Jeremy Alai was officially crowned the new king of 90 Mile Beach surfcasting after winning the heaviest snapper main prize of $30,000 in the 2013 Snapper Bonanza, which wound up on Saturday afternoon.
However, while he likely became a household name for his feat of catching this year's heaviest fish within 10 minutes of the contest officially beginning at dawn on Tuesday, Alai was just one of many who enjoyed success of some form or another during the annual five day event. The other major prize, the Mitsubishi Triton 4x4 was won by a former Far North local now Tokoroa resident Peter Morunga; while Hamilton's Malcolm Rawnsley had the good fortune to take out the $10,000 average weight prize - estimated at 2.039kg - with his 2.035kg fish.
The event was again organised by two local businessmen John Stewart and Dave Collard who described this year's event as another "very successful" one. "We had no complaints at all, very positive feedback," said Stewart after Saturday's prizegiving and said everyone involved was confident the event will be back in 2014.
The organisers thanked a veritable small army of volunteers for their work behind the scenes, including the Far North Surf Rescue patrol lifeguards for ensuring everybody remained safe during the week. They noted the success of the competition was, as always, dependant on the continuing loyalty by anglers and the numerous sponsors.
Among the celebrities present at the final day's prizegiving affair was Geoff Thomas who announced Far North fishing breaks and anglers will feature on his Outdoors with Geoff show over the next three weeks starting from this coming Saturday, with the Snapper Classic likely to screen on March 16, while other segments will show Thomas fishing the Hokianga and hunting big gamefish with the Wildcat boys of Ahipara.
Northland MP Mike Sabin, at the final day prizegiving to congratulate the various winners, noted 30 per cent of the participants were local with others coming from all over New Zealand, Australia and one this year from as far away as Italy, and said the event injected an estimated $2 million into the Kaitaia economy. As for the ongoing battle with Internal Affairs who have mounted a crackdown on big spot prizes at expos and fishing competitions in warning organisers of events offering prizes over $500 that this constitutes illegal gambling, Sabin confidently predicted, "this tournament will be here next year bigger and better".
But it was one of Saturday's winners, David Chisholm, who perhaps best summed up the general feeling of those who return to the 90 Mile year after year to battle the 90 Mile Beach and fish the Bonanza, by telling organisers Dave Collard and John Stewart that they had done "a really fantastic job!"
Day by day results
Conditions on 90 Mile during the week were generally ideal for surfcasting: light to zero swell, a cooling seabreezes and frequently overcast. Still one guy who fished the entire seven hours on day one was well knackered and the prospect of battling the sea, the sweep, the waves and the subtly hostile west coast environment for another four days appeared a daunting one.
The day by day results from the 2013 Captain Morgan Snapper Bonanza Surfcasting Tournament on 90 Mile Beach were as follows.
Day 1: The first day of the 2013 Snapper bonanza was one of the best opening days ever in the history of this event with over 147 fish - e.g. over 37cm - weighed in, the heaviest being a 9.91kg beauty landed by Jeremy Alai from Auckland on what was only his second cast of the day. A full list of results featured in last Thursday's Age.
Day 2: Wednesday's fishing paled in comparison with only five snapper caught. In descending order were Kaitaia's Steve Doak with 3.77kg (e.g. 1st place winning $2,000), Taipa's Simon Brown 2.76kg (2nd, $1,000), Nelson's Craig Merrion 2.5kg (3rd, $500), Kaitaia's Dave Hallett 1.805kg (4th, $300), and Dargaville's Peter Froggatt 1.655kg (5th, $200). The winning team ($500) with 3.77kg was Dan Lloyd from Kaeo; the Average weight prize ($1,000) went to Merrion; while lucky ticket holders Kellan Martin and Steven Beckett went into the draw for the Mitsubishi Triton 4x4.
Day 3: The fish were again in evidence on the Farmlands Thursday with 108 weighed in, although with fishing open to both coasts, none were eligible to go towards the overall prize pool. The top three of the day's five best snapper were caught by the Spicer whanau of Te Hapua: Rose with 5.315kg, Te Waa with 5.18kg, and Dave with 4.88kg winning $500, $300, and $200 respectively; followed by Sean Oneroa (Te Rangi Station) with 4.73kg for 4th placed $100, and Innes Rupapera (Awanui) with 4.605kg for 5th and $50. The average weight prize of $1,500 went to Matamata's Murray Morris with a 2.35kg fish; while Wairama Stevenson and Setu O'Brien went into the draw for the Triton.
Day 4: A cool southwesterly greeted the 700 competitors on the penultimate day of the Bonanza with 37 snapper landed. 1st for $2,000 was Mark French from Tauranga with 5.73kg, 2nd for $1,000 was Steve Doak from Kaitaia with 3.885kg, 3rd was Adrian Damsteegt from Maramarua with 3.32kg, 4th for $300 was Vincent Yates from Takahue with 3.045kg fish, and 5th for $200 was won by Rob Parker with 2.88kg. The average weight of 2.047kg was shared by Dave Hallet from Kaitaia and David Moses from Ahipara, both winning $500 each; and Leanne Rider and Sue Clark, both of Kaitaia, went into the draw for the Triton.
Day 5: The fifth and final day saw only four fish weighed: 3.83kg (e.g. winning $2,000) by David Moses of Ahipara, then 3.4kg ($1,000) by Murray Morris, 2.965kg ($500) by Dave Chisholm of Helensville, 2.185kg ($300) by Daryl Willis, and 5th prize ($200) going out as alucky draw for Takahue's Jan Desmond. The Average weight ($1,000) of 3.095kg was won by Chisholm for his 2.965kg fish; while going into the lucky draw for the Triton were Bruce Stone (Australia) and Amy Bunting (Christchurch).
Overall: A total of 195 fish were weighed in over the four main competition days. The heaviest fish for the week was Jeremy Alai's 9.91kg snapper winning $32,000 in total, while the heaviest snapper from a lady angler was a 2.365kg fish caught by Awanui's Tiri Murphy. The winning team overall (taking out $4,000 and the trophy) was Dan Lloyd's crew from Kaeo with a total of 21.225kg, followed by Team Vaughan Craven from Tauranga with 18.205kg to earn $1,000, and then Rob Parker's team from Whangarei with total of 17.72kg for $500. The major $10,000 average weight prize - estimated at 2.039kg - was won by Malcolm Rawnsley of Hamilton with his2.035kg fish.