FANTASTIC, Great sea, great turn out and great fish. Today Pania SCC held their Open Kahawai Comp on Marine Parade in Napier. We had 230 fisher people who between them weighed in 112 fish with all the winning top 20 prizes going to fish weighing over 2kg. The winner was a fish of 2.56kg, caught by Laurie Alrich and was in the last lot of fish to be weighed. A HUGE thank you to FCO who sponsored the winners cheque and also to Hamills Hastings, Crafty's, Hunting and Fishing Napier, Action Outdoors, Napier and the many other sponsors who chipped in to make the day a fabulous success. Sorry to those who never came through but I am sure we will see you all next year.
Re: Pania kahawai Comp
Posted by Naki-Fisher on 20/1/2013, 5:40 pm, in reply to "Pania kahawai Comp"
No Prizes for Snapper. Havent heard wether there were any other species taken or not. Well done JP for a stirling job as convener . Next year ill throw a rod!.
Good to see a trailer load of kahawai caught from ALL along the beach. Every one had a chance with kahawai being landed at all points in varying numbers. Crabs werent to bad and many livebaited with ease. It was a good competition. Well done the organisers and sponsors.
I saw all the masses out today and it looked like a great turnout. Thought it would be a good time to go further north as I didn't enter the comp. No luck with Kings slidebaiting but did get 4 nice Kahawai. The biggest tipped the scales at 2.75 Kg. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say. Looking forward to my first ever comp at Matata next weekend.
I see there's been a bit of comment over the trailer load of kahawai at the comp. A bit wasteful some are saying. I was there so I saw all the ice in the trailer and I saw the huge number of anglers who took there fish at the end of the day. There werent many left and those that were went to the aquarium or were used elsewhere. So saying I can see some merit in the idea of weigh and release. But is it possible to do, and would people buy into it? What do others think?
funny that we were just talking bout a catch and weigh and release comp , i think if would be possible with a good amount of marshal's and helpful people i think it could happen and would like to see it happen
Rex you may be referring to this, and at the top of it was a photo of a trailer full of Kahawai. I am not against it, but I believe there must be a better way. Hence I have asked for a constructive solution, rather than full criticism.
A few people I know left there fish in the bins as they didn't want them. These fish im sure where not wasted, but there must be a better option.
This is a very touchy subject, and one that does/will piss people off, and I knew it would, but, without raising these issues, change can't take effect. This is not directed at Pania, it is just a general question for the whole of NZ, trying to find a solution for club events, and competitions where a new system could take place to be in a position to release fish.
Initially to almost every idea you think.... NA THATS NOT GOING TO WORK! .... But in the 1800s who would have thought there would be a tv in a 100 years time? In the 1980's, who would have contemplated throwing back a 20 lb snapper to breed? There is an answer out there, it just needs to be found and given a fair chance.
Here is a copy of that thread below- unedited....
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Whilst it is fantastic to see so many target species coming in during a fishing contest, I would prefer to see a measurement contest so the fish can be put back rather than a mass amount on a trailer. There must be a good alternative for contests rather than killing all the fish, if you have an idea, I'd love to hear it!
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Peter Langlands HOPEFULLY ALL THE FISH ARE USED- a good excuse to fire up the smoker January 20 at 7:44pm · Like
Donald Searles certain measurement or weight would work well and cut down on smaller fish being kept January 20 at 7:45pm · Unlike · 2
nz surfcasting Allot of these fish Donald, where over 2kg, infact from memory, the top 20 fish where all over 2kg. Peter, I would think they would be, allot more ice would have been ideal however. The aquarium down the road loves taking peoples fish to feed their fish, but thats a bit of a waste, but a good last resort. January 20 at 7:49pm · Like
Adam Joseph Mcrae no wonder i only caught 2 at the mouth there is all the fish there.lol, measurement would be great to see... but there is alot of people the keep the smaller Kahawai...maybe donate the fish. or fire up the smoker.. January 20 at 7:53pm · Like
Taraia Vercoe Proper storage could've been used i say. Fish bins and ice. Maybe an idea for the next comp?.. Measurement comp sounds like a great idea. Didnt join the comp myself as i just found out about it today, And saw plenty people out there, but i had a good days fishing anyway. January 20 at 7:57pm via mobile · Like · 1
Andrew Ever Inappropriate Critchley Our local forum does a measurement comp. every angler is given a number at the start of the comp, then measurements are taken and photo'd. "Weigh in" is done via laptop at the end of the day! Works very well. Central Coast Fishing January 20 at 8:01pm via mobile · Like
Jason Christensen Take a note from the Eides Wanganui Fishing Comp. They have a HUGE bin full of salt ice that all fish caught are buried in. People can retrieve their catch afterwards, or it can be taken by others who want it. January 20 at 8:02pm · Like · 1
Andrew Ever Inappropriate Critchley I'd love to be able to catch 2kg scumbos, we only seem to get them much bigger. Too big for live bait usually... January 20 at 8:02pm via mobile · Like
Donald Searles maybe a limit of some kind, i.e there is a daily limit of most fish per fisho, maybe for contests that daily limit could be halved so they only keep the bigger ones and all smaller ones get released January 20 at 8:04pm · Like
Robert Johnson Brag Matt's and photo not a take hold comp anyway there just scumbo's January 20 at 8:26pm via mobile · Like
Ben Cullen Moocher Hunters does a comp where you use a video camera and measure your fish against a ''truth mat'' then let it go. Its a pretty good system that works. You also get some pretty entertaining videos. Heres one example. .
