Last Saturday saw 16 game fishing boats take to the water to compete in this month’s Fish to Max Game Fishing Tournament sponsored by the ANZ Bank. 

Some 60-plus anglers were greeted by blue skies and a slight chop on the water which made for perfect fishing conditions.

Regional country manager Bernie Poort told the Samoa Observer that S.I.G.F.A came up with an innovative way to drive sponsorship of the tournament.

He said the committee came up with an innovative way to help drive sponsorship for its various events throughout the year using a new radio grid that required boats to call in their location every few hours over the marine radio.

"This not only provides added safety for the boats, but promotes the sponsors and sees captains deciding should they follow competing boats to more productive areas or stick to their own navigation plans and favorite spots," he said.

"Corporate zone sponsors then have an opportunity to sponsor a monthly event throughout the year and this month ANZ Bank sponsored the day." 

Mr Poort said there was an abundance of bait compared to the slow catches of the day and despite the near perfect conditions as well as natural bait and birds, fishing was slow in comparison to previous months.

"There were fish out there but lazy on the bite and obviously reflective of the amount of bait about (predominantly small squid)," he said.

Amana, captained by Ivan Chewlit, fished in close picking up some Spanish mackerel and bluefin as well as trevally while many of the bigger boats headed out wide past the Apia Fad (15 nautical miles north of the harbor) in an area sponsored by Cabella Construction.

Fishing aboard his newly refurbished boat christened “Rodie”, Scot Levi called in saying he had hooked up to a marlin, very wide and on the boundary of Cabella and Tanor Zones. 

He had his young son Michael in the chair and after a exhaustive fight, Team Rodie had boated a large striped Marlin and new club record.

In tournament fishing captains need to decide on whether they keep the fish or “tag and release” the fish for potentially more points based on weight. A marlin is worth 100 points, a sailfish 50 points and giant trevally 20 points if successfully caught and then released. 

Mr. Poort was fishing down in area just north of Fagaloa Bay sponsored by Troppo Fishing Adventures. The team had hooked a marlin and lost it after about 25 minutes, reset the gear and then managed to bring in a large sailfish. Angler Justin Kelly (Oceanic Gas) was the angler and seemingly brought the large fish to the boat with ease. After a brief wrestle with the captain, they were able to retrieve the hook and successfully release the fish to fight another day. 

The tag and release and a nice 7.4kg masi masi on the way home was enough for Team Sailfish captained by Mr. Poort to win the day.

Most boats came back with at least one fish captured with the Team from Free Spirit landing a club species record for 2022 with a huge 15.4 kg wahoo captured in the Comptech zone. 

All in all it was another great tournament with plenty of hard luck stories and some great camaraderie and competitive fishing for the day.

Asked how long he has been gamefisherman for, Mr. Poort told Samoa Observer that he had been around boats all his life. 

"I have been fortunate to be a fisherman and around boats all my life. When I first came to Samoa in 2011, Captain Samoa Roy Lee took me out fishing on his boat Black Pearl and I landed my first blue marlin - I was hooked," he said. 

"I had been game fishing in Australia before but mostly for sharks and bluefin tuna - this was different, more beautiful, much warmer and at least back then more fish! I said to my wife Susie that very day we buying a boat."