2010 Leisurecat Mackerel Islands Game Fishing Tournament. (warning, pic heavy)

As a few of you would know I am involved in the Port Hedland Game Fishing Club.  Earlier this year we were approached and asked if we were interested in taking over the running of the Mackerel Islands Game Fishing Tournament. The previous host club had lost interest in the Tournament after 25 years which was a shame but these things happen.

 

The Tournament is limited to lines classes up to 8kg so a combination of Mackerel Islands fish rich waters, light line and experienced fishermen coming from all over WA mixed together to ensure a lively competition.

 

The format is 5 days of fishing, of which a team must select one 'lay day' of their choice.

 

Teams came from all over WA, Kalbarri, Exmouth, Port Hedland, Karratha, Busselton and Perth were all represented.

 

With a lift in competition this year, and also a big lift in the levels of prizes and trophys on offer, 2011 is already shaping up to become a massive year. Port Hedland Game Fishing Clubs vision is for this to be restored as an Invitational Only competition within 2 years.

 

10 boats lined up for the comp this year including 2 from the Leisurecat sponsors. We also had Ryan and crew from Fishing WA there to cover the event as well as shoot a couple of episodes for their series.

 

The first night saw every team introduce themselves and their crew and the Tournament briefing. Some prizes were on display as well as the Tournament trophies.

 

Approaching Thevenard Island

View from the cabin.

Breifing night and some of the prizes on offer.

Day 1 saw our team take a lay day after a late night and long drive. Picked up this little Sharky on popper just around the corner, nearly first cast of the trip.

Had a few squid following poppers and divers so tied on some jigs. Skipper copped a jet of ink. He was even saying he hadnt seen it squirt yet.

Another nice squid. Tasted lovely with flour and salty and pepper.

Turned out flattening off nicely in the arvo.

Day 2 was a quiet one for us. Our focus was on raising Billies and only raised one for the day. A brief hookup and jump off. I also lost a nice Tuna at the boat on 3kg. Found it hard to get a solid hookup on the light gear. The skipper was still in high spirits.

Kelly Lane landed this nice Shark Mackerel (Large Scale Tuna) on 3kg. Its a potential ANSA Australian Womens Record at 9.2kg.

Murchison Boat Hire crew with a double hookup on 2 and 3kg line alongside us. These guys stayed light all week and put some good fish on the score board.

We had a couple of quiet days as we struggled to find the Bill Fish. Raised 5 on day 3 but failed to convert to tagged fish. Day 4 was even worse with only one fish hooked briefly within minutes of lines in.

Day 5 saw us hit a patch of water that looked much better. I had an acrobatic little Black attached within half hour of trolling. Put up a good fight on 8kg and was tagged within around 40m.

Ten minutes of trolling later and the flat line was hit by another small Black. This one on 6kg. Sure have to work for your fish on the light stuff.

Then it was the skippers turn for a go. His 8kg rig lept out of the rigger and he was onto our 3rd Black of the day.

The day quietened right down with a few fish raised but no hooked and another Black dropped by me due to a stupid mistake on hookup. The 8kg just wont tolerate heavy handed tactics.

One of the other boats called in their second Sailfish leaving me trailing the Billfish count on countback. Pressure was on to produce one more whhile trying not to think about missed oppurtunities.

An hour before lines out was called my rig popped out of the rigger. Line flowed from the reel and I set the hooks and the fish accelerated. Praying for a Billie we held our breath until a Sail finally left the water.

20 minutes later the tag was in. An estimated 25kg Sailfish.

Our total for the day was 8 Billfish raised, 5 hooked, 3 Marlin and 1 Sailfish Tagged.

Headed back to the beach for weigh in.

These guys were hiring on of the Islands Plaka Boats. Keen fisherman but not fishing the comp they came in every day with something in the esky. Here is one of 'Team Euro's' catches.

A nice Mack Tuna to Sue Malton caught on 2kg line.

