The organisers of next year's NgāiTakoto 90 Mile Beach Snapper Bonanza are expecting another sell-out, with the full 1000 tickets likely to be gone even earlier than they did for this year's event.
Tickets went on sale to last year's competitors on Monday last week, and will be open to all from July 1.
John Stewart said yesterday that contact had been made with all 2020 competitors whose email addresses were in the competition's database, and they had also been advised of the earlier deadline for retaining their 2020 competitor numbers on the event's Facebook page.
He wasn't sure how many tickets had sold as of yesterday, but "a couple of hundred" had been snapped up within the first 48 hours.
That guaranteed that the Bonanza would retain its status as the biggest surfcasting competition of its kind in the world, he said, and next year's prize pool would once again exceed $70,000 in cash, including $30,000 for the biggest snapper weighed in over the five days, and $10,000.00 for the catch closest to the average weight.