Vava’u Sport Fishing Club
Tonga Fish Tales
©
Copyright
March 08..
A real mixed bag of weather from oily calm seas
to rough and windy conditions. The fishing was inconsistent with heaps
of bait around for a few days and then gone the next. The boats that
fished had good days and not so good days but some nice fish were caught
especially west of the middle FAD area where the biggest bait schools
worked the current lines.
Bonefish in Tonga ….. an update
A few more reports have confirmed some not so well known spots where
Bonefish hang out. These ‘Spot X’ areas are found in locations where the
local fisherman pressure is least, especially the use of tidal fish
traps.
It’s time to get the fly gear out …………. as all the club and national
records are vacant.
Billfish ……
Most of the Blue Marlin reported were small fish in the 80kg – 95kg
range with a few bigger fish found out west crashing the bait schools.
Skippy schools in the 2kg – 4kg size provided ideal live baiting
opportunities and produced a couple of nice fish in the 130kg – 150kg
range.
Sailfish have turned up in good numbers and ‘Dora Malia’ fishing a
five day stint raised fish every day with a couple of doubles. The
biggest Sail for the month - 40kg
No Striped or Black Marlin were reported during the month.
Mahimahi …..
Hard to find at the beginning of the month but some good schools
located feeding on big schools of flying fish in the middle grounds. The
heaviest for the month - 16kg
Wahoo …..
The seaward main harbour entrance always holds a mix of bait and this
area had good concentrations of Wahoo from 10kg up to 20kg.
Reef Species …….
The calm days presented the opportunity to fish some of the inner
reef systems and catches included Coral and Coronation Trout, Snapper,
Blue Trevally, Emperor and
various species of Sweetlip.
Jigging, soft baits and traditional ledger rigged baits all produced
good table fish
‘Hakuna Matata’ fishing with a junior and small fry son aboard
produced personal bests on many species for the kids. It is great to see
young kids given the opportunity
to learn the joys of the sport at an early age. One can see the
competitive spirit grow with the number of fish being caught and the
anticipation of the biggest fish being caught to show up the adults on
board!
Up and Coming Tournament News …..
Two of Tonga’s leading tournaments which have a
history of catching lots of fish - great prizes and trophies
so be early and contact the Tournament Directors NOW
….
Tonga International Billfish Tournament
4th to 11th September 2008
A great tournament package to fish Tonga’s premium
event
Winners will be eligible to fish the World Offshore
Championship
Cabo San Lucas – Mexico May 2009
(application pending)
Tournament Director – Heinz Koster
music@kalianetvav.to
NZ Fishing News Tongan International
Game Fishing Tournament
18th
to 25th September 2008
A very competitive tournament package price
And if you wish to fish … first in best dressed
Tournament Director – Mark Airey mark@spotx.com
Tonga Fish Tales Newsletter February 08
Previous newsletters below
Vava’u Sport Fishing Club
February …..
the weather was a mix of the good, bad and ugly but we had enough
of the good patches to fish a good run of Blues. The big disappointment
was the lack of Yellow Fin for the Tuna Fest Tournament but considering
the last three months with fish between 60kg – 75kg is guess we should not
be whinging !!
The Tuna Fest Tournament was a line class event where only Yellow Fin &
Tuna species recorded points - all other species including billfish were
by-catch.
A week before the Tournament the bigger Yellow Fin were hard to find
but there were patches around the FAD’s and the two Sea Mounts.
Running lighter tackle for Tuna in Blue Marlin country is always a
challenge, so all the crews were on constant battle stations from day one.
6 Yellow Fin were caught on day one but alas no fish went the minimum
weight of 10kg, but the Marlin bite was incredible …… most boats had
between 3 to 5 shots. The Blues
were all around
the 75kg – 85kg size. They were billing the lures and it proved hard to
get the hooks to stick. There were reported triples and doubles and but
the end of day one three Billfish were tagged.
