2003 Boroko Motors Barramundi Comp

Team ‘Overnighters’ winners with first day fish.

Husband and wife team of Frank and Kerry DeGraaf set the pace during Day One of the two day Boroko Motors Barramundi Comp with a 22.7kg barramundi brought to the scales on Saturday afternoon.

With custom built fishing rods and Abu Garcia reels as the major trophies for the Boroko Motors Comp and the Champion Angler Trophy of a NAVMAN fish finder courtesy of Lohberger Engineering up for grabs the ‘Overnighters’ were looking very confident of taking a major share of the prizes.

The Boroko Motors comp saw 52 anglers spread across 23 boats. Many chose to make the trip to Galley Reach Friday afternoon to be first on the water for the major comp of the Boroko Sports Fishing Club 2003 fishing season. Anglers gathered at Doa Estate in readiness for the 6.00am start Saturday morning.

Those teams that made the journey from Port Moresby during the daylight hours had confirmation of conditions at the Reach with the rivers at each of the bridge crossings on the highway running brown from the effects of the recent rain in the foothills surrounding the Capital. Certainly, the search for the cleaner water in the rivers unaffected by rain was going to be the key to success in the comp.

New members to the BSFC, Ron, Val and Andrew Smits, proved that the team are to be watched with Andrew weighing a barramundi of 9.5kg to stick with the leaders. Team Megabite member Patrick Trubert landed a barra of 5.65kg to complete the fish weighed on the Saturday night. Interestingly, when comparing the weight and length of these two smaller fish Andrew Smits’ barra measured 92cms against Patrick’s fish of 82cms but weighed at 5kg’s more.

The Catch and Release class saw two released fish to angler Terry Priest, Team Wild Turkey, one at 58cms and the second measuring 54cms long.

Plenty of stories at the Saturday night weigh-in about fish being lost to snags and breaking off. The large fish were around and in a very aggressive mood. Overnight rain only served to make teams amend plans to take advantage of the cleaner water in the lower parts of Galley Reach.

Cool and overcast conditions greeted anglers for the start of Sunday’s fishing with the majority of teams making the long run to the mouth of Galley Reach. The Saturday results had shown that the afternoon change of the tide was the most successful time of the day.

With the official weigh-in scheduled for 6.30pm at the South Pacific Motor Sports Club and the lateness of the afternoon tide anglers were very much aware of the need to meet the cut off time for the weighing of fish.

The ‘Good Intentions’ team of Jon Gudmundsson, Jimmy Bragg and Jake Burrows were one team that stayed and Jimmy Bragg was rewarded with a barramundi of 5.9kg late Sunday. The team also told the story of a couple of good fish lost at the same location. Mike Sweetapple, fishing with wife Rose as Team Pescado, carded a release of a barramundi of 64cms.

Sponsors and anglers gathered at the Car Club Sunday evening to enjoy a BBQ and to celebrate with the winners of the 2003 Boroko Motors Barramundi comp.

In top place, with his 22.7kg barramundi, Frank DeGraaf collected both the Heaviest Barramundi Trophy of the a rod and reel combo courtesy of Boroko Motors and the NAVMAN/Lohberger Engineering Trophy of the 4100 Series Fish Finder as Champion Angler 2003.

The Catch and Release Trophy of the second rod and reel combo from Boroko Motors went to Mike Sweetapple for his 64cm barra. Mike is making a habit of collecting trophies at the Barra Comp with this his third win in the comp.

Runners-up trophies from electrical supply company ESCO saw Andrew Smits collect a Coleman 100 litre esky and Jimmy Bragg an LG battery powered drill. Jimmy’s fish caused Club President Steve Landon a great deal of embarrassment when it was overlooked in the calculations for the trophy categories.

Terry Priest scored the runner-up prizes in the Catch and Release class picking up a marine care pack from Boroko Motors Spare Parts and Accessories and the electrical appliance trophy from BNG Trading with his two released barramundi.

The Committee for the Barra Comp also selected the most notable capture other than barramundi with the trophy awarded to Shane Boyce for his 4.25kg fingermark bream. A real thumper in anyone’s language, Shane picked up the ARB/Wheels prizes of a portable spot light and snatch strap. Shane fished with the all Boroko Motors Team ‘Evenrude’ of Guy Lamont and Geoff Lang.

The Junior Angler category went untouched for 2003 with sponsor representative Mark Littlefair from NOSJV marking the trophy to carry over to the 2004 comp. Mark generously presented each of the juniors with consolation prizes of NOSJV polo shirts.

The Boroko Sports Fishing Club is not without a large number of support sponsors for the Barramundi Comp. Bank South Pacific, SAVITEC, Arnotts Biscuits, Starland Freezers, Goodman Fielder, the South Pacific Motor Sports Club and stationers Theodist all contributed to make the 2003 Barramundi Comp a real success. All the teams and anglers extended their thanks at the close of the presentations.

The close of the official part of the presentation function left only one more award to be presented - ‘The Nafa’. Events over the two days competition provided plenty of ammunition for the judges but clearly there was a stand out team to collect this valuable award.

By unanimous decision of the part of the assembled BSFC members the award went to Team Cockroach for the great effort they put in. Well done team.

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