After every tournament we immediately start planning for the following year and next year is going to be huge!!!! We are working on a Haines Hunter 520 fully rigged  boat with Honda engine as the major lucky angler draw and will provide more details when we have everything finalised. Our tournament is already extremely popular so that is going to make it quite amazing.

We are of course totally indebted to our sponsors for their generosity, enthusiasm and support and it was terrific to have so many of them fishing our event. It is not only nice to put a face to the voice that you have been dealing with but it s great to get some immediate feedback, especially when it is really good.  Out thanks to all the sponsors and most importantly to the anglers who participated.

There were twenty-three clubs in NSW and Victoria represented with over twenty juniors and a  number of ladies. The atmosphere in the marquee was fantastic and I am sure that everyone had a good time and if not, they only have themselves to blame.

As always there were masses of lucky giveaways and the Honda motor went to Richard Clark who was rather happy with the draw.  Mick Roberts took out second prize of a GME pack and Colin Bryce won the third which was a $500 voucher from Club Marine.

It was a shame that the water was so warm as it really was not conducive for Yellowfin.  The largest however was a very respectable 66.6kg caught by Chris Barsha from Jervis Bay and we also had a very nice Blue Marlin taken by Jason Sinclair from Ulladulla.

As you are aware the seas were pretty ordinary on the Saturday and we decided for safety reasons not to fish that day. There were obviously some boats who could not make it down because of the seas and that was most unfortunate but maybe everyone will come early next year.

Sunday and Monday were fishable however and there were varying opinions on what the sea was like but everyone was out there having a go.  By the first sked on Saturday I had over one hundred boats signed on and trying their hardest.

Sunday brought a good number out again and we had over ninety fish the day  Traditionally, because of work commitments, we loose a few on the last day but it still went well and the juniors had a great time with the Striped Tuna. We also had two Striped Marlin tagged and a few lost as well as some Yellowfin.

There were a couple of hiccups with radios playing up but generally everyone was fantastic with quick and accurate reporting.  I got through the skeds in just over twenty-five minutes and was really pleased with the way it all went.  Thank you!

I know a lot of you will be back next year but please tell your friends to come and enjoy themselves also. I know that I am biased but I do think it is a great tournament and well worth the trip.

Circle 14 – 16 May 2011 in your diaries and we will see you there.

Secretary Canberra GFC

A full list of the results is available on our Tournament page.