LUCKY STRIKE: Elsa Whitley (centre) shows off her winning fish in the Kahawai Bonanza on Sunday flanked by Mike Scott and Ben Waaka, with Mark Frost and Rod Alan in the foreground.
The Kahawai Bonanza fishing competition proved another very successful event for the 169 surfcasters taking part in ideal conditions on the first day of winter last Sunday.
Anglers in the 90 Mile Beach Surfcasting Club event were allowed to fish both west and east coasts but saw the majority of
the prize-winning fish coming off a sweepy 90 Mile Beach over a 11.30am high tide and within close proximity to the Lone Pine area, south of the Waipap ramp.
The winning (heaviest) kahawai of 2.765kg was caught by Elsa Whitley, a fair result according to event spokesman Jack Rogers as she was also instrumental in selling a lot of the tickets, while runner-up spot went to Ben Waaka with 2.730kg, and heading off a fish of exactly the same weight caught by clubmate Mike Scott who finished third simply because Waaka got to the scales first. Elsewhere, fourth place went to Rod Alan with a 2.375kg fish, while Mark Frost fishing on East Beach was fifth with a 2.170kg fish, and Brenda Waaka won the raffle for an Icy Tech chilly bin.
There were also a lot of great spot prizes given away to lucky ticket holders at the prizegiving of the Liquor King/ Juken NZ/ Snapper Bonanza competition, which took place at Waipapakauri Hotel on Sunday afternoon, including an iPad to Joy Wikitera, a Snapper Bonanza early bird ticket to Miko Rogers, a set of alloy black rims for Francis Hobson and a 70-litre chilly bin for Wally Parata. The club expressed its sincere gratitude to all the sponsors who made this competition so successful.
Coming up this Saturday is the last club field day for the summer fishing calendar, taking place from 8am-2pm fishing over a 3m low tide at 10am. This will be followed by a distance-casting contest for the club's Casting Trophy. The club advised fishing for the 2014/15 season begins on September 7.
