Sustainable fishing tournament makes a splash!

In 2017, PlaceMakers once again got behind Blue September to help raise awareness of the disease. This year’s campaign theme ‘Blue Do’ aimed to encourage Kiwis to get together with colleagues, family and friends to hold a fundraising event. Here’s what some of our stores got up to!

PlaceMakers Waiheke’s inaugural catch and release fishing tournament raised more than $2,500 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation, with those anglers taking part keen to make next year’s event bigger and better.

Account Manager Reagan Moselen, who organised the event, said the weather was fantastic despite some ominous warning signs.

“It was touch and go whether we were actually going to go ahead, and then it turned out to be a pearler! We ended up with around 40 entrants, which I don’t think is too bad for our first year. The water was like glass and there were dolphins, seals and whales out playing too!”

To ensure the tournament didn’t negatively affect the area’s fishing stocks, Reagan decided to opt for a catch and release model.

“It was a bit of a different format for some of the guys, but we wanted to make it sustainable to preserve the fishing stocks and everyone seemed really happy with it in the end,” he says. “Because they had to release their catch, we obviously couldn’t measure and weigh them on shore, so we gave everyone a measuring board that they could photograph it against.

“I compared all the images at the end of the day to determine the winners. There were some big snapper!”

The largest, a monster measuring 77cm and weighing approximately 20lb, was caught by Jesse Rudolph, who won a night’s accommodation in a studio apartment with free bubbles at the Waiheke Island Resort. Paul Delautor took second and third place in the category, with 74cm and 68cm catches.

The Kahawai category was won by Neil Toia, with a 59cm catch. Trevally were also biting on the day, with Liam Layland taking out that category with a 49cm catch. Unfortunately for the anglers, Kingfish proved to be elusive.

Overall, the competitors managed to raise $2,693.40 between them and Reagan is now planning to make the tournament an annual event.

“Everybody said they had a blast and we learnt a couple of lessons about how to improve the format, so I’m really looking forward to the next one!”

FULL RESULTS

 Snapper:

1. Jesse Rudolph, 77cm.
2. Paul Delautor, 74cm.
3. Paul Delautor, 62cm.

 Kahawai:

1. Neil Toia, 59cm.
2. Jimmi Nelson, 57cm.
3. Dale Sheffi eld, 56cm.

 Trevally:

1. Liam Layland, 49cm.
2. Frank Fule 47cm.
3. Cameron Ryan 28cm.

 Spot prizes:

1. Andrew Steeves, 35cm Gurnard.
2. Scott McKay, 34cm Rock Cod.
3. Jimmi Nelson, Octopus.