Hi All

We've now past the shortest day of the year and we can now look forward to days getting longer and eventually temperatures may even lift as well. The Bluefin have certainly turned up off Waihau Bay in good numbers and good sizes too.

For those that missed the Blue Fin Tuna Seminar last week, you missed a great night (photos below). Big thanks to Simon from Coastguard, Mike from NZSFC, Chris from Jigstar and Maxel, Kev and Jono from Fin Chaser Marine, and Ben Borwn with a surprise cameo appearnace from Bonze Fleet! The contents was amazing and a very informative night was had by all those attending.

Don't forget to get your catch cards submitted no later than July 31st to be eligible for end of year awards and trophies.

If you have trophies from last years Prize giving please drop them off to Ant at Supreme Sheet metals at 288 Kahikatea drive, or bring them to our next Club Night on July 8th.

Speaking of the next club night, put a circle around July 8th 7:00pm. We're going to be speaking about Kayak fishing with special Guest Laurie Pottinger from Viking Kayaks, Andy Hitchcock from Stealth Kayaks, and Mike from Lockrack NZ. So spread the word and bring your mates it'll be great to be hearing about something just a little different from our usual fare.

Subs will be due on July 1st so if you're heading of SBT fishing after July 1st or planning to enter the Winter Champs then make sure you're paid up, or your fish won't count for anything more than a post on your socials!

That's about it for now, see you on July 8th.

Cheers

Bob

Spotlight on Sponsor

Huge Thank You to Our Platinum Sponsors

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our platinum sponsors Hunting & Fishing New Zealand Waikato and SIMRAD for their outstanding and ongoing support over many years. Your loyalty, generosity, and continued commitment are greatly appreciated, and we are proud to recognise the important role you play in helping our club grow, operate, and support our members. Through your valued sponsorship, the club is able to continue supporting recreational fishing, promoting sportsmanship and responsible fishing practices, and bringing together people who share a passion for fishing.

SHOP FOR ALL THE GEAR TO GET OUT THERE DOING IT

EXPERT ADVICE & INSPIRATION

Hunting & Fishing New Zealand is a well-known outdoor retail brand that supports Kiwis who enjoy hunting, fishing, camping, boating, and tramping. 100% Kiwi owned and operated they aim to help customers choose reliable gear for New Zealand conditions. When you walk into a Hunting & Fishing New Zealand Waikato store you know you're going to get the best advice and inspiration for your next outdoor adventure. A big thank you to Scott for your generous support.

High Performance Marine Electronics for Powerboats

SIMRAD is a leading global marine electronics brand specialising in high-performance technology for powerboats, sportfishing boats, motorboats, and luxury cruisers. Their range includes chartplotters, fishfinders, sonar systems, radar, autopilots, trolling motors, transducers, and integrated multifunction displays designed to improve navigation, fish finding, vessel control, and safety on the water. With products suited to both recreational and serious offshore boating, SIMRAD supports anglers and boaties with reliable equipment built for confident, connected time on the water.

Time to Renew Your Club Membership

Another season has flown by, and it is time to renew your Waikato Sport Fishing Club membership for the 2026/27 season. Renewing keeps you connected with club events, tournaments, newsletters, club nights, and member benefits throughout the year.

We appreciate your continued support and look forward to another great year of fishing, friendship, and community.

Member Benefits
Your annual membership includes a range of great benefits:

Monthly club nights, including guest speakers and the chance to catch up with fellow members
A monthly club newsletter
25% discount on WSFC Hall hire, subject to terms and conditions
Visitor access to affiliated clubs with your membership card
Club tournaments and family fishing weekends away
Opportunities to enter affiliated clubs’ fishing tournaments
Affiliation to the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council and International Game Fishing Association
10% off at Hamilton, Cambridge, and Matamata Hunting & Fishing when you present your WSFC membership card. The discount excludes items already on special, electronics, firearms, ammunition, game, and electric fishing combos.
Free entry to our Winter Challenge

2026/27 Membership Fees
As agreed at our AGM, membership fees have increased slightly for the new season:

Category	25/26 Season	26/27 Season
Adult	$40	$45
Junior (16 years and under as a 1 July)	$10	$15
Family ( 2 adults and up to 4 children 16 years and under at 1 July)	$90	$100
Student/Transitional Adult (up to age 21)	$20	$25

You can renew your membership from 1 July so you can continue enjoying everything the club has to offer. 2025/2026 members will receive an email on the 1st July with a link to you registration details. Simply click on the link to open the new season's form which will have your details already pre-populated. All you need to do is update any details then click Submit to register for the new season.

Or you can use the button below.

We appreciate your continued support and look forward to another great year of fishing, friendship, and community.

