark boats drifted the edge of the continental shelf.
Keith Johnson on Botany Bay GFC boat Take Time took an early lead tagging a striped marlin on 37kg by 9:30am. Port Hacking GFC shark boat Thirsty Work with Nick Dobell on the rod followed shortly after to lead capture with a 90kg mako on 8kg tackle. Over the following 2 hours Broken Bay GFC boat Rampage tagged 2 sharks and Undertaker from PHGFC, tagged 1.
Sideshow from Botany Bay GFC and The Gambler from PHGFC both captured yellowfin tuna during the middle of the day. The stars of day 1 however were Tristan Davis, son Oska and Joe Parmenter on the 22ft Carribean Topaz from Central Coast GFC. Young Oska tagged 3 makos on 15kg and captured a 97kg model on 6kg tackle for a pending Australian record.
During the afternoon Undertaker and PHGFC boat Dark Horse tagged 2 sharks and Kill Tank from CCGFC 1. Junior Jordan Cimilio on PHGFC boat Full Monty tagged a mahi Mmahi and Ruckus from PHGFC captured a yellowfin tuna.
With no Ladies tags or captures recorded on Day 1, many boats focused on their female anglers on Day 2. Belinda Rayment on PHGFC boat Avalon tagged a Kingfish early Sunday morning before Alex Nuttall on PHGFC boat Dog House tagged a striped marlin on 60kg. Juniors Reece Cokun on PHGFC boat Nemo and Oska Davis back into the action again on Topaz both tagged sharks before Trevor Lillico hooked up to a blue marlin on new Shellharbour GFC boat Rare Breed that went 124kg on the scales on 37kg tackle.
Into the afternoon Chelsea Rustein an experienced junior angler fishing her first gamefishing tournament on Botany Bay GFC boat Spindrift tagged a yellowfin tuna before Joe DiGirolamo on Undertaker tagged 2 sharks within an hour to take the lead in Tag & Release.
The last 90 minutes were dominated by juniors with James Fordham on Broken Bay GFC boat Rowdy tagging a Mahi Mahi, Chelsea Rustein a striped marlin on 37kg and in the last 15 minutes of fishing small fry angler Chloe Bajada on Team Garmin a kingfish on 8kg.
24 tags and 6 captures were recorded for the tournament in total. More than 170 people attended the presentation dinner on Sunday night at the Royal Motor Yacht Club. Champion Team T&R was Undertaker, Runner-Up Spindrift, 3rd Topaz, 4th Take Time. Champion Team Capture was Topaz, Runner-Up Thirsty Work, 3rd Rare Breed, 4th Side Show. Highest Point Scoring Team T&R Shark was Undertaker, OGF was Spindrift. Champion Senior Lady and Champion Junior T&R was Chelsea Rustein, Champion Junior Capture was Oska Davis, Champion Small Fry T&R was Chloe Bajada, Heaviest Marlin went to Trevor Lillico and Heaviest OGF to Ray Buttigieg with a 48kg Yellowfin Tuna.
The $50,000 prize for the Heaviest Blue Marlin in excess of 200kg did not go off this year, but virtually all other trophy categories did.
The Committee of Port Hacking GFC would like to thank all of the Tournament sponsors, but especially naming rights sponsor Shimano and platform sponsors Southside Shipwrights, BGS Electronics and Onboard Engineering. President Paul Barning said he looks forward to seeing everyone back again in 2017 for the 40th Anniversary Tournament.
Bruce Rayment, Secretary/Point Scorer, Port Hacking GFC
For further information or images call Bruce Rayment on 0438221 028 or by email.
