Hervey Bay Classic 2010

[swabio]

sounds like you guys had a blast! Hopefully I will manage a few fish when I take the family up there after xmas.......

[Smithy]

I fished on Matt's 36' Riv "Fish Whisperer". We finished equal with Kev (Marvin) and his 20' Pride "Whitehorse II" on points but they got us on time. We got the Stripey below, some mahi mahi around 15kg, 3 Cobes 12-15kg, a mack tuna and a few small spanish like in Newbies pics. Kev got a sail, "Keneka" got a blue marlin and "Stubbie Holder" got a black marlin.

Matt's first heavy tackle fish. A stripey about 80kg on stand up 37.



Matt's field goal dorado about 15kg on day 2.



John or Ian's Cobe on day 2. We got 3 around this size.



Bangers on the last day.



Thanks to John for the pics.

[bugman]

So who bought who in the calcutta and how much did it cost.
Nice report gents

[NEWBY]

So who bought who in the calcutta and how much did it cost.
Nice report gents

Kev (mervin) bought his own boat which won it of course and I was bidding against him. lol.
I made him pay but I think it was only about 150 or so. Kev may be able to put this one right.
I think first prize in the calcutta was about $1500. So for Kev the poor bugger it was only a 10% deposit on the damage the water did to his motor.

[marvin]

Hi all, Thanks to Newby I paid $140 for White Horse 2, when it started at $50! My crewies pulled out of their part in it when it passed $100, and Newby had the bid, as we have wasted our cash the last 4 years on ourselves, Dispite us winning the small boat section now 3yrs running it is usually the big boats that chase the higher scoreing billies way out and get the most points. So I put up the $140 for my own boat, and with the 7650 points scored at the earliest time, Saturday 4pm. (As this was the last time we had a line in the water, See my report in Meet & Greet hervey bay comp section).

This gave for the first year that I know of a small boat (under7.5mts) the highest points overall for the event. Therefore the first prize for the calcutta was $1547 cash (all mine!). I did buy my crewies a few beers out of it, and gave them back half of the $700 dollars each they put in for the weekend. Smithy's rig "Fish Whisper" scored equal points but caught 4 fish on the last day to get second on count back of around $700 cash I think from the calcutta. Newby ended up donating his own boats price to the total kitty, 10% went to the hbbcgfc, 70% to winner, and 20% to runner up (pretty sure that was the break down of it).

I have ordered the parts for the rebuild, a new block, 6 new injectors and a fuel pump, dealer is helping me out with cost price for parts, and BRP may be assisting with supply of block at a good price? 6 Injectors and fuel pump plus fitting and changing over all components onto new block $5500 (excluding block) so is likely to be $15500 total. Just waiting on BRP outcomes, but parts will be here Wednesday and boat going in Thursday, pick it up Friday, one day off work Saturday for a quick red trip before back to work till christmas next week.

Awaiting reply from fuel supplier to my letter of request for his insurance details and reneumeration assistance.

Missuss still not real happy, but already she is keen to get the boat fixed as my demenour has not been the best with the boat on stilts in the back yard. (Lucky the weather has been up the putty).

Will hopefully be at the tournament again next year, but we are considering running my mates boat up as a fuel barge, with my own fuel drums that will not contain a mix of fuel and water!

Newby I recon your should have won the whole lot, you would have easily scored 18 x 500 point fish over the 3 days giving you 9000 points. Hopefully they will take the best scoring fish - not the order of capture next year.
Sorry mate, I feel for you, but I am also glad that I took your prizes too Cheers mate I'll shout you a beer at the next one. Kev.

[NEWBY]

Cheers Kev.
I think we tagged and released 31 fish plus after we had our 6 bag limit on the Sunday we released a few others without tags (we ran out)
We also kept a Wahoo so that didnt go in the mix either.
All up, I would estimate we brought in around 40 fish and when you consider the work that goes into setting the gear and pulling in on strike etc, you can imagine how busy the deck was at times. Especially when a tripple hookup happened. I have to say though, even with Josh and Lee being very green to this sort of fishing and the only other deckie is an absent minded 10 year old, the deck ran as smooth as a bottle of single barrel jacks. The deck was totally clear on every strike so no loose hooks or danger anywhere.
I thought it would be good if the scoring was done with maximum points rather than the order of catch and I have made note of that for the Gladstone tournament in August. I think it is a fairer way of doing it and have recommended it to the HBGFC for next year.
I will keep you to your promise too Kev and let you buy me a beer next year.
I hope there are more boats next year too.

[Smithy]

Hervey Bay Tournament is the only one where tagged other species accrue so many tag points. Usually the breakup is something like a tagged billfish being 10,000 points and you might get a couple of hundred points for other species. Most tournaments are therefore decided on tagged marlin. Most in SEQ you actually have to weigh other species that are a weight greater than 8kg. It sort of goes against the spirit of gamefishing to be tagging 2-3kg tuna and mackerel on 8kg line if you can just wind them straight in.

That said, you fish to the rules and that is the case every weekend at every fishing competition of every description from public fund rasisers, to bass and bream tournaments, to classics to game tournaments. Traditionally points are assigned as fish are caught and that is how count-backs are decided.

We won it one year in my Mclay with a tagged black, a mahi mahi and full house of tuna on the second day. It's always been decided on billfish as far as I can remember though obviously some years are better than others.

Once again well done on the win Kev and crew!

