St Helens Game Fishing Club will host its third tuna fishing competition on July 14. Club president Greg Quinn said it was something to keep members interested. 

“Our year-round membership ends at the financial year. So we do this at the start of the year because it gets people excited,” he said. 

“Most boats get put away during winter and we find that when people bring them out in summer they have problems with them, like flat batteries or perished hoses.”

Running a competition in the middle of winter is acts as an incentive for people to give their boats a run.

“The reason we do it is because it’s the start of the new season and it gets people fired up and keeps people involved in the club,” he said. 

At the moment, the club has about 150 active members.

“We’ve found that a lot of people go out in the winter and catch really good fish. But their membership essentially has expired, so they don’t have the opportunity to win end of year draws or heaviest fish of the month prizes because they’re no longer a financial member,” Mr Quinn said. 

He said the blue fin tuna season had just started. 

“Just last week there was a 126 kilogram blue fin caught by a woman called Melissa in our club,” he said. 

The competition has a catch and release section, heaviest catch and even prizes for junior fishers. 

Anyone is welcome to join the competition as long as they’re a member of the St Helens Game Fishing Club.

“To fish in the competition they have to have at least two registered people on board,” Mr Quinn said. 

The competition will start on Friday, July 13 with a briefing. The action gets underway on Saturday. 

“The St Helens Marine will be down there looking after us doing checks every hour to make sure everyone is okay and safe,” Mr Quinn said.

“Then we have a nice big barbecue and a good old shindig afterwards.”

To get involved contact shgfc11@gmail.com.