Al Turner, Pete Vanbeek and Paul Thomas

Fishing News

Make the most of your fishing trip

Dominik Berghamer The Dawnbreakers Fishing Club is hosting the annual Snapper Cup this weekend. Over a hundred anglers will be competing for over $12.000 worth of prizes. Snapper (and Kingfish) catches over the last couple of weeks have been excellent, if the weather plays along there should be plenty of fish to be seen at the weigh in. Whether you have entered into the competition or are just after some tasty fish for the family, here a few tips and tricks to make the most of your fishing trip: • Get up early: Change of light usually is the best time for a good haul, make sure your boat’s lighting is compliant and works before heading out in the dark. • Get the tides right: Snapper love a good current flowing and feed less during slack tides. • Keep the noise down: Snapper are easily spooked, especially in shallow water, avoid all knocking, stomping and anchor chain rattling, especially on aluminium boats. • Use burley: the more the better, if fishing in deeper waters deploy your burley bomb a few metres off the bottom. • Try different methods: Flasher rigs and stray lines are the classic ways to go but slow jigs and softbaits are well worth a try too, you could even try a small to medium sized live bait to mix things up a bit. • Try different baits: Squid and pilchards are the usual suspects but you may want to try fresh fish (the oilier the better), crabs, prawns or mussels. • Use light gear: The big old fish are clever and shy. Light lines greatly improve your chances of hooking into a trophy fish. Make sure you are using high quality gear, large Snapper and the omnipresent Kingfish are tremendously powerful. Check your leader after every fish, if in doubt, tie a new one! Tight lines!

Rotoiti roars with powerboat competition

The weather gods smiled on the ENZED Rotoiti Powerboat Club regatta held over the weekend and Thousands of people from the Tasman region and beyond flocked to the Rotoiti National Park for a stunning weekend of racing. Club spokesman Joe Blakiston said the nine GP hydroplanes racing in the Hydro Thunder Series were the stars of the show however exciting racing was the order of the day in all classes. Event organisers had a few surprises for the huge crowd with an aerial display at lunchtimes as well as a record setting Mexican Wave across the foreshore on Sunday. Ken Lupton, racing in the Lucas Oils 577 Hydro Plane continued his dominant season in edging brother Jack out in an exciting Arthur Mccaa Memorial Trophy race which saw five Go Hydroplanes racing to

wards the first turn buoy close to shore. Local drivers Lee Merrion and Julian Stilwell both took away silverware in the Railway Cup and Pelorus Jack Trophy. Club President Chris Dufeu thanked the Department of Conservation and all volunteers for their efforts to put on such a well supported event “It’s absolutely massive for Tasman and to see such a huge crowd was very satisfying.”

Jacob Page

Wakefield’s Sam Gale is making a habit of exceeding his own expectations. The 18-year-old former Waimea College student turned scaffolder will head to Portugal later this month to compete in the down hill mountain bike world championships in the elite class. He is fresh off finishing second in the four-round National series which he hopes will put him in good stead for his third stint in Europe. Gale is aiming for a top 30 finish in the elite class. It’s been a big year for the teenager who though a post-surgery infection had ruined his chances to compete internationally in the middle of last year. “Turns out I healed really quickly so I was able to compete. It definitely helps knowing I can come back from a big injury and still compete to a high level. I just want to ride smooth and trust my abilities. Knowing some of the tracks and knowing how to get over jetlag will be a big plus.” Gale said he trains six days a week but can struggle to balance work with his passion. “I hope to one day be a world champion.”

Marty making his mark for Wanderers

A year into his role as Director of Sports at Wanderers, Marty Davis is starting to see all of his hard work paying off. Marty will be the first to tell you it is not just him putting in the hard yards either, with a dedicated volunteer base keen to keep the Brightwater-based club, which also services Hope and Wakefield, in good shape as it enters its 71st year. However, with the club involving rugby, cricket and netball, Davis has to wear a several different hats every day. “The main part of the role is to increase participation at all levels which we have done, but it’s been challenging. “If you look at cricket, we are back in the premier competition, and in rugby we’ll have an under-18 team this year which we couldn’t quite manage last year, and while the netball has been a challenge we are looking to address it,” Marty says. “We need the collaboration between the schools, the club and the athlete so that it meets the needs of the people and that’s where I think we have fallen down in the past.” Marty says that keeping focus on the future of the club will be the key to continued success. “We’ve focused on results and outcomes rather than our future and sustainability, which is our people.” As a true-blue rugby administrator, Davis said he enjoys the variety of the role. “My passion is in coaching and player development and there’s some huge similarities in that across all sports, so I’ve enjoyed that. “Some people want to play socially, others want to be professionals and you have everyone else in-between, so it’s finding that balance that can be rewarding. “There’s a great support network here with the community wanting the club to do well which is a big plus. “There’s a renaissance going on with this club.” He said the premier cricket merge of Wanderers and Motueka was particularly satisfying.

“The end goal of that coll a b o r a t i o n is five years away and both sides of the fence have got people with patience who can see the long-term benefits. “One guy is 15 and another is 52 in that team and they’ve been competitive for the most part and it should only get better.” Marty said he wants volunteer coaches to continue to get mentoring and the chance to up-skill regardless of the age or grade team they look after. He also believes in trying to keep the rugby, cricket, netball and squash arms all feeling like they are part of the club. “That will involve changing our constitution because everything is currently in the name of the rugby club and it needs to be trimmed and updated so everyone has an equal share in things,” Marty says. “We know the direction we want to go in and we just need the buy-in. “We have 15 cricket teams and 16 rugby teams, there are cities in New Zealand that can’t boast that.” He says success, in his opinion, has nothing to do with results on the field. “We have to have the coaches in place when the players arrive - we can’t do it the other way around. “We also must have the finances to continue to develop players across all sports,” Marty says. “To me, I feel like I’ve won lotto,” he said. “It’s a great little set-up out here and it can only go one Marty Davis

Our mission is to provide free school and sports footwear to children in need aged between 5 and 13 years of age in the Nelson/Tasman region.

A big thank you to those who donated last month to Walk with Us. Local children have already benefited from your kind donation.

Also a warm thank you to two of our generous sponsors, you are great!

Donations are gratefully received, please go to www.walkwithus.co.nz

One of many huge fish caught over the last few weeks.

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