It sure pays to read the Age!

It pays to read the Northland Age. Rena Parangi will attest to that.

Rena. who lives at Kareponia, just outside Awanui, was one of two winners of 90 Mile Beach Snapper Bonanza tickets courtesy of the Age a couple of weeks ago. By all accounts she enjoyed her five days on the beach too, but Saturday's final weigh-in was the highlight.

She was one of hundreds who dropped Pak'nSave Kaitaia checkout receipts into a bucket throughout the week in the hope of winning the $4600 fishing torpedo offered by the supermarket - and she won it.

Rena was just one of all sorts of characters on the beach last week. Another was the most successful anglers on day 2, who also proved to be one of the most generous.

Taranaki man David Leatherby, one of some 700 contestants who were vying for a share of $170,000 worth of prizes, weighed in the second and fourth biggest snapper, 7.795kg and 7.360kg, on Wednesday. And as soon as the day's winners were announced he gave them away, offering then to any anglers who hadn't been as lucky.

A 13-year veteran of the snapper contest, David said he kept coming back because he loved it. He had no secret to catching fish, and was as surprised as anyone to land two of the top fish in one day. The only explanation he could offer was that he and his nephew were fishing a deserted stretch of beach in splendid isolation.

The week's big winner, Kaitaia mill worker Neil Sides, landed his 9.995kg whopper less than three hours after the contest started on Tuesday.

Weighmaster Colin Campbell said the fish were the best he had seen in terms of both quantity and quality.

I've been doing this since 1987 and I've never seen fish in such good condition. They're all fat and full of shellfish.

Colin Campbell