Bonanza tickets selling like hot cakes

There a probably won't be any gaps in the Snapper Bonanza field once again next year. Picture / Laurence Erstich

The organisers of next year's NgāiTakoto 90 Mile Beach Snapper Bonanza are expecting another sell-out, with the full 1000 tickets likely to be gone even earlier than they did for this year's event.

Tickets went on sale to last year's competitors on Monday last week, and will be open to all from July 1.

John Stewart said yesterday that contact had been made with all 2020 competitors whose email addresses were in the competition's database, and they had also been advised of the earlier deadline for retaining their 2020 competitor numbers on the event's Facebook page.

He wasn't sure how many tickets had sold as of yesterday, but "a couple of hundred" had been snapped up within the first 48 hours.

That guaranteed that the Bonanza would retain its status as the biggest surfcasting competition of its kind in the world, he said, and next year's prize pool would once again exceed $70,000 in cash, including $30,000 for the biggest snapper weighed in over the five days, and $10,000.00 for the catch closest to the average weight.

The $100,000 spot prize pool would also once again include a $50,000.00 four-wheel-drive.

The daily weigh-in and prize-giving these days attracted a crowd of up to 3000 competitors and supporters, he added.

It was all a long way from the first Snapper Classic in 1982, organised by The Park owners Tony Brljevich and his family. Over the following 27 years the competition evolved into a community event that benefited all manner of local businesses, and made a major contribution to the local economy.

In 2006 the competition was sold, the new owners maintaining the original format but running into financial difficulties after the 2009 event, and in 2010 it was cancelled. The 90 Mile Beach Surf Casting Club staged an event for those travelled north anyway, and 2011 saw the first Snapper Bonanza, Stewart and fellow local businessman Dave Collard combining their talents to organise it.