By Mike Roennfeldt
The Abrolhos Islands Game Fishing Tournament is always a great event, liberally laced with good company and great fishing, and 2016 was no exception. This event is unique in that several Abrolhos crayfishermen take part as well and a mutual passion for fishing creates an all too rare camaraderie between the guys who fish for a living and those who fish simply because they love it.
The event this year attracted 43 anglers aboard 10 boats and things got off to a pretty brisk start first morning when four boats called in billfish hook-ups, resulting in marlin to Balek III, Inner Visions and Valkoista. The pace didn’t quite hold up though and the score sheet for the event ended up with 20 billfish raised for 16 strikes and four landed over the week. Two blacks and two blues were tagged and the numbers would probably have been bigger if the last three days of fishing hadn’t been lost to strong wind warnings.
Champion boat billfish went to Craig White’s Valkoista and champion angler billfish was Jay Recker from the same crew. Jay also won the Pel Robson trophy for the highest point scoring billfish, a black marlin on 24kg tackle. Trevor Lake on Inner Visions took out the Wilson Marine trophy for first billfish.
On the light tackle end of things, the crew on Ben Patrick’s Mandalay stole a march on the rest of the field by finding fish on the first afternoon and fishing them hard for the first three days. By the time the other boats found significant numbers of fish the bad weather was moving in and it was all over.
Ian Bessell-Browne was Champion Angler light game and Champion Angler tuna, while Mike Roennfeldt was Champion Angler mackerel.
Spanish mackerel and amberjacks made up the bulk of the fish hooked in the light tackle end of things, with just a couple of yellowfin tuna, spotted mackerel, broadbars and sharkies. On the 4kg gear being used there were no easy fish and concentration was paramount on an often steeply pitching deck.
The best fish of the week was a superb yellowtail king close to 30kg that Guy Bessell-Browne hooked just before the close of fishing on Day Two. He had the fish right to the boat after an hour or so but then it did a typical yellowtail king thing, bolting under the hull and wrapping the line around the rudder.
The inaugural winner of the GDOFC – PGFC Trophy for boats both clubs competing in the same event was Ben Patrick on Mandalay.
For some, the three days lost to fishing provided a great opportunity to enjoy the other delights of the Abrolhos, anchoring up in crystal clear sandy bays, where they could enjoy feasting on freshly caught baldchin and crayfish.
As always, a fantastic week. Roll on AIGFT 2017.
