8-year Gisborne girl shares $40,000 prize in fishing contest

Roger Lynch and 8-year-old Summer Faber shared the Bay Bonanza $40k Lucky Angler prize drawn in a 40-person elimination at Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club on Sunday night.

An 8-year-old girl and a 70-plus-year-old reeled in the big one without getting in a boat at the Bay Bonanza on Sunday ... $41,000 in cash as joint winners of the Lucky Angler draw.

Summer Faber and Roger Lynch were the last two standing in the 40-person elimination draw at Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club and shared the $41,000 cash prize – $40k for the winner and $1000 for runner-up.

No lines went into the water for the 42nd running of the Enterprise Cars/Autosure Insurance-sponsored contest, which had attracted over 500 entries.

The fishing side of it was abandoned prior to the weekend because of sea conditions and the state of emergency situation in Tairāwhiti.

But the club decided to continue with the other parts of the tournament, which included the Lucky Angler draw and draws and giveaways for the other $40,000 in prizes.

The much-anticipated Lucky Angler draw winner (or winners in this case) was found on Sunday night and involved the 40 whose names had come out of the barrel in draws on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

In the elimination process, it got down to the last two – Awapuni School student Summer, who fishes with her family when the weather’s right, and Lynch, a regular participant in club contests.

As has happened before, a joint decision was made to share the cash.

Summer is the daughter of Stefan and Rose Faber, and the granddaughter of club stalwart Roger Faber, who last year stepped down after 21 years as club president.

“It was a great thrill for the whole family that Summer shared the Lucky Angler prize ... it was really special,” said Faber, who has been involved in every Bay Bonanza dating back to the 1980s and got to the final 10 in Sunday’s lucky draw process.

“I stayed on with Summer to support her onstage after that. She was over the moon ... she had such a big grin on her face.

“She knows she won a lot of money, but I don’t think she really appreciates how much.”

Club captain Kelly Humphries said although competitors were not out on the water doing what they loved over the three days, they understood the importance of the call to cancel the fishing side of the contest.

“It was still an amazing weekend, enjoyed by everyone [and] it was awesome to see a lot of people still walk away with prizes.”

The club’s next big contest is the Hunting and Fishing Marlin and Tuna Tournament from February 19-22.