[NEWBY]

As I have done 2 years now without a billie, I decided to add to my Mellissa Mermaid and see if tattooing one on me would bring me luck.

[lethal098]

Glad you resized that photo mate.

Look yes it was mayhem on the deck, and yes we thought we did a great job (noted this as we were not getting yelled at by Newby).

Points wise, HHHMMMM not sure how to really take the points scoring system, do i agree with the system, not sure as this is my first real gamefishing comp.
I enjoyed the comp and the way it was ran, i think there are some improvements to be made, IE post all teams and individuals points at the end of the comp, this would be good as we were going nuts at times it was hard to keep track of our personal scores, i still dont know what it was even after asking the question.

But i will definately be back next year.

cheers Lee

[NEWBY]

Hervey Bay Tournament is the only one where tagged other species accrue so many tag points. Usually the breakup is something like a tagged billfish being 10,000 points and you might get a couple of hundred points for other species. Most tournaments are therefore decided on tagged marlin. Most in SEQ you actually have to weigh other species that are a weight greater than 8kg. It sort of goes against the spirit of gamefishing to be tagging 2-3kg tuna and mackerel on 8kg line if you can just wind them straight in.

That said, you fish to the rules and that is the case every weekend at every fishing competition of every description from public fund rasisers, to bass and bream tournaments, to classics to game tournaments. Traditionally points are assigned as fish are caught and that is how count-backs are decided.

We won it one year in my Mclay with a tagged black, a mahi mahi and full house of tuna on the second day. It's always been decided on billfish as far as I can remember though obviously some years are better than others.

Once again well done on the win Kev and crew!

Maybe its cause the billies are few and far between Smithy?
There were no blacks or sails last year and same this year. Well very sparse anyway.
Thats why its fishing and not catching eh?
Like Lee, its only my second game fish tourni so not that sure on whats what elsewhere either. It seems to work reasonably well though.
I have Been researching other tourni rules recently so I get the Gladstone tourni spot on in August next year.
they differ so much between comps.
The most important thing is to get it fair for all I spose.

[NEWBY]

Hi all, Thanks to Newby I paid $140 for White Horse 2, when it started at $50! My crewies pulled out of their part in it when it passed $100, and Newby had the bid, as we have wasted our cash the last 4 years on ourselves, Dispite us winning the small boat section now 3yrs running it is usually the big boats that chase the higher scoreing billies way out and get the most points. So I put up the $140 for my own boat, and with the 7650 points scored at the earliest time, Saturday 4pm. (As this was the last time we had a line in the water, See my report in Meet & Greet hervey bay comp section).
Kev.

Mate I hope you do realise it will cost you a whole lot more than a measly $140 next year to keep your own boat...

[marvin]

No worries, you better take out a loan to buy Carnelpya, as I mite put in a bid or two against you, thats what mates do don't they? LOL. Actually I won't be interested in buying my boat or yours as I will be still paying off the repairs from this year!

Thanks Smithy for the kind words and rundown on how things are usually conducted.

All we can hope for next year is a hot bite like 2 years ago when there was about 30 billfish on by lunch time on the first day! Now that was a busy time, double hookups on black marlin on 8kg, with each fish heading in opposite directions at 100knots! Short and sweet 20 seconds of entertainment that was. We try and avoid the mack tuna until we get our 6 other bycatch species (500 pointers if we can) outwider, then we use the tuna as the backup plan closer in to the shallows. But you never know what is going to jump on the hook next, we lost 5 skirted lures this year, and lost a few nice fish to sharks during the fight, dollies eaten on the surface by 6 foot ocean going rotwheelers. We only seen one billie this year and that was the sail that we scored Saturday morning. Every year is different in conditions, and fish presence, so I guess the more times we go there, the more we learn. As always, a great time is had fishing this event, whether we win, loose, or get towed home. :-) Kev.

[NEWBY]

No worries, you better take out a loan to buy Carnelpya, as I mite put in a bid or two against you, thats what mates do don't they? LOL. Actually I won't be interested in buying my boat or yours as I will be still paying off the repairs from this year!

Thanks Smithy for the kind words and rundown on how things are usually conducted.

All we can hope for next year is a hot bite like 2 years ago when there was about 30 billfish on by lunch time on the first day! Now that was a busy time, double hookups on black marlin on 8kg, with each fish heading in opposite directions at 100knots! Short and sweet 20 seconds of entertainment that was. We try and avoid the mack tuna until we get our 6 other bycatch species (500 pointers if we can) outwider, then we use the tuna as the backup plan closer in to the shallows. But you never know what is going to jump on the hook next, we lost 5 skirted lures this year, and lost a few nice fish to sharks during the fight, dollies eaten on the surface by 6 foot ocean going rotwheelers. We only seen one billie this year and that was the sail that we scored Saturday morning. Every year is different in conditions, and fish presence, so I guess the more times we go there, the more we learn. As always, a great time is had fishing this event, whether we win, loose, or get towed home. :-) Kev.

Well I am hoping to have the new 45 footer by next year but I wont hold my breath.
So believe me Kev, if I pull that off I wont have any money to outbid you either mate...
You will have to come up and do the Gladstone Tournament in August for a warm up and test Kev.
Then the M&G at Agnes in September.
Take October off then fish Hervey Bay in November...
They are my plans anyway.
I would love to see a big billie bite next year too.
That'll test me deckies out...