Good conditions as 128 boats at sea for Megafish 2025

The crew of Hookers, Lines, Sinkers line up after crew member Culum McNaughton, from Taupo, weighed a 62.4kg yellowfin tuna on the first day of Megafish 2025 on Wednesday. Photo / Supplied

The yellowfin tuna invasion of Hawke Bay was showing no sign of coming to end with at least 10 weighed at the Hawke’s Bay Sports Fishing Club by late on the first day of the four-day Napier Hunting and Fishing and Shark Engineering Megafish 2025 on Wednesday.

The crew of Hookers, Lines, Sinkers line up after crew member Culum McNaughton, from Taupo, weighed a 62.4kg yellowfin tuna on the first day of Megafish 2025 on Wednesday. Photo / Supplied.

The annual competition, with prizes worth up to about $80,000, has attracted anglers from throughout New Zealand, with the yellowfin, the heaviest on the first day close a 62.4kg specimen landed by Culum McNaughton, of Taupo, aboard the boat Hookers, Lines and Drinkers.

It could be eligible for the main prize which could swell to $20,000 – a combination of the $10,000 winning catch and $10,000 for the best caught by Heli Ag Early Bird anglers who dominate the entry list.

With the winner decided on a points to weight to species scale – multiplying the weight of smaller species catches – it is not necessarily the heaviest catch overall that wins.

The heaviest overall by late afternoon was a 92.2kg marlin, a prized catch but still short of some of the bigger marlin in the competition over the years.

Club manager Neil Price said recently there were some seasons when no yellowfin were weighed at the club on Nelson Quay, Ahuriri, but dozens had been weighed this season before the competition started.

Megafish this year has attracted 478 entries, with a fleet of 128 boats.

The competition finishes on Saturday, with conditions expected to make for good fishing throughout, in contrast with the cancellation of some days in recent years.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.