As the water cools off and the marlin head north, a few hardy club members have still been getting out wide to chase winter gamefish. First up was junior member Ben Wigley, fishing with dad Bryce on Silver Bullet, who wrangled a 131.4kg sword to the boat - epic effort Ben!

A few weeks later, Skipper Leighton Matthews on Wested As had a good weekend on the swords, with one tag & release broadbill for angler Tony Noble (no longer a swordfish virgin), followed by a stonker 235.4kg model for Richard Kimber the following day.

Although not Ahipara members but definitely worth a mention - Nathan Adams on Western Break brought a 282kg sword to the Ahipara weigh station on the same day as Richie's was weighed, with another virgin angler - Brett Lloyd - taking credit for the 600+lb fish.

And the following weekend, Ben Cooke on Aquadesiac also had success fishing out of Hokianga, landing a 155.5kg sword.

Check out the Fish Tally for the full season's catches, and remember it's the ANGLER'S RESPONSIBILITY to send in weigh sheets and tag cards for them to count towards our end of season totals, and be eligible for trophies and prizes.

Stonker stripy not a jackpot winner

There must have been some severe clenching going on for the last couple of months of the Striped Marlin Jackpot, with Matty Masters' 137.8kg stripy holding firm at the top of the table to the bitter end! Congrats Matty - that's going to be a hell of a bar tab at Prizegiving! ;)

In fact there were no last minute changes to the standings, despite a massive 153.7kg weighed by one of our Manukau contingent, Mark Hopkins, but unfortunately not in the jackpot. Which means Devron and Mark also held on til the end with their early season catches. Congrats to our winners and thanks to everyone for entering this year.

Jackpot Winners:

🥇 137.8kg Matty Masters

🥈 128kg Devron Phillips

🥉 108.6kg Mark Webber

Solid snapper over the scales

There's still plenty of awesome inshore fishing to be had over the colder months too. Josh McPherson weighed his PB snapper recently - securing a spot on the 20 pounder trophy with an 11.4kg fish caught while 'hard at work' on the Karizma. Shot Joshy!

The west coast snapper fishery is the best it's been in years, so get out there and give it a shot - anyone who catches a 20 pounder gets their name on the trophy for the season.

Bluefin season is upon us! Who's heading down?

The first few reports of southern bluefin captures are coming in, with fish being caught around Castlepoint and the odd one starting to turn up at Waihau. If any of our members are heading down for the bluefin run, please remember to send us your photos and your catch cards (tag cards and weigh sheets). Don't rely on your courtesy weighing club to do this for you - they are busy enough!

We look forward to seeing everyone's catches of these epic fish. How awesome is it that we have a practically year-round game fishery in New Zealand?! Get into it folks - heaviest tuna to beat this season is currently Tony Noble's 72.2kg bigeye!

Record your catches now for end of season trophies & prizes!

The club season ends on 30 June - still time to get a few last minute catches on the board before memberships are due for renewal on 1 July!

If you've caught fish this season please check they are on the Fish Tally and if not, send your catch cards to agcrecorder@gmail.com, or via the club social media pages, or txt/whatsapp to 0211 583 199. Thanks!

Article added: Monday 27 May 2024