Record entries for iconic competition

Jack Brown, from Perth, Don Howard of Tauranga with his 20kg kingi and Mark Sheaff of Tauranga show off their catches at last year's Century Batteries Beach and Boat Fishing Competition. Photo / Tania Whyte

A record number of female anglers will be fishing in Northland waters this week in the biggest fishing competition in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Century Batteries Beach and Boat Fishing Competition, based out of Marsden Cove, is back again tomorrow and Saturday and will bring about 2000 anglers and fishing fans to Ruakaka.

Juantia Potgieter, marketing manager for the competition, said the event attracted people from all over New Zealand and overseas and was the biggest fishing competition in the Southern Hemisphere.

"We have a few blokes from Aussie coming over and we have people from Invercargill. They really come from all over the place. It's a fun family fishing weekend and it's known for its giveaways," she said.

Ms Potgieter said this year there was a very diverse pool of entrants and there were well over $150,000 worth of prizes, including a $50,000 Isuzu ute and two Surtees and Honda Boat Packages worth over $45,000 each.

"This year we have a lot of ladies entering and we've been trying to get more. We also have more youngsters getting involved, it is very much diverse. We have the record number of female attendants this year."

Ms Potgieter said they had received 1300 entries so far and entries for the event were open until 7pm today.

A new feature in this year's competition is a mobile phone application which allows competitors to submit fish to the measure section by photographing the fish and selecting the species.

Competition boundaries extend from Bream Tail in the south to Home Point at Whangaruru, and out to and including Sail Rock, the Hen and Chicken Islands and the Mokahinau Islands.

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