See - it really was this big

By TONY GEE

Angler Lionel Woodall struck gold just hours into a five-day fishing contest at 90 Mile Beach.

The Warkworth rigging contractor, casting off the beach 9km north of Waipapakauri Ramp, hooked a snapper he later weighed in at 8.97kg.

The fish was the biggest snapper yet weighed in during the 23-year-old Lion Red Snapper Classic.

He must wait until tomorrow afternoon before he knows whether his fish will be heavy enough to win the contest's major $50,000 cash prize, although Tuesday's snapper certainly won the $3000 daily cash prize.

"It came out of the blue," Mr Woodall said.

"It was quite a shock. I thought at first I had a kahawai. Then I saw the tail and we knew the truth. It was time to start getting nervous."

Mr Woodall has been competing in the 90 Mile Beach contest for nine years but has never caught a prizewinning snapper.

He is at the beach this week with his wife Pamela and 6-year-old twin daughters.

Les Martin from New Plymouth was probably Tuesday's unluckiest angler, tagging an 8.2kg snapper only 10 minutes after the contest started and following up later with another at 4.34kg.

He had to settle for both the second and third daily cash prizes, worth $1500.

The contest, with around 1000 anglers, winds up with a prizegiving late tomorrow at Waipapakauri Ramp.