Second chance to fish for gold

Anglers have a second chance to win prizes after no one claimed the pink tagged trout. Photo/Ben Fraser

Anglers will have a second chance to win after none of the big prizes were claimed in this season's Fish for Gold promotion.

The promotion, where anglers could land a pink tagged trout and potentially win a major prize of $10,000, or an outboard motor valued at nearly $1000, has now closed.

The promotion kicked off on opening day October 1 and ran for eight days.

Fish & Game Eastern manager Andy Garrick said this year differed from the past two years in that no one came forward with a tag to claim a prize within the allotted time period, as three people did last year.

"We hate to see folk missing out altogether, so we've decided to put forward three bonus prizes for anyone who can catch and present one of these special pink tags before the end of this month, October 31.

"We are offering a voucher to the value of $200 for the first three pink tags returned."

Mr Garrick said putting up the additional prizes was a way to keep the Fish for Gold suspense happening albeit at a lower key.

"We must stress that this is an add on, a bonus if you like, and that the main promotion and its prizes of cash and an outboard motor which was run according to strict conditions, has now closed.

"But here's a 'second chance' offer for all those who registered for the event originally."

Mr Garrick said that regrettably bad weather was likely to have played a part in no one catching a pink tagged fish, as lake conditions were not particularly conducive to getting anglers out and about over the course of the event.

Fish & Game staff opened the specially sealed and numbered envelopes yesterday as the 1pm deadline to present tags passed. They found that the winning fish was number five, which had been released into Lake Tarawera.

The tag which would have won the outboard was number 18 attached to a fish released into Lake Rotoiti.

"We extend our thanks to the hundreds of people who entered the spirit of the event and registered for Fish for Gold," Mr Garrick said.

"We would also like to extend our grateful thanks to the sponsors who backed the event and put forward products as prizes."