Fishing Competition At Mahurangi West - Best Place North Of The City

Another great day out – 31st January 2012

Our annual Mahurangi West Fishing Competition weigh-in on Auckland Anniversary weekend Sunday always attracts a good crowd and this past weekend was no exception. This year Jamieson Bay hosted the weigh in, and we wish to thank the residents who provided the sausage sizzle for the children as they excitedly watched the proceedings of all the fish being weighed and measured to find out who were the winners this year – could it be one of them!

To see all the results and for more photos, read on.

Bay Challenge Open Competition- Jamieson Bay Winners = 4 / Opahi Bay Winners = 5

WHO GOT THE BIGGEST?

Age Group winners

Biggest Snapper under 7 yrs	Stella Halpin
Biggest Fish under 7yrs	Hannah Down
Biggest Yellowtail under 12 yrs	Olivia Halpin
Biggest Fish under 12 yrs	Annita Hopkins
Biggest Snapper under 12 yrs	Zahra Stil
Most Fish under 12 yrs	Zahra Stil
Biggest Fish under 16 yrs	Cameron Travis

Competition Winners – Open Categories

Oddest Fish	Hannah Davey	Gurnard	Opahi Bay
Most Meritorious Catch	Eugene Halpin	Shark & Octopus	Opahi Bay
Greatest Variety	Jeremy Halpin	3 different fish varieties	Opahi Bay
Biggest Yellowtail or Kingfish	Hazel Hislop	Kingfish	Jamieson Bay
Ladies Biggest Snapper	Jadeen Hart		Jamieson Bay
Men’s Biggest Snapper	Fraser Matthews		Opahi Bay
Ladies Biggest Fish	Sharlene Travis		Jamieson Bay
Men’s Biggest Fish	Wesley Hart – Kingfish		Jamieson Bay
Biggest Snapper	Russell Davey		Opahi Bay

Fishing Competition Organisers

Michael & Karena de Pont (Opahi Bay) & Ken Prime (Jamieson Bay)

We are so lucky to get the continued support of some wonderful local sponsors and this year Rob Nicolson of Nicolson Furniture Movers provided again Fishing Rods & Reels for each of the winners in the Aged Group competition and Jenni and Gabrielle of Team Finlayson, Bayleys Orewa provided five $100 vouchers for the top categories in the Open Competition again. Together with the money received in entries and donations, the prize pool distributed amongst the winners is quite healthy for a $2 and $1 entry fee so thank you one and all for your contributions to this community event.

We also thank Mike & Maree Owsten-Doyle for providing the Chocolate Fish and the competition certificates – the highlight for all the children who register in the event each year and this year even the adults got a chocolate fish! Maree Owsten-Doyle also captured some wonderful photos of the event of yet another generation enjoying this long-standing community event, which we estimate being held annually for approximately 50 years now. This year Opahi Bay finally lifted the Bay Challenge Cup after Jamieson Bay held it for the past four years. It was a narrow margin of 5-4 winners in the Open Competition so I am sure that Jamieson Bay will be ready to seek revenge at next year’s competition.

It was a great day to be out on the water, with lots of great fish stories being told by both young and old alike and excellent banter at the weigh in too.