WSFC Membership Application 2026/2027

Winter Challenge

1st July 2026 - 30th September 2026

Get ready to rug up and cast out for the Waikato Sport Fishing Club Winter Challenge 2026! Running from 1 July to 30 September, this members-only competition is a great way to stay on the water through the cooler months, with a $3,000 prize pool up for grabs and no entry fee or registration required. Simply measure your catch on a standard brag mat, submit it through the Sporty App, and you could be in the running for prizes across a range of popular species.

Competition Details

Winter Challenge is a WSFC 26/27 Season Financial Members only competition.

1st July - 30th September 2026.

It's a length based competition on a standard brag mat.

$3,000 Prize Pool

No entry fee. No need to register.

All anglers one division except for Snapper which will also have a Junior (11-16 at 1st July 2026) and Smallfry (through to age 10 at 1s July 2026) division.

Kingfish, Trevally, Snapper, Kahawai, Blue Fin, Trout and Baracoutta

Prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd in six species and single prize for Barracoutta

Entry: Open to Waikato Sport Fishing Club 2026/2027 Financial Members

Entry fee: Nil

Fishing area: NZ Waters

How to enter your catch: To enter a catch take a photo of your fish on a standard brag mat along with a piece of paper with your membership number on it. Your 26/27 Membership number will be on your new digital membership card just above the bar code (e.g. SP9989948). Submit your entry via the Sporty App. Select the Registration button then Winter Challenge 2026

Decisions

All final decisions rest with the WSFC Committee whose decision is final.

Pod and Reel shares the stories that fishers don’t always talk about.

Including the moments when things start to go wrong.

From close calls and near misses to incidents that ended with lives changed forever, the podcast gives New Zealand boaties and fishers a rare, honest look at how quickly the ocean can turn.
These are real people, real decisions, and real consequences. Hooked on Safety uses these stories to spark conversations in clubs and communities, challenge complacency, and reinforce the simple safety habits that help ensure our mates, friends and family make it home.

These are true stories from real people. Some of the themes covered are of a serious nature and may be distressing. Some of the language may be offensive. Listener discretion is advised.

Season 1

“It wasn’t a bronze and it wasn’t Mako by the look of its colour, but I knew it was big enough that if it wanted a bit of a go, I’d be in trouble. And I tried not to move too much because I didn’t know whether my movement would attract it. I clearly remember thinking, I don’t want to go this way.“

– Will Fransen (Tairua Pauanui Sports Fishing Club)

What happens when a tranquil fishing trip turns into a life-and-death struggle against the elements?

Listen to Episode 1: An Unplanned Swim Part 1

“I’ve got a whole new suite of life jackets and I’ve got a PLB. Normally on a launch you don’t wear life jackets, right? A bar crossing you might, but there’s a whole lot of other things I could have done.”

Thank you for helping deliver a huge result for our fisheries

To our affiliated clubs and their members,

Today is a very good day for New Zealand fishing.

The Fisheries Amendment Bill has been put on ice, and the current Government has confirmed it will not progress the Bill through this Parliament. That is a huge result for our fisheries, our marine environment, public access, public participation, and every New Zealander who believes our fisheries should be managed for abundance, not depletion.

I wanted to write to you directly because this win belongs to the clubs as much as anyone.

Your affiliation to the New Zealand Sport Fishing Council matters. The membership money your members contribute through their clubs matters, and today is proof of that. That money helped fund the drafting and templates for submissions, the politician meetings, the media work, the legal advice, the research, the club engagement, and the countless hours of conversations that sat behind this campaign. Those conversations mattered. The ones at clubrooms mattered. The ones at boat ramps mattered. The ones at committee tables, kitchen benches, tackle shops, and over the phone all mattered as well.

More than 33,000 submissions went to the Select Committee, which is an extraordinary response. Behind that number were people who care enough about fishing, access, and the future of our marine environment to stop what they were doing and have their say. This campaign worked because people with different skills, different experiences, and different ways of seeing the world all pulled in the same direction. Right across the country, clubs gave the campaign its backbone. That is what I am most proud of.

Anyone who has spent time around fishing clubs, committees, or fisheries politics knows that we do not always agree on every detail. That is normal. What mattered here was that people understood the scale of the risk, put the bigger picture first, and stood together when it counted.

The Bill would have shifted too much power towards commercial quota interests. It would have weakened public involvement in decisions that affect public fisheries. It would have taken us further away from the kind of fisheries management system New Zealand needs, where healthy fish populations and public access sit at the centre of decision making.

Today’s result shows that advocacy still matters. It shows that public pressure matters. It shows that clubs, members, advocates, experts, and everyday fishers can still make a difference when they are informed, organised, and united.

So I want to say a very sincere thank you.

Thank you for backing the Council. Thank you for backing LegaSea. Thank you for trusting the people doing the work. Thank you for keeping your members connected to the issue. Thank you for helping give recreational fishers a strong, organised voice when it really mattered.

Every affiliation fee, every member, every delegate's volunteer effort, every club email, every shared post, every submission, and every conversation helped build the weight behind this campaign.

