The Tusker Game Fishing Classic was held on the 8th & 9th of November from Port Vila Vanuatu and twelve teams entered for some fantastic fishing on Blue Marlin and the usual pelagic species. The weather gods turned it on with no more than 10 knots on Saturday, no wind on Sunday and it was hot out on the water.

There were quite a few Blues hooked on Saturday but only two were tagged and the action hotted up on Sunday morning with the first Marlin being hooked at 6.15am. The bite lasted for about an hour and boats were hooking up one after the other! There were some notable catches of Mahi Mahi including a 10Kg fish caught on 4Kg line and a new Vanuatu Ladies Record of a  21.8Kg Barracuda taken on 24Kg line. There were also some nice Dog Tooth Tuna brought to the scales as well.

The team aboard Nevagivup consisted of Rodney & Gayle McPhee and Michelle Temminck skippered by Charles Wheeler and the deck hand was Richard.  Rodney and Gayle were out to defend their winning title from last year. The first day we saw 4 Blue Marlin and 1 Sail fish and we managed to pull the hooks on two fish!  Gayle landed a nice Mahi Mahi on 15Kg line as well.

The team aboard Horizon, all Aussie anglers and skippered by Sean Winslett and deck hand James managed to raise 3 Blues as well for the day. Sunday saw Nevagivup turn into Reel Capture due to engine troubles and we hooked our first Blue at 6.35am only to have him charge the boat and throw the lure. Ten minutes later Michelle hooked a Blue around 130Kg on 15Kg and we had the tag in the fish after 15 minutes.

The competition was hotting up with other teams tagging fish on heavier line classes and we knew that we had to tag another one on 15Kg to secure the lead. Rodney hooked a nice Blue on 15Kg at around 11.20am and after 25 minutes the tag was in! Horizon raised three Blues but the hooks were pulled as well. Between our two boats we raised 13 Blue Marlin and 1 Sailfish and landed a couple of nice Mahi Mahi.

The final run down for our winning team on Nevagivup/Reel Capture was;

Best Angler Tag & Release: Michelle Temminck

Best Boat: Nevagivup/Reel Capture

Best Lady Angler: Michelle Temminck

Best Skipper: Charles Wheeler

All in all this was a great tournament and the fishing and competition was enjoyed by all.