Winners for Pahiatua Trout Fishing Carnival

Trophy Winners. Tim Cresswell, Sheldon and Emma Brown, Emma Fergus, Cherie Fredricksen, Malcolm Groves and Andrew Moynihan.

The annual Pahiatua Trout Fishing Carnival was held from October 24 to October 31 with 91 anglers registered, of who nearly half weighed in a fish.

This year the weather leading up to the carnival was great, the rivers were bit slippery and weedy on the sides in places, needing a good fresh but over the carnival the rivers had a good flow and were very fishable.

All of the trophy winning trout came out of the Manawatu and Mangahao rivers with the Manawatu coming out on top probably because it was fished more.

Not too many people fish the Mangatainoka because of the length restriction during the carnival.

Pippa McKinnel proudly weighing in her fish.

It was great to see so many fishermen on the river and in particular the kids of which 51 entered the junior and novice competitions.

Weigh-ins at The Post Office Hotel saw a steady flow of anglers turning up checking out what was happening and entering the nightly spot prizes.

The results showed we had more fish weighed in this year than last year but on a par with previous years.

The average cf (condition factor) for all trout weighed in was 43.60, which was lower than last year but well up on other years.

The heaviest trout, a Brown Jack 2.220kg was caught in the Manawatu River.

There were 64 rainbow and 14 brown trout plus seven eels weighed in over the eight days, all of the eels were later released.

Sponsors generosity ensured participants enjoyed excellent spot prizes both throughout the week and the final prizegiving.

The major drawn spot prize winners were Bradley Ingram, who won the MacDougalls fly rod combo (adults), and the kids' major spot prize, a spinning rod went to Tim Cresswell.

For more photos and info, check out our Facebook page.

The Trophy winning trout and eels were:

Heaviest Trout Open – Malcom Groves 2.220kg.

Heaviest Trout Men – Malcom Groves 2.220kg.

Heaviest Trout Ladies – Cherie Fredricksen 1.420kg.

Heaviest Trout Junior – Zara Brown 1.900kg.

Heaviest Trout Novice – Sheldon Brown 1.820kg.

Heaviest Eel – Phineas Shearman 6.000kg.

Best Conditioned Trout over 907gms/2lb – Andrew Moynihan 54.50 cf.

Best Conditioned Trout Junior – Andrew Moynihan 54.50 cf.

Best Conditioned Trout Novice – Emma Fergus 50.80 cf.

Well done to all of those who received trophies, and to all the children who managed to catch a Trout or an eel. We look forward to seeing everyone next year at our 50th Carnival.