Fishers big and small, from the seasoned to the young took part in the McCashin’s Motueka RSA fishing competition over the weekend, weighing in huge kingfish, scallops, crayfish and spotties on Sunday.
The annual fishing competition is in it’s 13th year and saw over 230 entries, from all over the Nelson, Tasman and Golden Bay region.
Motueka RSA Fishing Club president Murray Hyde says some great weather over the weekend contributed to the competition’s success, with a lot of people checking the forecast during the week before entering. “The great weather played a big part over the weekend. But even when it’s not so good, people still seem to show up to weigh in.”
Mark Nicholls and his 6.6kg snapper won the heaviest snapper category and a huge kingfish caught by Jason Manson of Motueka weighing in at 20kg was the heaviest of the day. Justin Scott caught the heaviest kahawai at 2.26kg and the winner of new category ‘the big three’ Mark Williams took home $500 worth of Richmond Mall vouchers with his 1.78kg snapper, 0.64kg gurnard and 2.04kg kahawai.
Rowan Young of Motueka took out the biggest crayfish with a 4.22kg whopper caught from the Abel Tasman and Murray says while it was a standout there were a lot of crayfish and some top contenders for the prize, with entrant Wylie Williams donating six crayfish to the fish auction which sees all proceeds go to Nelson Marine Radio.
Murray says the fish auction is always a highlight of the weekend and the large number of crayfish and snapper donated saw double the amount of money raised from the auction last year, with over $1500 taken in.
“It was very successful, we are very pleased to be donating that to such a good cause, Nelson Marine Radio keep us all safe out on the water and they are self funded.”
The kids enjoyed a best hat competition, spot prizes and all junior entrants received a prize, something Murray says is a huge part of the weekend.
“It’s all about getting the young ones involved and keeping it fun for them.”
Jacob Ching, 10, of Wakefield went out fishing with his dad for the weekend and caught a few kahawai and snapper. He says he’s taken part in the competition before and thought it was “heaps of fun with good prizes.”
Nelson local Keith Baker caught two big crayfish off the Boulder Bank, one weighing 3.7kg and one at 3.9kg. He says he thoroughly enjoyed the competition and thought it was a great community event. “I think it is a great idea, it’s very family orientated and every last kid gets a prize. It’s bloody marvellous.”
Murray says a range of sponsors came on board from the Nelson and Waimea region this year and the competition was well supported by local businesses.
