Rotorua Fishing and Casting Club to host 50th Surf Fishing Bonanza on Auckland Anniversary weekend

Lew Taylor, Rotorua Fishing and Casting Club president in 2015, gears up for the Surf Fishing Bonanza that summer. Photo / File

The Rotorua Fishing and Casting Club Inc is again holding its major annual public surf fishing competition, the Surf Fishing Bonanza, this coming Auckland Anniversary Weekend.

The club has now been in existence in Rotorua for more than 62 years, and the competition is in its 50th year.

It attracts families and fishers from all over the Bay of Plenty and from far afield as Auckland, Taranaki, Poverty Bay and Hawke's Bay.

Prizes exceed $10,000 in value, including a special children's section with great prizes sponsored by Hunting and Fishing Rotorua.

The competition will be held on January 27, with fishing from 7.00am to 2.00pm, and the prize-giving function held as soon as practical after 3.00pm based at the Matatā Tennis Club grounds.

Last January there were in excess of 650 competitors, but the event has drawn as many as 1000 rods on the beach.

The competition focuses on the average weight, not the heaviest fish, so all competitors are in with a chance of a major prize.

Two years ago a 10-year-old girl walked away with the $5000 major prize.