This is what Phil is relating too. I sent this into the NZACA. Why wait for change....... I mean well and tried to be constructive. Boundarys are debatable, I know that, but there are some good points in it also...................

Looking from the outside in, it is very easy to judge, and get the wrong impression, so excuse my ignorance if all avenues have been explored prior and I am off base. I would like to bring to your attention a few key points, points that if I had the time to join the NZACA board and try to make a difference to something I care about, I would.

My first point, and probably the most important. The NZACA is a body that seems to be dwindling, numbers dropping, people unhappy and a bit of an "old boys club". Some of you won't like this, but by that I mean - the old boy at the club meeting who objects to everything and there is never any progress, well imagine a room full of those buggers and we have a picture of what Tthe NZACA board looks like from the outside. Things are changing, positions are moving and we make do with who steps up, I know that, and it's great to see, but this is how the NZACA is reflected to the public.

In my opinion there is not enough advertising. The NZACA is a non-profit organisation that would get allot of advertising at the drop of a hat, provided the pitch was right and relations were built in the right places. The NZACA should be always shown in a positive light, instead, after most Nationals, the negatives are highlighted ( except for the last one!). This has taken a step forward, but more positives need to be highlighted for this body to progress. What positives? Well it starts at a club level, the foundation, and builds it's way up. Why do we join clubs? Because we want to fish with others as keen as ourselves and build on our knowledge. When part of a club, what will be the benefit's in joining the NZACA? We have records to achieve, and the pinnacle is the National event held once a year. Is that it? It is also allot more than that, but people don't know that because there is never any updates apart from a webpage that no one visits?

For the NZACA to get any bigger, any better, progress and achieve it needs to start looking at a monthly update in the NZ Fishing News and other fishing related publications. Even if its 100 words, tell people what you do, advice people of change, tell us what you stand for, explain to us the calendar year. . . . . You have all of these fantastic tools at your disposal, yet they are not being used! I know full well, that if you approached a fishing mag to do this, there would be no issues, I know that if you approached guys like Kane Wriggleworth, Gary Kemsley, Bruce Basher, myself or any other writer, we would help you, but you don't. These are the most simplest of things to conceder. People don't go to your webpage.... Take your web page to them! Ask Grant Blair from the NZ-Fishing.Net forum for a special thread NZACA based news. 1000s of people go through there, it's all at your finger tips, promote yourselfs!. Communications the most simple tool, yet this is not being achieved. I say this with hand on hart, if you want to succeed, this really does need to be addressed, its not rocket science. But like I said, this all starts with clubs, clubs advertising for members in the local rags! Club Captains of clubs stepping it up, getting hold of the local rags, giving a weekly report, sending in a picture of the best fish from the weigh in, making a big deal about how awesome their catch was, show casing what a club is about, real simple stuff. Clubs gain members, more people get involved in the NZACA. I know this is easy for me to sit back and throw stones, and I usually would keep quiet on a matter like this, but I genuinely care about it.

Second point, the Nationals main event. One of the biggest draw cards for me personally is being able to make choices, choices that make fate in the outcome of the competition my own. Small boundary's restrict choice, and add an element of luck, it stops you from using your knowledge of an area and forces you to do the same as everyone else. The boundary this year is sandy beach, and you can drive it in just over an hour depending on traffic, choice is restricted as most of the boundary is much the same. Conditions along that entire stretch will not change, if it is terrible at Matata, it will be terrible at Papamoa, and so forth. The Nationals is planned over a year out on selected days, days that could be terrible, or the weather could be fantastic. With the selected boundary I don't believe it has been well thought out at all. Opening up the boundary will not only open up choice, and remove the element of luck, but it will also open up opportunities for those who like to fish rocks. This will increase numbers in attendance as you are catering for more people. Secondly, opening the boundary to say the Motu river mouth, to Tairua, also increases the chances of NZACA success in having fishable areas in different conditions. Because as it stands, its very limited, and its regular that that entire coast is a write off. At least opening it up gives you east and westward areas that will be sheltered in different conditions, that way, only a northerly can limit the competition to having to fish in a bloody harbour.

Chur