Counties Sport fishing club's fish'n'chick's 2019

The Counties Sport Fishing Club's Fish N Chicks comp was a great day out for Rusty Dog's team
fishing on Wasat. 
Skippered by David Anderson, Fishing crew Kiri Anderson, Carly Anderson and Rachael Attwood.
The evening before, we made a decision to avoid our usual launching pad in the Waikato River, as the bar conditions were borderline and we didn't want the day to be ruined by constantly wondering if it was going to deteriorate for our return.
So, 5am start and Te Toro ramp was an easy option.
Sea conditions were lumpy to start and the chop and wind caused a few boats and their crew to seek calmer waters inside. Our crew had taken their concrete pills, and we persevered.
The gear was deployed at 58m, water temps were 19.5 and we found patches of 20.5 in places, and birds working bait schools. 
Our big game action for the day was mainly provided by the Healthy Mako population currently holding around the big schools of Saurie and Skipjack off the coast.
With two fish hooked and dropped, and a third brought to the boat to be tagged and released by a smooth operating team.
We finished up winning third place Skipjack caught by Rachael  and our Skipper David Anderson, picked up the Skippers Spot prize.
Our Albacore were a shade under the winning weights this year, but will be providing some great table fare over the next few days.
we only saw one marlin for the day, but it was intent on chasing something across the surface and didn't take a blind bit of notice of us
The lures providing all the entertainment for the day, were old faithful Zuker 5.5 in black and purple, Fathom Offshore's Marlin Darlin in Gay Bob colours, and our tuna lures were little Mrs Palmer Hex Heads in Lumo green.
To cap the comp off for me, it was exciting to be asked to draw the winner of the Friday night raffle, which included my custom ladies 8-15kg spin rod that I built and donated for this comp. We were all very surprised when the winner was drawn and Brendan Sands name was called out amid gales of laughter. 
​Congratulations Brendan, I hope you get a good bend in that beautiful pink rod soon, pink really suits you