In total, 30 vessels and 72 anglers entered to fish the two days. For Day 1, Friday, the weather was ideal with a sea breeze coming in to cool things down around one pm.
Total numbers for the day were 25 strikes, 17 hook-ups and 11 tags recorded made up of 1 longtail tuna, 2 blue marlin, 7 black marlin tagged, some from north of Cape Moreton, some east of Pt Lookout and the majority off the Gold Coast. In the reef section a number of snapper, spanish mackerel and jewfish were measured.
On Day Two the breeze came in earlier than expected, which affected the fishing to some degree, although the reef guys had a great time, some fishing in the bay and others heading offshore. Grassy sweetlip, amberjack, Spanish mackerel and pearl perch were all measured. On the gamefish side, the totals came in at 16-12-7, 6 black marlin were tagged and released with a junior angler capturing a wahoo to weigh.
Lance Riply tells me he fished with Garmin One and although the fish did not play the game for them on day one (finishing with all 000’s) Saturday started well when half an hour after start fishing they hooked a black on live bait and tagged the fish. They had a second fish again on live bait only to unfortunately break the main 8 kg line after a 45 min battle. With the dolphins smashing bait on the surface they decided to put a spread of lures out and a half hour later again the Pakula Lumo sprocket was smashed and another mid size black was tagged putting them on 3-3-2 for the day and winning Champion Female for Kirsty Ripley.
Photos at top from Team Garmin who took out Champion Boat Overall.
FULL RESULTS
Garmin Gamefish Classic:
Highest Points Day 1: Wayne Walters.
Highest Points Day 2 Kirsty Ripley
Runner-up Female: Leanne Kalpas
Runner-up Junior: Max Proctor
Runner-up Male: Glenn Whitehead
Champion Angler Tuna: Hayden Barnett
Champion Angler Light Tackle: Wayne Walters
Champion Angler Heavy Tackle: Glenn Whitehead
Champion Riviera Boat: Play Station
Champion Cruisecraft Boat: Team Garmin Cruisecraft
Champion Vessel Under 8m: Old Mate
Champion Vessel Over 8m: Team Garmin
Champion Junior Angler: Brea Thomsen
Champion Female Angler: Kirsty Ripley
Champion Male and Overall Champion: Wayne Walters
CHAMPION TEAM NAUTILUS MARINE INSURANCE INTERCLUB SHIELD: Old Mate Gold Coast Game Fish Club
GARMIN Reef Rumble:
Champion Team Snapper: Team Garmin Cruisecraft
Champion Team Grassy Sweetlip: Team Garmin Cruisecraft
Champion Team Pearl Perch: Spanyid
Champion Team Amberjack: Spanyid
Champion Team Jewfish: Jag 1
Champion Team Spanish Mackerel: Spanyid
Fish Of the Tournament: Jewfish – Ray Osborne
Junior Fish of the Tournament: Tuna Jacob Mirosch
Champion Boat Overall: Team Garmin Cruisecraft