John Hoye with a 13.1kg Mackerel. This was the largest Mack weighed for the week.

Laurie Malton with a nice Yellowfin. Pretty sure this one was on 6kg.

The Calcutta for largest Red Emperor caught on a lay day went to Mick.

Presentation night was on Friday night with a fantastic dinner prepared by the Mackerel Islands staff.

Brad Spiers accepts his prize for 'Most Tagged Species'

Kelly Lane with Highest Point Scoring Gamefish. 9.2 Large Scale Tuna on 3kg line.

And also the Highest Point Scoring Female for the Comp.

Island manager Drew Norrish 'accidentally' caught the Runner Up Largest Mackerel. He also won the Calcutta for Largest Mack as the John Hoye hadnt entered this Calcutta.

Runner Up Champion Boat, Tara, from Port Hedland Game Fishing Club.

Champion Boat, Awesum, from Exmouth.

Greg Lane colleted this years MIFU (Most Ingenious F*** Up) for managing to impale his tender on Tara's skeg with daughter on board. It rapidly deflated.

Final morning blew right up. We waited for a couple of hours before heading off home. It actually wasnt too bad once you got off the island.

 

Anyone thinking about hitting the Mackerel Islands I couldnt recommend the place enough. Fantastic facitities. Awesome, hardworking staff. Good fishing. And the beer is pretty cheap considering as well. It wont be long until you see me back down that way again.

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Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?


PilbaraBrad's picture

Posts: 3628

Date Joined: 16/05/07

nice report and pics mate,

Sun, 2010-09-19 17:48

nice report and pics mate, good to see you got a few as well

Posts: 9358

Date Joined: 21/02/08

Top trip! MI looks like a

Sun, 2010-09-19 17:50

Top trip! MI looks like a lot of fun!

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seaswirl's picture

Posts: 268

Date Joined: 29/08/10

King prince

Sun, 2010-09-19 17:56

John & Jan seem to always win.....awesum.....weesum

Posts: 4561

Date Joined: 01/02/10

John and Jan know the area

Sun, 2010-09-19 18:08

John and Jan know the area and competition rules very well and fish accordingly.

This year the rules were changed a little with the intention of everyone being on a more even footing.

The competition was very close. The top 3 teams all had vastly different game plans. One was intent on maximum points on light line. One focused on putting the bulk of fish on deck by fishing mainly 8kg and one sticking to Billfishing for maximum points. All 3 teams finished within a hundred points of each other.

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Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

allrounder's picture

Posts: 1853

Date Joined: 10/11/08

I know the princes well

Sun, 2010-09-19 18:49

I was helping them with the bait for the Mackies when i  was up in Exxy last time up.The bait he was running this year dictated he would only be able to run 6 or 8kg.They fish only one way ,hard and fast,and it works for them.I think Jan sat this year out didnt she?Hey its good to put a face to a name Dodgy.I fished a few years back on a boat called Trust Me i think it was the first year that Tara had the new donk.Smile

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So tell me have you got your info from years on the water or hours on the internet?

  • was sponsored by Atomic Lures and Shimano but they dropped me.Now sponsored by Fog Dog(The best fish coating out there) and raider lures.

Posts: 4561

Date Joined: 01/02/10

Probably would have been 06.

Sun, 2010-09-19 19:04

Probably would have been 06. That was the last year Gavin (skipper) fished it. And the Verado is an 06 model so that would make sence.

Jan fished the first day. She got a Mack a bit over 6kg on 3 that won the Highest Point Scoring Mack for the comp.

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Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

uncle's picture

Posts: 9323

Date Joined: 10/02/07

good report

Sun, 2010-09-19 18:41

lots of nice fish there,luv that place

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all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs

Brucesta's picture

Posts: 1721

Date Joined: 29/05/09

great report and looks like

Sun, 2010-09-19 18:44

great report and looks like a  good comp too! looking forward to getting down there either in october or april next year for a look see.

