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90 Mile Beach Fishing Contest, New Zealand
By
Margaret Manning
90 Mile Beach, New Zealand, is an awesome sight at any time. Once a year over a period of five days, 1000 anglers surf cast from the beach, hoping to catch the biggest schnapper. The fishing contest is held during the last week of February. In theory at least, the weather should be fine, hot, sunny and humid since it’s high summer. The anglers stand out in all of that for hours on end. And when the weather is unseasonable and heavy rain and strong winds prevail – perhaps the tail end of a cyclone from the Pacific Islands - they stand out in all that too. There is nowhere to shelter along the whole length of 90 Mile Beach.
Anglers come from all over New Zealand, to take part in this annual spectacle. It also lures visitors from Australia, U.K. and North America. As well as a $3000NZ prize for the biggest schnapper weighed in each day, there are rewards for other fish, and lucky dip draws for three vehicles and a car trailer.
Different sections of the beach are fished each day. This tactic makes it simpler for officials to monitor the anglers, and also makes the job of emergency services on duty "just in case" a lot easier.
A fisherman from Hastings, in Hawke’s Bay, at the opposite end of the North Island, had a particularly pleasant time during this contest. His wife bought him the entry ticket to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. He headed north alone. He won a brand new car on the Monday night as he was the first to register for the contest. He caught the heaviest schnapper on Wednesday and pocketed $NZ3000. He again lured a large fish onto the bait on Thursday and won another $3000.
Everyone was in a state of excitement when fishing ended on Saturday just in case someone else had beaten the man from Hastings. When the results were announced this lucky fellow won a further $50000 for the heaviest schnapper of the contest. It weighed a whopping 7.93 kg. (that’s nearly 20 lbs.) It was the fisherman’s first visit to the Far North since in over 50 years. Nine of the ten major prizes went to visitors to the district.
This contest was started 21 years’ ago by a local tourist operator. Prior to that, the major fishing event on the beach was a one-day contest for the biggest schnapper. This, too, appealed to hundreds of anglers. Everybody sat in their vehicles with the engines turned on, waiting for the "Start" signal. People raced up the beach to a favorite fishing spot to see who could get a line in the water first. The Bluff, 42 km. (27 miles) up the beach was very popular with these fishermen (and a few women). Since the beach is part of New Zealand’s roadway system, the driving tactics were downright dangerous, as vehicles raced each other side by side, with others in hot pursuit.
Inevitably some vehicles too close to the water became stuck in soft sand and others, too high up on dry sand, were stranded and had to be pulled out by someone on a tractor. There was a lot of damage to vehicles and to personal pride.
The present organisation of the 5 day schnapper classic is a lot safer and now well entrenched as a tourist attraction in New Zealand’s Far North.
Margaret Manning was born in England but emigrated to N.Z. with husband Eric in 1966. She trained as a Shorthand Typist/Secretary and has had several interesting jobs, including a spell at an overseas mission in Fiji, and as a self-employed storekeeper. Margaret became interested in freelance writing when in Fiji and has had articles accepted by newspapers and magazines in N.Z. and overseas. Her other main interests are genealogy, cooking, Mah Jong and Croquet.
Margaret lives in the Far North of New Zealand near 90 Mile Beach.
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