Betio Game Fishing Club

KINGFISHER Returns..............and Wins!

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Washup for the April Competition, generously sponsored by DHL.

As usual the competition started on Friday night with the registration. It started slowly with only the usual suspects of XXXX and Indy registering, but as the night went on the number grew to five with the addition of two new boats, the Princess Anita and the Nei Bingko, plus the return of the Kingfisher after a long absence due to maintenance. The Captain of Indy and the XXXX Crew Manager soon got to the trash talking as the lack of Kiwicom surely meant that one of them would be top of the pile come 5:30 pm Saturday. Much of the talk centred around the novice crew of Indy, three of whom were on their first outing, the Coxswain was only on his third and the Captain had only learned to tie live bait the day before.

XXXX were the first out, long before the sun rose, heading to their preferred fishing grounds around Maiana. Next out was Kingfisher, heading North to Abaiang, followed by Indy at 5:30 am, also heading North. The Princess Anita and Nei Bingko kept it close to the chest and were not seen until the weigh in. XXXX started well with what they thought would be the first weigh in Sailfish of the year, and followed this with decent sized Barracuda and Giant Trevally. Indy started off well with a nice Yellowfin that subsequently proved to be a pound under minimum weigh in weight. However, this was followed by a GT and a Dogtooth which meant all three novices had caught a fish. Unfortunately none of them on the live bait so Jason won that round of the sledging. Mack T on the Princess Anita was having a good day hauling in a good sized GT, Wahoo and a Barracuda. Charlie Copeland, Ariera and Martin Tofinga were also doing well with Coral Trouot, GT and Dogtooth. Their day was spoilt by water in the fuel and they limped home in order to make the weigh in. Indy also had her troubles whentrying to weigh anchor after lunch. The weather took a turn for the worse and it took some nifty driving and directions from a snorkelling Captain to avoid ending up on the reef. The "fleet" all made it back in time to de-register and weigh in before the 5pm deadline.

back at the Captains Bar the crowd was gathering. Smaller than hoped for a many had taken advantage of the long weekend to go away. Duncan was there in good time to set up and start selling tickets for the meat raffle and now famous "Mystery Box". First up to weigh in was Princess Anita who showed well with 51.5 points. Next was XXXX who made 47.5 points before the Sailfish was put on the scales. Unfortunately it fell 3.5lb short of the minimum and XXXX were left with third place. Indy was third up and weighed in with 38 points and fourth place. Last but certainly not least, was Kingfisher. Their first fish was a 35lb dogtooth which drew polite applause but it was the next fish that won the comp for them. A massive 72.5lb Giant trevally gave them 107.5 points and then, to rub salt into the wounds Martin came up with a 24.5lb Coral Trout to take the Board Record in the "Other" category.

Final Result was Kingfisher, Prinncess Anita, XXXX and Indy. At this point our kind sponsors, DHL, produced an esky full of "tasty beverages" whihch went a long way to dull the disappointment for some and to toast the win for others.

All that was left was the raffle and in the absence of Derek Andrewartha someone new was bound to win the meat tray. Team Indy came to the fore with Coxswain Darren taking the meat and Danial taking this months mystery prize of 5 packets of 2 Minute Noodles and a raw egg.

Congratulations to Kingfisher who have now made the comp the most open for a while. XXXX still tops the ladder but Indy, Kiwicom and Kingfisher are closing. Next months comp is on the 1st of May and is sponsored by XXXX. Derek will be back and keen for his boys to take out the "home" comp. Will Kiwicom return, can Kingfisher keep up the good form or will dark horse Princess Anita come through. Come on down to the Captains Bar to find out. Be there before 5pm as the weigh in starts prompt at that time. Bring a friend or come yourself and make some new ones.

Check out the "Gallery" for photos of this months comp and "The Board" for all the records and stats.

Good Luck and Good Fishing.