Mooching Around www.youtube.com Jim Bob Mooching Around. Moocher Hunters. January 20 at 8:37pm · Unlike · 2 · Remove Preview
Eddie Ludlow seems sensible ^ January 20 at 8:39pm · Like
nz surfcasting 220 odd anglers today, for 112 Kahawai on the trailer. January 20 at 8:40pm · Like
Danny Parsons where was the comp? January 20 at 8:50pm via mobile · Like
nz surfcasting Napier January 20 at 8:52pm · Like
Nick White Sounds like it was a good choice to change the location. Last few years have seen only a few fish caught. Does seem a shame there is no ice on that trailer! January 20 at 8:55pm via mobile · Like
Andrew Ever Inappropriate Critchley Yeah, far from impressive. I ditched 5 fish on the weekend after they came back from being live bait. I was going to give then to the. Dogs, but they had cooked on the rocks. I didn't feel good about it, so I don't know how you could knowingly throw then in a trailer to rot like that. January 20 at 9:07pm via mobile · Like
Jahaan Ormandy mate good session at hurunui surf alone can catch 50+ kawahai so 112 not even a dent in a school.... January 20 at 9:09pm · Like · 1
nz surfcasting There is some plastic containers which look like they had be froze, but it would have been good to see a little money set aside for ice. January 20 at 9:09pm · Like
Gareth Mundt what a waste of kahwai... no ice even either.... why would you keep small ones like some of those January 20 at 9:25pm · Like
Hamish Nichol The trailer is actualy full of ice and the fish were kept in very good conditon. Almost all the fish were taken home by competitors after the weigh in. Was a very well run comp. January 20 at 9:31pm · Like · 1
Nick Powis there was a size limit of 30cm, i saw plenty little ones going back in the sea, and i dont think a single fish on that trailer went to wast, like Hamish said there was a good bed of ice on the trailer, and there were many happy people going home with full plastic bags of fish!It was a well run comp. January 20 at 10:36pm · Edited · Like · 1
nz surfcasting It was a well run competition, but it would be fantastic to see more comps using a catch and release type system, its diffinitly something for the future. In allot of comps, the bike marshals drive around and advise anglers of a minimum size once the prize list has been fulled, that saves a few fish being killed and allows a few to go back. Im not running down what looks like a great competition, just looking at a positive way for competitions like this to take place and avoid masses ending up on a trailer. Eating quality is reasonably poor once a fish is un-bleed so there is not allot of point of keeping them. Yeah Ben thats a great system, it allows big fish to be measured and returned, rather keeping them on the rocks to cook in rock pools all day, especially in the hard to get to places. Great video by the way, good sense of humour lol. January 20 at 11:29pm · Like
nz surfcasting Jahaan your right, kahawai can be prolific and in large schools, but they don't stay like that keeping them all without thinking of the future. There are allot of club events around the country where allot of kahawai are weighed and killed for points ex....., and I am sure they don't go to waste, some end up long line bait, some end up in the pet food and some end up in the smoker. Many clubs have adapted to the system of the measure board, where fish can be measured on a board and photographed, everyone in the club has the same board so there are no discrepancies. Anglers still get there club points and fish still count for competitions, and for the most part, unwanted kahawai go back in the water and don't have to be killed and good sized snapper get to continue breeding. It is not a bullet proof idea, but it goes along way to keeping New Zealands fishery in a healthy state, which is the most important thing. Commercial fishing plays a large part of decline to the fishery, and you would be amazed how much of an impact a recreational angler contributes. Little things like this help do our part as recreational angler to sustain awesome fishing. January 20 at 11:39pm · Like
Stuart Adams bout time some of these big talkers step up start your own comps Mr perfect fish0. January 21 at 12:31am · Like
nz surfcasting No one is being a big talker Stuart, just looking at ways in the future the amount of fish kept can be reduced. That topic can piss a few people off, but so be it, it highlights an ongoing problem. This isn't about bagging the competition, its about looking for a possible solution or alturnative in the future, which I am interested to hear what other do around the country. January 21 at 9:21am · Like
Blair Rossiter I reckon for single species comps you should only be able to weigh one fish of that species per paid entry.Your 1 fish is weighed and your number recorded against that fish. If it is a boat comp no other fish of the competition species allowed in the boat.The rules have to be really strict to make it work. January 21 at 10:17am · Unlike · 1
