Dickson Hohaia celebrates winning the $30,000 biggest snapper prize with the Rameka whānau of Waipapakauri. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Dickson Hohaia celebrates winning the $30,000 biggest snapper prize with the Rameka whānau of Waipapakauri. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The winner of this year's Ngāi Takoto 90 Mile Beach Snapper Bonanza says his triumph won't sink in until he gets home to his family.
Dickson Hohaia, a self-employed slaughterman from Eltham in South Taranaki, landed a 9.060kg snapper on day two of the contest and managed to hang on to his lead to the final day.
He won $30,000 for the heaviest fish overall and $2000 for Wednesday's biggest fish.
A total of 465 snapper were landed during the five-day event, the biggest surfcasting contest in New Zealand and probably the world.
Hohaia thought he had hooked some seaweed at first.
''But when I got it over the bank and it kicked, then I knew I'd got something. It took about 10 minutes to reel it in. I thought, 'Geez, this is a big fish', but even when it was on the beach I thought it was about 7.5kg — until I picked it up and felt the weight.''
Dickson Hohaia of South Taranaki celebrates his win in the Ngāi Takoto 90 Mile Beach Snapper Bonanza with a 9.060kg fish worth a whopping $32,000. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Hohaia then had a three-day wait to see if anyone would push him off the top of the leaderboard. He wasn't nervous until the last night when he didn't sleep at all.
''When I get home and see the big smile on my son's face, that's when it'll sink in.''
The prize money would help pay off his mortgage and, as for the fish, he planned to get it mounted.
''It'll be in my hallway for the rest of my life.''
Hohaia, 39, said he had been fishing the contest for 13 years and considered himself an adopted son of the Rameka whānau of Waipapakauri.
He had befriended one of Rameka boys at a freezing works in Taranaki and had been visiting his ''Far North family'' ever since.
It was the second big win for the Rameka whānau in two years. In 2019 Dave Rameka, Hohaia's adopted uncle, hooked the heaviest fish and the $30,000 top prize.
A big crowd cheers the winners during the final day's prizegiving at Waipapakauri Domain. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Hohaia wasn't the only happy angler after Saturday's prizegiving ceremony at Waipapakauri Domain — Graeme Newlands not only landed the biggest fish of the day, earning him $2000, he also won the top lucky prize draw of a $50,000 Mitsubishi ute.
Newlands, who is ironically a Mitsubishi service manager in Whakatāne, said he had been waiting 24 years to take home a fishing prize.
Graeme Newlands of Whakatāne reacts as he wins a $50,000 Mitsubishi Triton ute in the prize draw. Photo / Peter de Graaf
The week started with near-perfect conditions but deteriorated into rough seas with churned-up seaweed and treacherous currents.
Competitors landed 320 fish on Tuesday, the first day of fishing, but on Friday the bonanza's 1000 anglers managed to catch just one fish between them.
Weighing in at 5.2kg that solitary snapper earned Clayton ''Trifecta'' Field, of Whanganui, not only the prize for biggest fish of the day but also the prizes for average weight and best team.
Field said he was definitely coming back next year.
''It's the challenge — it's tough going out there — and the camaraderie. Besides, I won't be happy till I get the big one.''
The overall winning team, the Bounty Hunters, won $4000 in cash and another $1000 in vouchers for a week's tally of 41kg. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Tickets for next year's bonanza, which are capped at 1000, will be released mid-year and are expected to sell out within weeks.
It's a far cry from a few years ago when organisers struggled to sell 700 tickets.
Northland Age editor Peter Jackson — who had fished every Snapper Bonanza but one and every Snapper Classic before that for a total of 30 years — declined to comment on the number of snapper he has caught this year, but did offer that he caught a kahawai on Saturday.
Jackson put the contest's renewed popularity down to changes introduced by organisers Dave Collard and John Stewart.
A raft of ''bloody awesome'' spot prizes meant contestants had a chance of going home with winnings worth $50,000 even if they didn't catch a fish.
Bringing in a $10,000 prize for average weight fish was also a stroke of brilliance.
''It means you don't have to be a gun to win a big prize,'' he said.
Eleven-year-old Mekhi Heka of Kaimaumau with a 2.65kg snapper. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Stewart said this year's fishing was hard work after a southeasterly wind kicked in mid-week.
''The fish didn't seem to want to bite but it was extra rewarding for the ones who did catch something. The dedicated fishers were going hard to the end.''
Mainly, however, everyone was just happy to be able to gather and enjoy each other's company after last year's event was curtailed by Covid-19, he said.
Fishing went ahead as usual but, due to a 500-person crowd limit, prizegiving rules had to be changed and bonanza headquarters turned into a ''ghost town''.
The event is more than just a get-together for anglers — it's also a boost for the Far North economy with contestants from around the country spending up on accommodation, food and fishing gear.
The event pumped more than $2 million into the Far North economy each year, Stewart said.
A poker run on Thursday, a fishing lay day, encouraged competitors to head into Kaitaia and spend up at local businesses.
Dickson Hohaia of South Taranaki celebrates winning $32,000 cash in the Ngāi Takoto 90 Mile Beach Snapper Bonanza with event organiser John Stewart. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Stewart, a printer, and Collard, a district councillor and publican, stepped in to save the contest 11 years ago after the Snapper Classic folded due to financial difficulties.
With the surge in interest and Far North iwi Ngāi Takoto signing up for another two years' sponsorship the contest's future was assured.
''Physically it's tough — it's a bigger job than we expected — but it's also very humbling,'' Stewart said.
''There's so many happy people, we get very few complaints. It's heartening to have someone from New Plymouth, Christchurch or Invercargill come up to you afterwards to shake your hand and say thanks very much.''
Prior to Covid the event also attracted around 50 international anglers from as far away as the United Kingdom and Italy.
The event was also a great success for the Kaitaia Volunteer Fire Brigade with an auction of donated snapper raising $7000 at Kaitaia's Saturday market, eclipsing last year's previous record of $5000.
Fishing guru Mike Rider, of Riders Sports, said the big swells later in the week had been caused by a storm off the bottom of the South Island three days earlier.
The calm seas of day one gave way to a 2.5m swell at the Bluff by Wednesday and ''horrendous'' side-sweeps and rips on Friday.
''But you always get a good start or a good finish. You never get five good days. Everyone's still pretty happy.''
This year's fish had been a good size — most past bonanza winners had been around the 8kg mark — but hadn't been caught in the numbers of previous years.
The all-time record is a 12.030kg snapper caught by Darin Maxwell, of Te Puke, in 2012.
OVERALL RESULTS
Heaviest fish (9.060kg): Dickson Hohaia, Eltham. Average weight: Tony Norman, Kaitaia. Ladies' heaviest: Nadine Boynton, Kaitaia. Ladies' average: May Petera, Kaitaia. Team heaviest: Bounty Hunters. Team average: Motutangi Resthome. Ute prizedraw: Graeme Newlands. Quadbike prizedraw: Graham Richards.
