Geoff Thomas: Fishing contests support excellent causes

Geoff Thomas. Photo / Supplied

Three local fishing contests in Auckland will be held over the coming weeks solely to raise funds for some excellent causes.

The first is today at the Maraetai Boat Club, organised by Temira and Tai Mataroa to raise funds for the neurological ward at the Starship hospital.

"The people in the ward were wonderful when we lost our little girl, and we want to put something back. So we came up with the idea of holding a fishing contest to raise funds for equipment for the ward," said Temira.

Tickets are $50, which can also include entry for two children under 12, and can still be obtained this morning at the club. The weigh-in will be from 3pm to 5pm at Maraetai, and Ewen Gilmour will host the prizegiving.

There are good prizes for snapper, kingfish, kahawai and trevally, including a mystery weekend for two people for the average weight snapper, and an auction which includes a New Zealand Rugby League heritage jersey signed by the 2010 Kiwis from the Four Nations tournament.

Another contest in the same area will be based at Pine Harbour Marina next weekend. It is the annual Stevenson Marine Pine Harbour Fishing Contest, and all proceeds will go to the Canteen fishing contest for youngsters who live with cancer, which will be held in mid-May.

The Canteen day out has been held for several years, and organiser Paul Gapes said that without the help of Stevensons through next weekend's event it would be difficult to put on the day for the Canteen kids.

"This day is the highlight of the year for these kids, and we really appreciate the support from Stevensons, Pine Harbour, the boat owners and all of the sponsors who help us with prizes. Every kid goes home with some great prizes, and to see the smile on their faces is a real treat for everybody involved."

Gapes urged people to support the Stevensons contest next week.

Fishing starts at 6am on Saturday, April 9, and finishes at 2pm on the Sunday. Tickets are $45 and the prizes include a grand entry prize of a helifishing trip for four people to Great Barrier Island, worth $3500; $2000 cash for the mystery weight snapper; and a list of prizes for snapper, kingfish, trevally and kahawai.

For information contact Gary Richmond on 029-2014746.

For fishermen out west, the annual Weekender Tournament based at the Te Atatu Boating Club is on next weekend, with proceeds going to the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

Tickets are $40 and can be obtained from Norcross Fishing World, Dive HQ New Lynn, Westpark Chandlery or the boat club. There are good prizes for snapper, kahawai, kingfish and john dory. The public are invited to go along on the Sunday afternoon for family entertainment, a sausage sizzle, raffles and an auction of sponsors' goods and fish.

Plenty of good fish should be weighed in all three events. Snapper can still be found in all the popular areas, plus kingfish and kahawai.

Small snapper can be a nuisance, and one solution is to use fresh bait like piper, kahawai or jack mackerel.

Squid and mullet are also working well, but tough, fresh bait will deter the little pickers until something larger comes along. Drifting with soft baits and a tough bait on a regular outfit, rather than anchoring and deploying berley, is another way to avoid small fish.

The skipjack tuna which have proved a bonus for those fishing off the Noises have moved north to Whangaparaoa Bay, and some good-sized fish are among them.

Kingfish action is picking up in Northland, although bronze whaler sharks are a problem as they love to attack hooked kings. The only solution is to move to another spot rather than continue feeding the sharks.

Blue marlin are becoming scarce, but striped marlin are still not far offshore. In the Bay of Plenty, kingfish are moving to deep water, but snapper fishing in close continues. Fishermen are doing well off the beaches.

* More fishing action can be found on Rheem Outdoors with Geoff, 5pm TV3, and on FishnHunt.Tv.