NZACA Nationals, Coromandel – delbnz

The NZACA National Fishing & Casting Champs; Coromandel, 2009

Every year the best of anglers from all NZACA affiliated clubs are invited to fish the NZACA Nationals to compete for the title of National Champion. This year’s champs were based in Coromandel Town, on the Coromandel Peninsular.

The NZACA Nationals are a tournament to decide the best Fisher and caster in various ages based sections. The best or biggest fish may not always win as the fishing placings are calculated on bag weight multiplies by species factors – so the competitors are kept guessing right up to the prize giving.

This year was my first year competing from the kayak (I am a member of the North Shore Surfcasting Club and have previously landbased fished). I had decided to complete from the water against the boaties and fish for the newly listed Viking Kayak Trophy (You can tell y the name, it’s been donated by Viking Kayaks – thanks Grant & the team!)

The aim of the Nationals is not only to catch good sized fish, but to catch different species too. You can only weigh 5 snapper, 3 Kahawai, 3 Trevally and limited numbers of other species including just one Kingfish. So the idea is to target them all, but how you do this largely determines the outcome of your points.

I fished the first morning unsuccessfully for kingfish and moved on to Snapper once I realised the Kings were not interested in either my fancy jigs or live yellow eyed mullet….although my fishing buddy Stephen tap did have a short lived tussle with a King, they were largely absent all week.

I’m an ardent plastics fisher, so as soon as my dreams of a Kingfish dried up I moved straight to the gulps. The Championship rules state you may only fish with one rod and a maximum of two hooks, so when we switched to SP’s the livies had to be stowed until needed later.

The fishing was hard, not only because of the fish generally keeping their mouths shut, but we were fishing in an area exposed to a strong Easterly that was forecast to blow at 15-20 knots for both days of the competition. The first morning was the best conditions, but interestingly the fish didn’t begin biting until the water was roughed up and the swell had reached over 1.5meters. To make things even more interesting I found the only fish interested in biting anything were on the easterly side of the reefs we were fishing. It’s the rugged days like this that I am so thankful for the increased stability of the Viking Profish – she was stable enough even in the white water so that I could persevere and get my SP’s to the fish hunting below.

Around lunch time on day one I happened across a small work-up close to the reefs and began casting SP’s – and I found my first ‘keeper’, a nice 1.5kg Snap – no monster, but at least I was on the board. I moved out a little deeper and crossed a few schools of baitfish with bigger fish below. In these rough conditions, where the water is mixed up and there’s a lot of colour form white water, sediment and weed I like to used a brighter colour, and on which included good contrast – the ultra-reliable nuclear Chicken came out and was an immediate hit, literally. I was smashed by what I took for a snapper immediate, a strong hit followed by deep powerful runs. The fish had far more control than me as the water I was in was like a washing machine and the wind was driving me towards the reef. I loosened my drag and played the fish as lightly as I could while I repositioned myself away from danger. The result was the fish made it’s way to the reef and my heart sank as I thought it would now be impossible to raise him – you’re limited to 15kg line in the nationals and I’d erred on the side of caution, spooling with 15lb IGFA braid – not a great tool for wrenching a fish out from the reef.

Today however the fishing gods were on my side (largely…) and the increased pressure I could apply bought him out of his hole and the battle renewed, now with me determined not to allow him back tot he bottom. Some more deep runs and powerful head shakes came and went and then the fight turned – he was mine. I quickly gaffed and iki’d him, popped him in the bag and let out a mighty woo-hoo! I was really in the game now!

I paddled up into the wind again and caught a nice 2kg pannie immediately – they were on the bight! Next cast came up solid into another very big Snapper – again he ran deep and strong – but not into the reef. I got cocky and applied what turned out to be too much pressure – the line came up limp and my heart sank. You can’t help but kick yourself in a moment like this. But kicking oneself on a kayak is actually very hard, so I settled for a clip upside the head!

I retrieved my line expecting to be short one jig head, but instead I got my whole rig back plus one bonus. In the strangest “one that got away” story I’ve ever had, I found the hook on my jig head had been closed almost completely and on the very tip of my hook was a large Snapper molar. It seems there’s now a large Snapper out there with one less tooth and a dentistry bill he owes me for 

Next morning we were on the water even earlier, with only hours until the weigh in it was time to chase our other species. Once again the wind came up quickly and rough water greeted us. The swell had increased over night, but the wind was less intense. The water out wide was dark and menacing, you get reminded how small our yak is when you climb a 3meter swell and your yak doesn’t even cover the whole front face. Awesome!

We finally put in at 12pm and headed south to the Weigh in. Once there we learned that fishing had been hard for most, but a legal King and some 15lb snapper had been weighed. My big fish went 8.52 kg or 19lb. Would it be enough? My total bag weight was 21.6kg, low by Nationals standards, but seemed to be better than average.

The Prize giving is not until the next evening as Saturday is Distance Casting day. We turned up at the casting court at 0830 along with 60 or 70 other competitors. Casting is not my personal strength, but it’s a very fun sport to watch.

The casting is a little different form the fishing as there is generally a pool of players that you know will be vying for top honours. The Ladies section has been dominated by Debbie Edgecomb and Janine Slater for the last few years, but change was in the wind!

It was our youngest competitor, Ben Marmont who really shined. Ben managed to take second place in the Midgets category in just his first nationals – well done mate! Bill Hohepa, NZACA Patron was on hand with his camera to interview the kids – they loved it and we can’t wait to see the show aired on Cue TV in a few months.

Peter Froggat of New Plymouth was the eventual Mens winner with a new Nationals Record of 229 meters –that is a sensational feat and one hell of a spectacle. Well done Peter.

The ladies open section was easily he days most exciting with Janine Slater’s 109.55 meter cast being pipped in the final round by the final two casts of the day. First Lorainne Baker cast 110.20 to take the lead but the lead fell again, with the very last cast of the day by Robin Burton reaching 110.89!! What a finish – you can’t buy excitement like that!! Sadly Debbie Edcombe was hindered by gear failure – not something that helps when you’re at the top level.

The prize giving followed a fantastic dinner. A lot of the following awards were a blur, many winners in different sections including myself for kayaks – Woohoo – I had won the inaugural Viking Kayaks Trophy for heaviest bag from the kayak. In this division Greg Theunissen and Stephen Tap of Hibiscus Coast came second & Third respectively. In the Overall Boat section Greg was third, Jessie Vulatich of Auckland Lady Anglers second and to my real surprise, my total points weight of 208.95 was enough to secure the top spot! Woohoo number two! I’d done it’ I’d won the individual award at the Nationals in my first year on a yak!

The teams prizes went to North Shore Surfcasting Club as the Shore Champions. First team in the Boat Section was Hibiscus Kayak. They did well in difficult conditions and all 4 members contributed to a great haul. The teams Casting was won by Greg Smeal’s Kawerau Angling & Casting Club team. Great effort form a well trained team.

We left Coromandel with a great sense of achievement. Adverse conditions had hampered us, but in the end we came out on top.

Congratulations to all winners, and the NZACA Board won ran the event, it was a genuine success!

Derrick

Ocky Blignaut, Steve Tapp & Greg Thuinessen of Hibiscus Kayak Fishing Club, Kayak / Boat team Champs 2009

Me and my 19lber – think I was happy ?????