Oscar's kingfish takes first place

Oscar Parlour with the 18.71kg kingfish he caught on East Beach while taking part in a 90 Mile Beach Surfcasting Club field day earlier this month.

A 6m swell made for raging seas and accompanied by an equally raging wind left little option for the 90 Mile Beach Surfcasting Club committee but to open fishing to both coasts for a recent contest.

In noting the decision was a first for about two years, club reporter Jack Rogers said East Beach proved a popular destination for the majority of anglers, with others going to Tokerau Beach and Rangiputa leaving some of the west coast diehards, like Milton Arnold and Jo Arthur, to fish the 90 Mile while parked in the sandhills.

The 19 hardy club members who braved the conditions to fish in the event on September 10 (with the originally scheduled Liquor King Field Day postponed until a later date) weighed in one kingfish, three snapper and 11 kahawai.

The highlight was the kingfish weighing in at a respectable 18.71kg by junior Oscar Parlour and ended up taking out the major prize. Rogers was among many impressed with the catch reeled in at the top end of East Beach.

"This would have been a challenging experience for Oscar to bring a kingfish of that size in on the East Beach in very calm conditions with no sweeping waves to assist him. A great effort for a junior angler."

Moira Rogers claimed second place in fishing at Rangiputa and bringing the heaviest snapper in at 2.83kg, while third went to Milton Arnold with the heaviest kahawai off the 90 Mile at 2.11kg.

The other prize winners were, Shaun Veza 1.63kg snapper 4, Roger Hall 2.05kg kahawai 5, Phil Kake 1.48kg snapper 6, Fiona Rihari 1.83kg kahawai 7, Dave Hallett 1.82kg kahawai 8, Daihi Parlour 1.81kg kahawai 9, and Joe Herbert 1.69kg kahawai 10.

The haggle set for a 1.55kg kahawai was won by Daihi Parlour for his 1.52kg specimen, but Rogers noted, "Unfortunately for Oscar, there were no points on offer whenever a club day is open to both coasts."

- The club's next contest is the Kauri Arms Field Day this Sunday with fishing to be done from 9am-4pm over a 3.3m tide high at 12.45pm. Fishing will be followed by prizegiving at the caravan with organisers also reminding the day represents the start of daylight savings. Contact Jack Rogers 408-2660.