Kylie Thomson measure and release is a gd idea. i'm sure someone can come up with a formula based on measurement to accurately predict weight. with ky comps why not hold them in the autumn when they are much larger and put less pressure on them than in the summer when everyone seems to do most of their fishing. i know that locally 3kg+ ky are common in the autumn and easily caught in the surf after dark, larger hooks and large baits are a must to avoid hooking them in the gut. January 21 at 10:23am · Unlike · 1
Nick Powis I am all for protecting our fish stocks, if anything i think the min size could of been much higher, would of prob seen a few more fish back in the water. But i do think at the end of the day, almost all the fish that had been land,d would of still found a dinner plate! So realy there should be a MAF size limit on ka,y. that would solve the issue all year round! January 21 at 10:40am · Edited · Unlike · 1
nz surfcasting Those are all good ideas January 21 at 10:37am · Like
Stuart Adams Maybe we need to be like Australia and need to buy our fishing licences hence having more officers to police our coast lines because in over 25 years of fishing NZ waters never ounce have i ever seen a fisheries officer ..2 years fishing NSW waters 5 times i was asked to view my catch bag and size limits. January 21 at 2:45pm · Unlike · 2
Michael Jenkins Oh lord! Once the moocher mangina has been seen it cannot be unseen, surely that put un-due stress on the poor snapper haha! But seriously that was great, a short vid makes cheating bloodey hard, but could mean it takes a long time for officials to do weigh-ins if all footage was reviewed, would have to weigh-in based on people's word then get the prize winners to back it up with vid. Need atleast 1 tech savey person to deal with connections to various cameras if the vid didn't go onto the sd card and to deal with any video format issues to get the things played (vlc player is a great.no nonsense player that plays anything and everything plus it's free too). You'd definately want to get a bit of experience sorting out the methods/systems for doing it with small club comps before launching it in a $$ comp with lots of people but this is definately the way forward, I've heard quiet a few fisho's come back from the bounty hunter comp feeling a bit stink to have killed an old kelpy in the 16-19lb range and not even be close to the money (no slight on that comp though, it's great when such fish don't place, testamant to the location, timing and calibre of fisho who attends a winter comp) live and loud broadcasting of the smallest fish that's in the prizes threwout the comp may help a bit but most people fish dawn till dusk in comps, so best fish don't arrive till just before cutoff usually, maybe if lengths were texted in as good fish are caught? Could cause trouble if people BS, perhaps instant DQ if you get it wrong by 3cm or more? January 21 at 10:14pm via mobile · Unlike · 1
Chris Moore Need a fishing competition app for mobile phones 12 hours ago · Unlike · 1
nz surfcasting Haha, there is a bloody app for everything else, should be a fishing one 4 hours ago · Like
Michael Jenkins Hell yeah, could do alsorts of live-feed stuff with that, only 2 draw backs is it locks those without android or iphones out (though the price of entry level is dropping fast) and would require a fishing area with full coverage for live stuff, but the ...See More 3 hours ago via mobile · Unlike · 1
There seems to be some consternation about this pic.. At the beginning of the day the trailer was full with salt ice. What can be seen is the last of the fish weighed laying on top of what was left. At the end of the weigh in and prizegiving the fish were offered to the public and "all" were taken. None went to the Aquarium. As a Surfcasting club we never held a contest last year for several reasons. Sponsorship for one but mainly to look at what we were presenting to the public. Until this year there was no size limit on what could be weighed. This was unsatisfactory and I can only imagine the outcry if a photo of some of the small fish from the past were in the public eye. Pania is a club with a passion about the state of the fishery. I am disappointed that this particular issue has arisen as we have been very proactive in changing the fishing phsyci of catch all even if it gets dumped later. we have lowered our weigh in numbers and some fish are expected to be presented trunked. Another point that hasn't been presented here is the amount of sackfuls of kahawai that are taken off the river mouth when the whitebait are running. Sit down there and just watch. A trailerful of them is nothing compared to what is pillaged from the surf there. Worse still those that are taking sackfulls are back there next day doing it again.
Whats needed are huge robotic winged beach marshals carrying state of the art salt water fish tanks and weigh scales. They could patrol the beach by flying up and down hunting out fish for weighing as they are being landed. They could catch and return as well as communicate weights and sizes to a central computer that runs on contestants farts and bait fumes. Any angler who tries to kill there fish could be tasered, handcuffed to there rod stands and drowned at high tide. This sustainable practice would provide food for the crabs, good berley and clog commercial fish nets, thus reducing catch rates and improving fish abundance..