We should enjoy this win, because people have worked hard for it. We should also stay awake, because the Bill has been put on ice rather than buried for good, and the ideas behind it may well come back in another form.

That is a job for another day.

For now, please share this result with your members and let them know their support made a real difference.

Because it did.

Ngā mihi,

Scott Macindoe

President
New Zealand Sport Fishing Council

Fishcare is an initiative of LegaSea and the New Zealand Sportfishing Council that promotes best-practice fishing techniques to help recreational fishers reduce their impact on inshore fisheries and the wider marine environment.

It encourages fishers to go beyond basic rules such as size and bag limits by embracing kaitiakitanga, or guardianship, when gathering kaimoana and enjoying the ocean. Through practical guidance, education, and species-specific best-practice resources, FishCare supports safer handling, more responsible harvesting, and better release methods so that fish stocks and marine habitats can remain healthy for future generations.

Visit fishcare.co.nz for helpful fishing tips and resources.

Here is one example of what you can find there:

SOUTHERN BLUEFIN TUNA GUIDE - BEST PRACTICE GUIDE

It’s that time of the year when the southern bluefin tuna visit our waters. This is a fragile fishery and and we want it to survive for centuries to come. So, if you are targeting tuna this winter, please read the Fish Care Southern Bluefin tuna best practice guide – handling, utilisation and safety. These magnificent fish need to be treated with care and respect by all fishers. Please note, the limit for fishers is one fish per person. You can check the rules here.

IGFA Conservation Committee Giant Black Marlin Research

The Australian Black Marlin Foundation (ABMF) is a collaborative initiative established by members of the Cairns game fishing community to generate world-class scientific knowledge on giant black marlin while helping secure the future of one of the world's most iconic recreational fisheries. Working in partnership with the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), the Foundation combines the unique access, experience and stewardship ethic of recreational fishers with rigorous scientific research to better understand the ecology and conservation of giant black marlin.

The project seeks to improve understanding of post-release survival, movement patterns, habitat use, migration pathways and the environmental drivers influencing black marlin behaviour throughout the Coral Sea and wider Pacific Ocean. Satellite tags record location, depth and temperature data, providing unprecedented insight into the lives of these fish after release.

Importantly, the program is already underway. Five satellite tags deployed during the 2025 season all returned valuable data, demonstrating substantial variation in movements among individual fish and highlighting how much remains unknown about the species. Building on this success, additional tags have already been committed, with the long-term goal of deploying 100 satellite tags over the next three years to create one of the most comprehensive black marlin tracking programs ever undertaken.

A key component of the initiative is the Marlin Kings television series, which will document both the fishery and the science, helping share the story of giant black marlin with recreational fishers, conservation advocates and broader audiences around the world. By combining cutting-edge research with compelling storytelling, the project aims to increase awareness of the ecological and cultural significance of these remarkable fish while inspiring stewardship and support for their future.

Beyond the science, the Foundation seeks to create a lasting legacy by bringing together recreational fishers, scientists, industry supporters and the wider community to improve knowledge, conservation and appreciation of giant black marlin for future generations.

The Whakatāne Sportfishing Club is pleased to announce that entries are now open for the 2026 Hubbard Contracting Winter Tuna Tournament.

This year's tournament offers a full 22 days of fishing, giving anglers greater flexibility around weather, work commitments, and crew availability – and more opportunities to land a tournament-winning fish.

Tournament Dates

Friday 3rd July 2026

Tournament Briefing at the Whakatāne Sportfishing Club
Held in conjunction with the NZSFC & Coastguard Southern Bluefin Tuna Seminar:
"Every Catch Deserves a Safe Return"

Saturday 4th July 2026

Fishing commences: 6:00am

Saturday 25th July 2026

Fishing concludes: 3:00pm

Entries

Anglers can enter by scanning the QR code on the attached poster, visiting our website or Facebook page, or by contacting the Whakatāne Sportfishing Club.

The Winter Tuna Tournament has become a highlight of the Southern Bluefin Tuna season, attracting anglers from around the country. We would love to see members from your club join us for another exciting tournament.

Thank you for helping us spread the word. We appreciate the ongoing support of clubs throughout the region and look forward to welcoming your members to Whakatāne this winter.

For any enquiries, please contact tournaments@wsfc.co.nz.

Tight lines,

Rochelle

Tournament Coordinator

WSFC Newsletter June 2026

Spotlight on Sponsor

Huge Thank You to Our Platinum Sponsors

SHOP FOR ALL THE GEAR TO GET OUT THERE DOING IT

WSFC Members receive 10% off Hamilton, Cambridge and now Matamata Hunting & Fishing

Time to Renew Your Club Membership

Winter Challenge

1st July 2026 - 30th September 2026

Hooked on Tech

Annual Prizegiving Trophy Return Please

Thank you for helping deliver a huge result for our fisheries

IGFA Conservation Committee Giant Black Marlin Research

WSFC Event Calendar

Limited Edition WSFC T-Shirts