Around the country there are hundreds of small, friendly and informal fishing competitions and clubs. Some are relatively recent, but one of the longer-standing events is held on Lake Rotoiti, hosted by the Rotoiti Fishing Club, and was established in the late 1950’s.
In 1959 a group of Otaramarae bach owners, mainly from Te Puke and Tauranga, started a male fishing weekend. “It was strictly for men and boys – mainly fathers and sons, with no women to complain or restrict operations and activities,” quips one of the early anglers, Brian Stamp, who is now in his 80’s and first fished the event as a 20-year-old.
“After match functions were held in the basements of various bachs. Much fun and hilarity resulted.”
Brian says in the early days boats were small, usually clinker or ply with seagull outboards, and the competition was to catch the most trout, with only two anglers per boat. At stake was a wooden trophy that was awarded to the top boat, numbers wise.
As angler support grew it was decided to centralize the event at the Lake Rotoiti Holiday Park in Okere Road and a committee was formed to organise this contest, which is fished the weekend preceding the Easter break. There was a limit of 40 boats and the fairer sex could compete, resulting in husband and wife or partner or even two women per boat. Weighmasters were appointed and a summary of results is forwarded each year to Eastern Fish & Game for their data base, listing sex, weight, length, fin clips and condition factor. A computer programme has been designed to facilitate this.
In the interests of conservation, the minimum length was increased from the legal length of 350mm to 420mm.
The Okere Volunteer Fire brigade, as a fundraiser, provided a meal for the Saturday night dinner and a BBQ for the Sunday lunch. This function was taken over by Whangamarino School – a three-course course meal consisting of soup, main and dessert for Saturday night at 7:00pm and a BBQ for Sunday lunch to wind up the weekend before the prizegiving.
The original trophy records many categories – most fish, heaviest fish, heaviest ladies’ fish, total fish caught, total weight and best condition.
The original trophy is unique and has been added to several times to make room for this information. There are individual wooden trophies for each category and some Memorial Cups recognising past members. A wooden mug is awarded for misdemeanors – such as: losing your rod and reel over the side, leaving fuel or even the outboard behind and there was the year one angler got ‘lost’ going to the ablution block at the camp, only to be found later asleep under a car!
Many sponsors have come on board, namely, Telfer Marine; Burnso Marine; Seeka; Farmlands; Okere Falls Store; Tauranga Truss & Frame; Link-up Paints; Lake Rotoiti Holiday Park; NZ Fishing News; Fonterra; Farm Source; and Te Puke Vets. This supplements the prize pool and everybody leaves with something. A great weekend is had by all.
Near the commencement of the trout fishing season on October 1, the club has a get-together for an evening with a few tipples, a meal, and a guest speaker (on a subject not necessarily confined to fishing) provided an opportunity for fellowship and friendship before the season opens.
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