Milton Arnold's experience in surfcasting the wild and tricky conditions of the Far North west coast came to the fore in the Waipapakauri Hotel Drawn Pairs club fishing contest on May 12.
Arnold once again weighed in the heaviest snapper of the day with a 5.97kg fish, went on to
win the haggle of 3kg with another snapper at 3.07kg, and also took out the drawn pairs prize with Fred Cassidy, the pair's total fish weight of 14.66kg beating runner-sup Mike Scott and Miko Rogers with 9.59kg.
The 90 Mile Beach Surfcasting Club field day was fished from 8am to 2pm over a 10.40am high tide in mild weather and sea conditions which club reporter Jack Rogers noted had come right on the day after a week of stormy weather, and this allowed the 38 club members and one visitor to weigh in 14 snapper and 17 kahawai.
Other top fish of the day were Peter Kake (who travels up from Whangarei on club days to participate) with a 2.06kg kahawai 2 (i.e. 2nd place), M Scott 4.60kg snapper 3, Logan Craig 1.85kg kahawai 4, Sue Clarke 3.20kg snapper 5, Dave Hallett 1.52kg kahawai 6, Rod Alan 2.70kg snapper 7, M Rogers 1.46kg kahawai 8, Garry Workman 2.56kg snapper 9, and John Randall 1.38kg kahawai 10. As well, Kaiden Craig took out the special prize for a junior, while, with no trevally caught, the Sports Link Trophy will now be fished for in September.
For the after-event, the Waipapakauri Hotel put their new kitchen to the test by cooking copious amounts of fresh fish with chips and salads to everyone's delight. This event marked the conclusion to the club's summer fishing programme with the next club day set down for September 15.
