World class in the Bay

The 2024 Kubota Billfish Classic has been crowned the largest tournament in the world, with a massive 420 teams battling it out.

Event organiser Tom Maxwell says it is a massive achievement, with demand for the event bigger than ever before.

“This year’s event saw 420 boats take part – a number that saw the event take over the White Marlin Open as the largest tournament in the world. So that's been a really cool achievement,” Tom tells The Adventurer.

Last year’s event had 265 teams, so it is a huge increase.

“And that was even capped off, and sold out eight months ago,” Tom says. “And then we still had a waiting list of people paid up in the hope that people would pull out. So, the demand's really high.”

Tom says this year’s event went better than expected.

“We had pretty good weather. Awesome weather on day one, and then a bit of wind on the following two days, but everyone still managed to get out there,” he says.

Tom says the Kubota Classic is a huge deal for the Whitianga community. 

“Financially, we’ve estimated the event brought in about $6.3 million. Some experts have said it could be closer to $30 million, if you take into account the people that are coming in and buying properties off the back of the tournament and stuff like that,” he says.

Giving back to the community and charity was also a major focus for the event.

“We had the grandstand set up around the weigh station area and had lots of engagement with the non-fishing community. We had lots of families and kids down there watching and learning a lot about the fish and stuff,” says Tom.

“The event saw more than $28,000 raised for breast cancer, and thanks to Kubota, we've managed to get the Coast Guard two brand-new Kubota tractors to launch their two rescue vessels with.”

And for the first time in the event’s history, a food bank was set up.

“It was a hell of a hit,” says Tom. “We had a few of the teams donate the fish that they weighed to the Whitianga Community Services Trust. The fish was smoked and processed for free by local businesses, all for people in need. It was a fantastic, meaningful initiative and we'll do it moving forward from now on.”

With so many teams taking part, there were also a lot of prizes up for grabs. The total price pool was $1.5 million. 

“The Godfather was this year’s champion team, and they won more than $462,000. That’s a New Zealand record payout. No-one's ever won that sort of money before,” Tom says. 

Tom says interest for next year’s event is already buzzing.

“It's just a matter of being able to accommodate all the people and all the logistics and everything,” he says.

“The bigger the event, the harder it is to put together. It was a huge jump up this year. It’s quite overwhelming all the work that needs to be done. The event is all put together by volunteers. We’re all just fishermen and farmers and stuff. We don’t know really know what we’re doing, haha.”

Clearly, Tom and the team are doing a fine job, with demand already through the roof.

“The demand has been huge. All our inboxes have just been absolutely jammed packed full of people inquiring about next year that weren't there this year. The interest is bigger than we've ever experienced ever before,” Tom says.

“We've got a lot of a lot of planning and stuff to do before we make any decisions, but we know it’s going to be an amazing, huge event.”

Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club president Gordon McIvor sang the event’s praises.

“On behalf of the MBGFC we would like to acknowledge and thank Tom Maxwell for his huge amount of work and effort in making the Kubota Billfish Classic 2024 such a monumentally successful event – the world’s largest of its kind,” Gordon says.

“It is because of his vision, passion and dedication that Mercury Bay was able to host this world-class tournament. Once again Tom has put in the hard yards to make this event happen, and his attention to detail and ability to plan ahead has created a tournament we can all be so proud of,” he says.

“So again, a massive thank you to Tom on behalf of the MBGFC, we are already looking forward to 2025!”

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Champion Team 

1st The Godfather $462,350 2nd = Walkabout $82,562.50

2nd = Black Gold $82,562.50

Heaviest Billfish $350,000 - Mid Life Crisis 256.5 kg Blue Marlin

Heaviest Tuna $10,000 - Sea K 68.26 kg Big Eye Tuna

Heaviest Mahimahi $10,000 - The Boardroom 13.72 kg

Heaviest Kingfish $10,000 - Extreme Limits 22.82 kg

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