Day Two went much the same…. No Tuna caught went weight but the Marlin
action was fast and furious.
A couple of boats went out to the sea mounts to jig for Dog Tooth as it
was looking like it would be the only Tuna around that could clinch the
tournament.
Reel Addiction hooked up a couple of good Doggies on 37kg but got done
like a dinner and despite several other days chasing them they never got
another bite.
By the last day everyone was concentrating around the proven Tuna
grounds …it looked like just one Tuna 10kg and over would take out the
Tournament.
The billfish keep getting in the way and by stop fishing, no Tuna were
caught.
A few good Mahimahi and Wahoo were caught during the last few days
together with and those pesty billfish. Not what we wanted but plenty of
other fish were caught during the event and yes prize giving was very
short ….. see you all next year!
Bonefish In Tonga …..
Through out the Pacific there are patches of bonefish and the best
known would be Xmas Island which has World Class trophy fish.
Around Tongan waters bonefish sighting have been reported over many
years mainly around isolated mangrove and tidal flats but as to the size
of the population no one really has a handle on it.
Alan Bowe found one specimen last week to prove beyond doubt the
species is here.
The traditional bonefish habitat are vulnerable to local subsistence
fisherman, especially gill netting and fish traps so a few keen fly
fishermen will no doubt spend a few days exploring Spot X to see
how many and how big the fish are.
January …08 A great start to the New Year with good
concentrations of Yellow Fin Tuna and Blue Marlin. The weather was a
disappointment to say the least and we had consistent North & North East
winds, with heavy rain and strong winds and a nasty northerly swell.
The water temperature was also a little cooler for this time of the
year and perhaps this reflected the hot Marlin bite.
Kiwi Magic nailed the first billfish for the season at around 11.30am
January 1st.
Dora Malia was a little unlucky in that they hooked up at around 9.30am
but pulled the hooks after 10 minutes. Kiwi Magic nailed the second
billfish for the season a few hours later …….. just to rub salt in the
wound.
Billfish action …..
Lots of small Blues about, feisty and very hungry. Three to four shots
a day was common and ‘Target One’ had a great day nailing 3 out of 4 bites
in early January.
Most days out resulted in a couple of Blues with an average size around
65kg.
Amongst the smaller Blues were a few good fish around the 200kg plus
size.
Sailfish were a bit scarce - a few reported encounters with Sails in
the 30kg range.
Shortbill were also reported but a bit patchy based on historical runs
where January is usually one of the best months.
Yellow Fin Tuna ……
The Yellow Fin run has been phenomenal since September/October last
year and we have enjoyed one of the best runs on record. The fish have
been a consistent 50kg –70kg range and it’s still in full swing. At times
the water has been frothing with huge schools crashing bait over large
areas.
January to-date has produced some very good fish in the 60kg-70kg size
and lots of reports of multiple hooks ups and bust offs on lighter tackle.
Mahimahi …..
Not so hot at the moment – hard to find and harder to get them to bite.
A few good fish in the 15kg-18kg range but most were smaller fish in the
5kg –7kg range.Even a little slow around the FADs and the fish that are
there are very boat shy.
Wahoo ……
A few good patches around the FAD’s and drop offs with fish up to 18kg.
Lots of encounters out at the sea mounts which meant bad news for those
live baiting for billies or Yellow Fin. The Wahoo have developed the knack
of taking out the tail section on the bait and then racing in and biting
the head section just behind the bridle…. Now that’s fish smart.
NSW DPI Game Fish Tagging Program…
We were fortunate to have Phil Bolton – NSW Recreational Tagging Manger
visit Tonga and provide an overview of the program to both MoF officers
and Fishing Club Members.
The program is the largest saltwater tagging program of it’s kind in
the world with over 130,000-recorded tags. Phil provided new improved
plastic tags for Billfish that have shown to be more durable and less
likely to cause infection together with an outline on how to improve
survival of tagged billfish.
