NZ FISHING COMPETITION

The water is warming up and fish have been feeding voraciously, putting on condition. Combined with settled patches of weather, anglers have had an easier time getting bent, out on the water.

This has been reflected in the Export NZ Fishing Competition, with over 200 catches in the last few weeks, albeit with minimal changes to the leaderboards. The one exception is for blue cod. Canterbury angler, Ben Carson, caught a 59.5cm bruiser on bait while fishing in mid-September. This fish is top of the pile this season and breaks into the top ten on our all-time ‘Hall of Fame’ leaderboard.

Aside from improving fishing conditions, this stage of the season is exciting for anglers as the Export NZ Fishing Competition has a few prize announcements for various activations.

Our September monthly prize winner is Laurence Field with a 49cm gurnard caught on a jig off the Wairarapa coast. Laurence has won himself a Shimano Thunnus CI4 8000 spin reel, paired with a Shimano Carbolite 10-15kg spin rod, spooled with 300m of Suffix 21lb mono. Congrats to Laurence and hopefully the new Shimano set-up will assist with some fishing missions over summer. There is still a chance to win a Shimano Thunnus and Carbolite set-up, so get your catches in before the end of October!

It doesn’t end there – we’re also announcing the first winner of the Shimano photo activation for the year. Lucky angler James Mclean has won himself a Shimano Banar boat bag, gimbal belt and 7” fillet knife for his submission, pictured at left. Remember, things have changed this season, requiring anglers to send us a photo of them and their catch (grip n’ grin), not just Shimano-branded items in the photo.

Last, but certainly not least, we have the first prize of the season for the Bayleys x LegaSea Angler Trifecta. Carlana White has been drawn as our quarterly winner with entries totalling 227cm. Carlana has caught all her three fish (56.5cm snapper, 125.5cm kingfish and 45cm kahawai) off the bricks on the East Cape! Way to go Carlana, you’ve won yourself a $250 LegaSea prize pack.

If you’re not registered for the competition, it’s free and easy! Just scan the QR code below, fill in your details and wet a line. There are nine eligible inshore species and submitting a catch via the website is simple. Remember, it doesn’t have to be the biggest catch, but it must be measured on an approved measure mat. Don’t forget to bring it along!  enter here:https://www.fishingcomp.co.nz/

Our end-of-season prize will be announced soon, so keep an eye out for updates online and in our summer issues. Tight lines.