Will Johnston: Day of fish, fun and success

Want to hear a joke an 8-year-old boy told me on Sunday at the Classic Hits and PlaceMakers Kids Fishing Competition?

"Why did the girl fall off the swing?" Met by my silence, he responded like I was the dumbest thing God had put on this Earth with "cos she had no arms, bro!" Then he and his mates dissolved in to snorts of laughter and ran away. I also laughed my proverbial off; usually kid-jokes are a little more lame than that. This one had just the right amount of offensiveness, brilliant delivery and great crowd reaction. Give that kid a Billy T Award immediately!

There were heaps of laughs at the annual competition, put on by the legends at the Tauranga Fish and Dive Club (TFDC). Gordon, the man convincing us he's in charge, is a great event organiser. He cares just enough to make it happen, but not enough to get stressed about any of it. That typifies so many people here in the Bay. I love that attitude; it's the attitude that gives you a long life and lots of mates.

Speaking of mates, there were so many kids who entered the competition with their mates and had that proud look on their faces when they brought their catch up to be weighed. The top snapper was over 2.2kg and caught by a tiny little blonde girl who didn't weigh much more than it did. Sweet feed for Mum and Dad that night too, problem is now she's won her own rod they'll be expecting it every weekend. Ah, the plight of the young over-achiever! The thing that really makes this fishing day is that it's not serious. Sure, it's about catching the biggest fish you can, but every fish caught is an awesome effort and one more than you had before.

This is evident when you watch the volunteers from TFDC who give every child encouragement on how great their fish is at weigh-in. For the "it's all about winning and nothing else" among us, you wouldn't like this competition. This one's about kids having a go and encouraging them to fish for fun. The fisheries people are there too with lots of good info that's easy for kids to digest. It's like anything, if you teach them the right way early, then they'll do it right forever. Why couldn't my parents have taught me this about the stock market? Then I'd be writing this from a super yacht. Damn it!

There is also a brilliant moment every year that gives you a direct insight in to how a child's brain works. TFDC and PlaceMakers rock up with a massive flat-bed truck full of over $4000 worth of prizes for the kids. New bikes, kayaks, scooters, heaps of fishing rods and cricket sets. We randomly draw entry numbers out and the corresponding child gets up on the truck and picks their prize. So the first child comes up and picks a kayak, second one comes and picks a bike. There's plenty of big ticket items left...Third kid gets drawn out, all of about 6 years old, comes up, parents yelling from the crowd, "Grab the bike son!" Kid turns around, looks at Mum and Dad, smiles and picks a cricket set! Hilarious! All the other kids hoping to get their name drawn instantly loved that little kid; he nailed his moment of glory. Love it when the student becomes the master...for a second, until he gets home and gets a growling!

Will Johnston is the host of Will and Bridget in the Morning-Classic Hits 95FM Breakfast Show in the Bay of Plenty. Listen every weekday from 6-9am.