The marlin’s weighing over 150 kilograms in the overall competition remained the one’s that got away.

It means the prize for the 2018 Golden Lure will be $10,000 up from the $5,000 an angler could have pocketed this year.

Tournament coordinator Janeck Kaczorowski said the increase in prizemoney was announced on Saturday night.

“There is already a buzz about next year’s event and it’s because no marlin’s met the 150 kilogram weight minimum for the overall competition this year,” he said.

Kerryanne Thompson claimed the largest capture on ladies day with a 137.2 kilogram marlin.

Deb Kemmis on board Coffs Harbour boat Juggernaut won the ladies tag and release section, while Cooper Frith was the champion junior angler.

“We had 47 boats this year and tagged 128 marlin overall which are terrific numbers,” Kazcorowski said.

“One marlin in particular weighed about 90 kilograms and was tagged and released for the second time. We don’t know how long it has been since it was tagged the first time, but when we do we will let everyone know.”

Local boat Calypso 3, skippered by Dave Wells won the overall tag and release category with 13 marlin over the four days of competition.

Anglers are already looking forward to returning to Port Macquarie in 12 months time.

“We’ve grown another 20 anglers since last year so we look forward to being even bigger and better next year.”