If that seems a bit impractical alternatively a couple of ideas to improve. Set size limit on the day based on conditions to limit unnecessary bycatch of smaller fish when conditions are good.. Encourage catch and release as a separate category of the competiion, for those who don't want there fish, by running a camera competition with a small prize say $100 for best size with camera photo.
Indicate and update by whiteboard at various points along the beach, the size of the lowest leading fish so contestants know what the standard is and can make informed decisions on whether to keep or return the fish. And in these heady days of smart phones an app or similar is not impossible. I'm sure you could screen a picture of a whiteboard with up to date competition weights to a website for people with smart phones to log into to get updates. Very achievable for big comps I'm sure.
Think about the huge time and effort the organisers put into running these comps often with very little thanks for it from either the competitors or the public and appreciate no ones perfect but they do try bl**dy hard. Volunteers like fish are a scarce resource that also need to be looked after.
I vote Rex for contest Convenor 2014. Do i have a 2nd???. Smart comment aside , i think the organisers did a fantastic job. Hey there is always room for improvements.
Rex, the thank you is in the profit the club makes at the end of the day.
Like I said above Rex, this is not a topic that will be doing me any favours, in fact going against the grain in circumstances like this never ends well and makes ya look like a knob. However I personally think it is something worth looking into in future. Nothing ever gets done unless it is brought to attention.
Yoey, I know the club has made huge inroads in some categories and avenues within. I was not picking at Pania, I was trying to steer away from the attacks on the fish and move more towards solutions for less fish killed.
I know wellington for example have an idea in place where a fish can be weight on scales calibrated with the club scales, and witnessed by another club member, thats aa fantastic idea, and something worth looking into to remove the necessity to keep kahawai and upsize for nothing.
I know that north shore use measure boards so fish can be released, that again...... fantastic. It wasn't till I recently fished with a club member, where every fish was killed, that I realised, no, there has to be a much better way.
I am not criticising your competition, picking at individuals, I just asked the public for ideas on something that can improve. Some of those idea's I personally think are bloody rubbish, and I disagree, but they are all worth considering.
I mean, how cool is it if a picture of a whiteboard is updated every thirty minutes and this can be seen using the phone from the fishing location!! Thats bloody awesome, and potentially saving a few small fish being killed. Having a live update on tackletactics would do Phill the world of favours, as well as add an interesting twist to a competition....... Its a start. Without raising these things, things stay the same, there is no improvement. Raising these points, someone looks like a wanker going against the grain, but it does make a difference.
Practicality and sustainability are often a cause of conflict. And with a fishing comps money is usually involved which means trust and honesty cant be taken for granted. Nothing wrong with questioning the status quo though. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I have enjoyed your articles in fishing news on sanpper catching. Chad. Interesting reading and helpful diagrams. Will give them a try one day soon.
I have taken a lot of the comments on board and will work on using them in the future. I have to admit to wondering why we were weighing fish that were under 2kg when it was clear that we already had the top twenty fish all over that by lunchtime.I can assure you all on this point that this will be one of the first subjects to be addressed. Have to admit that the catch that day caught us all by surprise but on reflection it worked out at one fish per two fisherman over six and a half hours. Also I again point out, "NO" fish were left at the end of weigh in. I support this type of thread as it helps improve the way we fish and gives rise to some comments that are well worth consideration. I just feel that whilst a picture speaks a thousand words it also does not tell the full and true story.
Yoey, I would like to throw a curved ball at you, this is something I have never understood and I guess I never will.
When I lived in the Bay of Plenty I would follow the Hawke's Bay surfcasting news with considerable interest. Successive writers were guilty of ridiculing certain breeds of fish, red cod was a prime example, now spiny backs have joined the group as have a couple of other varieties.
Reading this message board it is not uncommon to read about 'Bloody Red Cod' and 'Shit Fish' of various species, and then my pet hate, 'Snapper Thieves' the term for those who choose to fish alternative methods to a rod.
When anglers and writers start to show some respect for all breeds of fish we catch, then we may just be presenting a better image of the sport to the public.
The trailer idea may not be the be all and end all, but it sure as hell beats the idea of yesteryear, with a pipe gantry and fish hanging on meat hooks all day in the sun. There is nothing wrong with putting non prize winning fish in a trailer, even better to have some sacking over the fish held down with some ice so those fish are not visible to the general public ... problem solved?
on 20/1/2013, 5:34 pm
. 
. At the beginning of the day the trailer was full with salt ice. What can be seen is the last of the fish weighed laying on top of what was left. At the end of the weigh in and prizegiving the fish were offered to the public and "all" were taken. None went to the Aquarium.