Ninety Mile Beach snapper comp heading for a sellout

Kamo man Troy Notton won the 2015 Snapper Bonanza's top prize of $30,000 with this 8.315kg fish hooked on the last day of the contest. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF

Next week's Ninety Mile Beach Snapper Bonanza is heading for a sell-out for the first time in its seven-year history, organisers say.

Spokesman John Stewart, of Kaitaia, said the five-day tournament was limited to 800 contestants, plus sponsors, and tickets were selling like hot cakes.

"We're up about 200 on this time last year, and anyone who wants to be there but doesn't have their ticket yet might be disappointed," he said.

"There's a much stronger vibe around this year and we've got heaps of new contestants, including one from England and about 30 from Australia."

The briefing would be held at Bonanza Headquarters at Waipapakauri Ramp on Monday, March 13, at 6pm with the competition running from 7am on Tuesday, March 14, until 4.30pm on Saturday, March 18.

The format had been tweaked a little this year, most notably in that Thursday's weigh-in would close at 10.30am with the prizegiving at 3pm, as opposed to 5pm every other day. Contestants would be free to fish throughout Wednesday night, from any beach, but not rocks, from Ahipara to Tokerau Beach.

This year's bonanza also had a new chief sponsor, Durapanel.

All fish weighed in on Thursday and Friday would be donated to the Kaitaia Fire Brigade for auctioning at Saturday morning's market in Kaitaia. Contestants would be encouraged to add kahawai and trevally to the collection.

"It's just something more we can do for the community," Mr Stewart said. He hoped the auction would raise a tidy sum for the brigade.

The event was founded as the Ninety Mile Beach Snapper Classic in 1982 by the Brljevich family, the owners of a Waipapakauri Ramp campground. It grew into one of the world's biggest surfcasting competitions and was sold to new owners in 2006. They ran into financial difficulties after the 2009 event and the 2010 competition was cancelled.

The contest was revived as the Snapper Bonanza in 2011 by Kaitaia businessmen John Stewart, a printer, and Dave Collard, a publican.