For baiting billfish, Phil supplied a quantity of non-offset circle
hooks which when used properly certainly reduce billfish mortality – the
majority of hook ups are in the corner of the mouth avoiding gill and deep
gut hook-ups.
Phil had the opportunity to fish whilst in Vava’u and what could be
more befitting for a Tagging Manager ….tagging a Blue Marlin, his personal
best … est. 250kg.
The Blue took a Black Bart Brazilio and gave him a one hell of a fight
…. and for a tagging manager, he did pretty dam good.
On behalf of Tonga, special thanks to Phil and the NSW DPI program for
supplying tags and starter kits in the interest of billfish conservation.
VSFC to host the ….. 2008 Vava’u Tuna Tournament
With the current run of big Yellow Fin, the forthcoming Tuna Tournament
8th – 13th February, should be a blast. The event
is a line class tournament and whilst other species are recognised for
points the major trophies are for Tuna Species.
Last year the heaviest weighed Yellow Fin was 84.4kg caught on Hakula
by angler Nick Durham, fishing 24kg line class.
December …07..
A very productive
month with some outstanding fishing,
especially big Yellow Fin Tuna in the 60kg to 72kg range.
The weather was kind despite the threat of ‘Daman’ and the National
Billfish and Tuna Tournament produced some fantastic fishing. (see
official results below)
The Blue Marlin bite was hot …. plague proportion 65kg-75kg Blue Marlin
that hit anything and everything – A few of the boats reported consistent
3 and 4 billfish days
together with Yellow Fin in the 50kg- 70kg range – now that’s great
fishing in anyone’s book.
Mahimahi were a bit scarce but a few good fish around the 16kg-18kg
size were caught as were the occasional Wahoo that topped 20kg.
What has become a bit of a tradition in Vava’u is the local fleet
fishing hard on the last day of the year and the first day of the New Year
to catch billfish….
Lole Lui fishing on ‘Reel Addiction’ caught the last billfish for 2007,
a 110kg Blue Marlin and Fiona Beck fishing on ‘Kiwi Magic’ caught a Blue
Marlin on 15kg Line class ….the first billfish for 2008.
It has been a good year for New Club Records …..
|
2007 VSFC New Records - Male |
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Date |
Line Class |
Wgt |
Species |
Angler Name |
Boat |
Skipper |
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6/01/2007 |
15kg |
62.00kg |
Yellow Fin |
Teau Koloke |
Target One |
Henk Gros |
|
29/01/2007 |
15kg |
2.00kg |
R/Runner |
Mark Kitteridge |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
29/01/2007 |
15kg |
23.5kg |
Dog Tooth |
Scott Percy |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
31/01/2007 |
15kg |
12.00kg |
Big Eye Tuna |
Mark Kitteridge |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
31/01/2007 |
24kg |
12.45kg |
Big Eye Tuna |
Scott Percy |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
31/01/2007 |
24kg |
84.5kg |
Yellow Fin |
Nick Durham |
Hakula |
Jeff Le Strange |
|
7/07/2007 |
15kg |
5.00kg |
Kawakawa |
Lloyd Powell |
Hakula |
Jeff Le Strange |
|
15/08/2007 |
8kg |
2.50kg |
Long Tom |
Errol Bowling |
Target One |
Henk Gros |
|
31/08/2007 |
37kg |
18.50kg |
Albacore |
Greg Head |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
3/09/2007 |
15kg |
18.90kg |
Wahoo |
Matt Gilligan |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
13/09/2007 |
15kg |
23.6kg |
Wahoo |
Martin Askes |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
6/10/2007 |
15kg |
4.90kg |
R/Runner |
Stewart McNicoll |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
13/10/2007 |
37kg |
5.90kg |
Job Fish |
Martyn Porter |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
13/10/2007 |
24kg |
3.00kg |
Job Fish |
Pase Filitaonga |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
13/11/2007 |
37kg |
74.40kg |
Yellow Fin |
Ted Comfort |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
