Napier kahawai contest: Surfcaster claims $3000 in prizes at club event

Junior Tangi in triumph after bagging prizes worth $3000 at the Pania Surfcasting Club's annual kahawai competition on the beaches of Napier on Sunday. Photo / Supplied

One lucky fisherman walked away with prizes worth $3000 after what was otherwise an unlucky day for many of his opposition chased the big ones in the Pania Surfcasting Club's annual kahawai competition on Napier's Pacific Beach on Sunday.

Identified by organisers only as Junior Tangi, he won $1000 cash and sponsored product worth another $1000 for the biggest catch of the day, weighing 1.76kg, which compares with the club record of 3.93kg. He won another $1000 worth of products for closest to the average of the 36 fish weighed.

The runner-up was Mark Cockburn and third place went to Michael Kaka.

Club member Mark Ives said there were other catches that weren't weighed, some being kahawai under the limit of 30cm in length and including non-competition species such as shark, snapper and gurnard.

Entrants enjoy a few moments in the shade after a day in the sun at the Pania Surfcasting Club's annual kahawai competition on Sunday. Photo / Supplied

But some also caught a lot of seaweed or succumbed in other ways, and Ives said: "A lot of people lost a bit of gear."

More than 300 tickets were sold, representing one per rod, with anglers lining vantage points on the shore from Marine Parade to Awatoto.

Ives said entry numbers were down on the last three years, including last year's delayed event, which was postponed because of the Covid-19 lockdown and eventually held in September.

Amid the keenness to get out after the restrictions imposed by the pandemic alerts, more than 400 rods were entered at that event, but no one told the fish, and only six catches were registered.