 

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Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target

poddyfish's picture

Posts: 986

Date Joined: 01/05/07

report

Sun, 2010-09-19 19:25

top stuff dodgy nice report mate... looks like some nice fish caught.... special mention to kel! top stuff gal! love ya to bits and glad to see gregor tryin his hardest to stuff things up.... how do you impale a rubber duck on another boats motor?? lol good effort!

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Fear The Spear............! 

Bones76's picture

Posts: 476

Date Joined: 03/11/08

Great report Dodgy... love

Sun, 2010-09-19 19:36

Great report Dodgy... love those islands

wadetolley's picture

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Date Joined: 27/06/08

Great

Sun, 2010-09-19 19:46

Great report, thanks for sharing! Some great fish caught on light line, nice work.

Colt_Striker's picture

Posts: 624

Date Joined: 26/07/09

Top stuff mate, only 5 1/2

Mon, 2010-09-20 08:27

Top stuff mate, only 5 1/2 months till i'm there for 10 nigths, But who's counting. Did you have to travel far from the island for the Billies?

Posts: 4561

Date Joined: 01/02/10

Not real far. But it took 4

Mon, 2010-09-20 09:09

Not real far. But it took 4 days to find the current line and bait they were working. As long as you are patient and fish hard you should find them.

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Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Andy Mac's picture

Posts: 4779

Date Joined: 03/02/06

Top Report

Mon, 2010-09-20 09:16

Good luck with the comp running for future years, looks like you will be getting a fair few wanting to enter next year after viewing those pics.

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Cheers

Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)

Youngest member of the Fishwrecked Old Farts Club

Bodie's picture

Posts: 3758

Date Joined: 05/11/07

good to see drew and tracey

Mon, 2010-09-20 11:54

good to see drew and tracey (pretty sre that was her name) still running the place.

Great place to stay. Going to haev to get over there again soon.

That beach isnt too much fun on windy days!

damo6230's picture

Posts: 2029

Date Joined: 07/06/08

great report Dodgy

Mon, 2010-09-20 12:34

looks like a killer comp and some good results on the Billies.

Faulkner Family's picture

Posts: 17835

Date Joined: 11/03/08

great report and pics to go.

Mon, 2010-09-20 20:45

great report and pics to go. looks like fun was had by all that went along for the ride. some nice fish caught on light gear as well . hope the girl gets the record as thats a great effort

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

bagafillets's picture

Posts: 32

Date Joined: 17/05/10

Great job

Mon, 2010-09-20 22:43

Well done Dodgy cant wait till April 6 nights just might not be enough the more i see the better it looks

Black Pearl's picture

Posts: 59

Date Joined: 19/06/10

Does look awesome, maybe we

Tue, 2010-09-21 00:26

Does look awesome, maybe we should've booked more then 6 nights! SO EXCITED!!! xo

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Got to get out there!

Lucky Tim's picture

Posts: 2536

Date Joined: 28/11/07

nice one John, I also heard

Mon, 2010-09-20 23:40

nice one John, I also heard good reports from Paul about the Hedland comp a few weeks ago. Looks like things are flying along for the club lately.

fab's picture

Posts: 90

Date Joined: 25/05/08

Team Euro

Tue, 2010-09-28 21:08

Hey Dodgy, great stuff on your  last day. Unreal photos!!! I had a fantastic time on the island for that week of the comp. I'm the bloke in the photo with the chinaman. Could't believe you included the little guys too, like us (Team Euro)', thanks dude, you made my day!!!

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 He who fails to prepare, prepares to fail.

Posts: 4561

Date Joined: 01/02/10

More than welcome mate.

Wed, 2010-09-29 10:46

More than welcome mate. Great to see you guys out there havin a ball and getting some good fish too. Just shows you don't need a big dollar rig to have a good time. The plaka does just fine.

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Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?