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2007 VSFC – Women’s |
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Date |
Line Class |
Wgt |
Species |
Angler Name |
Boat |
Skipper |
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3/01/2007 |
37kg |
15.00kg |
Mahimahi |
Tia Habib |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
13/10/2007 |
37kg |
12.00kg |
Dog Tooth Tuna |
Norrie Blank |
RA |
Steve Campbell |
|
3/11/2007 |
60kg |
35.00kg |
Spainish Mackeral |
Angela Hassall |
Target One |
Henk Gross |
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8/11/2007 |
37kg |
56.50kg |
Yellow Fin T |
Hayley Streeter |
Hakula |
J. Le Strange |
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2007 VSFC - Juniors |
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Date |
Line Class |
Wgt |
Species |
Angler Name |
Boat |
Skipper |
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11/01/2007 |
37kg |
11.00kg |
Mahimahi |
Dorian Le Strange |
Hakula |
Jeff Le Strange |
|
11/01/2007 |
37kg |
15.00kg |
Wahoo |
Dorian Le Strange |
Hakula |
Jeff Le Strange |
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20/01/2007 |
60kg |
58.00kg |
Yellow Fin |
Dorian Le Strange |
Hakula |
Jeff Le Strange |
|
23/01/2007 |
24kg |
9.50kg |
Skipjack |
Dorian Le Strange |
Hakula |
Jeff Le Strange |
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2007 |
National Tongan New Records |
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Junior |
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Line Class |
Weight |
Date |
Area |
Angler |
Boat |
Skipper |
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Skipjack Tuna |
24kg |
9.50kg |
23/01/2007 |
Mid FAD |
Dorian Le Strange |
Hakula |
J. Le Strange |
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Womens |
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Giant
Trevally |
15kg |
38.40kg |
W/Record |
Nuku’alofa |
Tineka Scott |
Blah Blah |
Kevin Yorwarth |
|
Spainish Mackerel |
60kg |
35.00kg |
3/11/2007 |
Vava'u |
Angela Hassall |
Target One |
Henk Gros |
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Male |
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Yellow Fin Tuna |
15kg |
62.00kg |
6/01/2007 |
Mid FAD |
Teau Koloke |
Target One |
Henk Gros |
|
Yellow Fin Tuna |
24kg |
84.50kg |
31/01/2007 |
Mid FAD |
Nick Durham |
Hakula |
J. Le Strange |
|
Big Eye Tuna |
15kg |
12.00kg |
31/01/2007 |
Mid FAD |
Mark Kitteridge |
Reel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
|
Big Eye Tuna |
24kg |
12.45kg |
31/01/2007 |
Mid FAD |
Scott Percy |
Reel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
|
Rainbow Runner |
15kg |
2.00kg |
29/01/2007 |
Otu Tol'u |
Mark Kitteridge |
Reel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
|
Kawakawa |
15kg |
5.00kg |
7/07/2007 |
Vava'u |
Lloyd Powell |
Hakula |
J. Le Strange |
|
Long Tom |
8kg |
2.50kg |
15/08/2007 |
Vava'u |
Errol Bowling |
Target One |
Henk Gros |
|
Albacore |
37kg |
18.50kg |
31/08/2007 |
Mid FAD |
Greg Head |
Reel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
|
Short Bill S/Fish |
37kg |
25.00kg |
22/09/2007 |
South Bnk |
Brian Worboys |
Hakula |
J. Le Strange |
|
Rainbow Runner |
15kg |
4.90kg |
6/10/2007 |
Mid FAD |
Stewart McNicoll |
Reel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
|
Yellow Fin Tuna |
37kg |
74.40kg |
13/11/2007 |
Mid FAD |
Ted Comfort |
Reel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
2007 National
Billfish & Tuna Tournament
Official Results
A three-day, line class tournament where anglers choose their best
two days fishing
produced world class fishing with big tuna in the 50kg to 70kg range
together with
a hot billfish bite. The three individual days fished stretched over a
three-week period and the last day fished coincided with some windy
weather caused by the aftermath of ‘Daman’ that hit part of the Fiji
Island group, some 400 miles west of Tonga.
