THE 34th instalment of the Golden Lure Tournament hooked a huge weigh in for a tiny angler.
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Madison Fairlie (8) from the vessel No Excuse managed to reel in a massive tiger shark that weighed in at 85 kilograms. It was caught on a 37kg line.
“She did it all herself,” said proud dad and skipper of No Excuse, Matt Fairlie. They have five crew members.
“She wound it in, but she doesn’t really get too excited these days. She’s been coming out with us for a while, but this was her first shark.
“She wanted to stay and get a bigger one.”
The shark was caught about 10 miles east of hat head. Madison used a dead mullet as a bait and it took her about 20 minutes to get it to the boat.
“We thought it was only a tiny one but we realised it was big when it got to the side of the vessel,” Matt said.
“That was out biggest catch so far as a crew, but we’ll keep focusing on sharks as our main aim for the tournament. “
Last year, 100 percent of fish caught were tagged and released but it was clearly a different story in 2018, with Madison’s catch coming on the first day.
Angler crews from as far as Geelong, Victoria, are vying for two major prizes – the over 150 kilogram marlin jackpot and the coveted Golden Lure tag and release grand champion.
Zac Danby from the vessel Pheel the bite, came agonisingly close to being the first angler with their name on the list, with their blue marlin weighing in at 146.4kg – just shy of the 150kg qualification.
It was the first marlin caught for the tournament. He used 37kg line.
The last day of competition is on Friday, January 12.