Thank you to Nathan for the report!
The 3rd Central Coast GFC Nautilus Marine Blue Water Classic was hosted over the weekend from the Gosford Sailing Club with a total of 31 boats and 106 anglers entered – a good mix of both trailer boats and larger vessels. Unfortunately the fishing was slower than previous years, despite the weeks leading up to the tourney having some of the best early seasons results in some time, and the lack of bait made finding the fish difficult.
Day 1, Saturday was a beautiful day on the water with only a late change in the arvo. There were 2 marlin captured, both on 10kg line by Blue Blooded and a third was tagged and released by the smallest boat in the field, a 17ft Haines V17L, Hard & Fast. On the shark front, Carnage tagged a small blue shark on 6kg and lost a mako after a short fight while Overtime tagged a small tiger shark. The only other shark for the weekend was a tagged tiger on Blood & Guts. There were also several striped tuna and kingfish tagged by juniors on the Saturday, as well as a couple small mahi mahi.
Day 2 Sunday proved to be a challenging day, as boats were greeted by 20knots+ north-easterly wind that came through at 9am and brought with it consistent 2-3m swells. Overtime managed to raise another 150kg+ mako without hookup and no other sharks were seen on the Sunday. Late in the afternoon Outlaw tagged a healthy blue marlin off Sydney. And that was it for the day with many boats returning early due to the weather.
The final results were:
CHAMPION MALE ADULT T&R – Andrew Griffin 10,000 pts “HARD AND FAST” – CCGFC
CHAMPION MALE ADULT CAPTURE – Josh Hodder 12,180.13 pts “BLUE BLOODED” – LMGFC
CHAMPION FEMALE ADULT T&R – Karen Perivolaris 2,300pts “OVERTIME” – CCGFC
HEAVIEST MARLIN ANGLER – Josh Hodder 75.70kg Stiped Marlin “BLUE BLOODED” – LMGFC
CHAMPION JUNIOR T&R – Carl Ayoub 1,266 pts “LOCKOUT” – BOTANY BAY GFC
CHAMPION JUNIOR OTHER GAME FISH T&R – 1,266 pts Carl Ayoub “LOCKOUT” – BOTANY BAY GFC
CHAMPION SMALL FRY T&R OVERALL – 310pts Spenser Hoye “HAULIN” – CCGFC
CHAMPION ANGLER OTHER GAME FISH T&R – 1,266pts – Carl Ayoub “LOCKOUT” – BOTANY BAY GFC
CHAMPION BOAT OVER 8METERS T&R – 10,000pts – “THE OUTLAW” PHGFC
CHAMPION BOAT OVER 8METERS CAPTURE – 24938.31pts – “BLUE BLOODED” – LMGFC
CHAMPION BOAT UNDER 8 METERS T&R – 10,000pts – “HARD AND FAST” – CCGFC