12 boats participated in the Tournament, spread between Vava’u and
Nuku’alofa.
Day One:
Six Yellow Fin Tuna were caught with an average weight of 56.3kg with
the heaviest of the day caught by Victor Flamon fishing on Dora Malia, a
nice fish hitting the scales bang on 60kg.
Three Blue Marlin were tagged with ‘Target One’ angler/skipper, Henk
Gros leading the charge with his fish on 15kg line class – a good effort.
Most of the boats experience some absolutely wild fishing - pulling
hooks on some very big Yellow Fin and dropping a few feisty Blue Marlin.
Several of the participants caught their very first Yellow Fin Tuna –
what a way to start with such decent sized fish.
At the end of Day One the "Target One Team" had amassed 550 points with
two tagged Blue Marlin.
Day Two:
Another ripper of a day with fish galore and a lot of personal best
catches.
Ten Yellow Fin were caught with an average weight of 63.7kg, with the
heaviest catch going to Jason Underhay, 72.40kg fishing on ‘Kiwi Magic’.
Amanda Hogarth fishing on ‘Proteus’ landed a 65kg Y/Fin on stand up
gear and the battle lasted three hours – a great effort by Amanda and the
crew.
Treena Percy also landed a personal best Yellow Fin on Proteus –
55.8kg.
Liam Sherman fishing on ‘Troll’ weighed a 33.5kg Sailfish on 24kg and
two Marlin were tagged for the day, one by Tim Ellis on Target One and the
other by Paul Ahmad fishing on Hakula.
At the end of Day Two the Hakula team had amassed 464 points with five
Yellow Fin and one tagged Blue Marlin but as events unfolded, what was an
absolute blinder of a days fishing was unfortunately overshadowed by
breaches of tournament rules.
Following the Tournament Disputes Committee hearing, Sunny Hannif and
Jeff Le Strange – Hakula, were disqualified from the Tournament.
Day Three:
The weather was a little breezy with unsettled seas but the fishing was
hot.
The Yellow Fin were still about but despite the occasional ‘boil up’
the Tuna were shy and by the end of the day there were no weighable Yellow
Fin.
The Blue Marlin bite was on and leading the pack was Jason Underhay
with two tagged Blues. Matt Mulligan and Kurt Carlson also tagged one Blue
each.
Three other billfish were hooked up but alas they pulled the hooks.
In Nuku’alofa the anglers braved very rough, choppy seas and Dereck
Leonard fishing on ‘Troll’ was the only angler to weigh in a tournament
fish, a 5.6kg Skipjack caught on 24kg.
Lots of other species were caught during the Tournament like Mahimahi
and Wahoo but they did not qualify for the tournament trophy species.
The Trophy Winners:
Vava’u Club
Jason Underhay Heaviest Weighed Tuna - 72.4kg Kiwi Magic
Vava’u and National Award
Jason Underhay Highest Scoring Billfish Angler Kiwi Magic
Vava’u and National Award
Amanda Hogarth Highest Scoring Woman Angler Proteus
Vava’u and National Award
Henk Gros Highest Scoring Boat Target One
Vava’u and National Award
Skip Memorial Trophy
Top Scoring National Team Henk Gros, Tim Ellis
Alistair Coldrick, Tea Koloke
Beck Memorial Trophy
Highest Scoring Vava’u Club Angler - Jason Underhay
Nuku’alofa Club
Liam Sherman Highest Scoring Billfish Angler Troll
Nuku’alofa Award
Liam Sherman Heaviest Weighed Billfish Troll
Nuku’alofa & National Award
Dereck Leonard Heaviest Weighed Tuna Troll
Nuku’alofa
Highest Scoring Boat Nuku’alofa Award Troll
On behalf of
the VSFC Committee we wish you all the very best for the festive season
and a happy, prosperous New Year
November…07..
