Southerly fear may lead to Napier Megafish contest being postponed

Your Solutions Megafish convenor Joe Bicknell (right) wonders about the weather for the big event this weekend. Photo / File

Hawke's Bay's big annual offshore fishing contest could be postponed because of a forecast weather change following the heatwave that has hit Hawke's Bay and much of the rest of New Zealand.

The Your Solutions Megafish, the latest incarnation of the Hawke's Bay Sports Fishing Club's Coruba contest, which ran for about 35 years, is scheduled to run from Saturday to Monday.

But organising convenor Joe Bicknell said a decision on whether it will go ahead is being left until the competitors briefing tomorrow night at the clubhouse on Nelson Quay, Ahuriri, with the possibility it could be held the following weekend.

He emphasised no decisions had been made by last night and he was hopeful the conditions would not deteriorate to the extent forecast.

"The weather's not looking that good, a bit of a southerly coming through on Saturday," he said. "I've been watching it for a while, so we have talked about if it is really bad and we can't fish any of the three days then possibly postponing it until the following weekend.

"It can easily change in five days," he said, casting his own hopes out to the possibilities by the time the competition is due to end on Monday.

The club received about 120 entries by the time early-bird options closed last week and was hopeful the total entry would exceed 300, continuing the gradual regrowth since the new competition was first held in 2016.

The club is keeping fishermen informed through social media but anticipates that with the knowledge fishermen themselves have about conditions at sea a total of 300 may now be unlikely.

"It's not rain we worry about," he said. "It's more wind than anything else."

The contest has prizes worth over $50,000, with the major prize of $10,000 to the best catch based on a weight-to-species points scale, meaning that it is not necessarily the biggest catch that wins.