A good patch of calm weather with light to moderate seas. A few days of
heavy rain and strong winds but otherwise the fleet enjoyed no limitations
to fishing the Sea Mounts and South Bank grounds.
Early in the month the billfish were hard to find as were the Mahimahi
but we had an incredible run of big Yellow Fin Tuna and Billfish galore
towards the end of November. The Middle Fad area held huge volumes of
Skipjack and Yellow Fin with the water foaming with life.
Billfish …….
With the volume of bait around it was hard work getting the Billies to
take lures.
A lot of the lure action was half hearted bill slashing and bill
wrappes with low hook up rates. Live-baiting was a little more productive
but with the volume of bait about it was still hard to get a hot bite. A
few Blues in the 150kg range were tagged and the rest were smaller around
90kg size. One Striped Marlin was caught, but no Blacks and only two sails
around the 40kg size were reported.
The last week in November all changed ……and the billfish were
everywhere – up to 4 bites a day with a few whopper encounters being
reported.
Mahimahi ……
Scarce as hens teeth and this may have been related to a couple of long
liners that were fishing very close to the FAD lines – they are not
allowed to be within 12nm of the coast so MOF were informed for follow up.
The Mahimahi that were caught were mostly around the 8kg -10kg size and
one fish was weighed in at 16kg.
Yellow Fin Tuna ……..
The fleet had a ball catching big Yellow Fin and they seemed to be all
over the middle ground. The bigger fish were caught within 2 miles of the
FAD and usually with no bird activity.
The biggest Y/F for the month weighed 74.4kg caught by Ted
Comfort fishing 37kg line class on ‘Reel Addiction’ – a New Tonga National
and VSFC Record and the next day Ted’s fishing buddy caught another good
fish weighing 71.3kg.
Hayley Streeter landed a new Woman’s National and VSFC Record fishing
on Hakula, with a 56.50kg Yellow Fin on 37kg line class.
It was near impossible to avoid big yellow fin …. they were simply
everywhere and the fleet reported catching two to four fish a day all
around 55kg to 70kg, together with fish in the 25kg-40kg size.
Dog Tooth …… donating jigs to the sea God !!!
The weather allowed a few trips into ‘Doggy Territory’ but alas the
Doggies won hands down. Fishing 24kg & 37kg braid proved little match for
the reef running, cunning blighters who have the knack of cutting you off
just when you think things are going your way. Yellow Fin, Wahoo and
Mahimahi on jigs were the bonus catch.
Wahoo ……
A few good fish caught in areas where the bait was running …. lots of
damaged skirts and the occasional bust off. The average size was around
12kg-15kg and the heaviest for the month topped 23kg.
New Records Update…………
Male VSFC Record
|
6/10/2007 |
15kg |
4.90kg |
Rainbow Runner |
Stewart McNicoll |
Reel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
|
13/10/2007 |
37kg |
5.90kg |
Job Fish |
Martyn Porter |
R eel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
|
13/10/2007 |
24kg |
3.00kg |
Job Fish |
Pase Filiatonga |
Reel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
|
3/11/2007 |
60kg |
35.00kg |
Spanish Mack. |
TBA |
Target One |
Henk Gros |
|
13/11/2007 |
37kg |
74.40kg |
Yellow Fin |
Ted Comfort |
Reel Addiction
|
Steve Campbell |
Woman’s VSFC Record
|
13/10/2007 |
37kg |
12.00kg |
Dog Tooth Tuna |
Norrie Blank |
Reel Addiction |
Steve Campbell |
|
8/11/2007 |
37kg |
56.50kg |
Yellow Fin Tuna |
Hayley Streeter |
Hakula |
J. Le Strange |
National Record also
