Children hooked on fishing competition
Hundreds of children and adults lined the lee breakwater and other vantage points around Port Taranaki yesterday hoping to hook the big one.
More than 170 children took part in the Take a Kid Fishing event put on by the New Plymouth Sportfishing and Underwater Club and Ian Roebuck Crane Hire, and the port’s public carpark was jam-packed with cars and boat trailers.
Jakalia Hori was fishing from the breakwater with her sister Shairah, 10, and father Jade and she was hoping to catch a snapper. ‘‘They are super yummy,’’ the seven-year-old said.
The girls said they liked to spend time with their father in the fresh air and sunshine.
‘‘They love it and it gives mum a bit of a break too,’’ Jade said.
He said they arrived at the port early looking to get a good spot but others also had the same idea. ‘‘We were hoping to go right down the end but there was heaps of people here already. Right off the point is good.’’
Jade said the club was really good to the kids, giving them hooks, a bucket, bottled water and a McDonalds cheeseburger voucher.
‘‘I think that that could be the catch of the day for the girls.’’
Further along the rocks, Alyssa Symons was fishing with her family and had already hooked an octopus and a shark.
Although the octopus broke free as it got to the rocks and the shark had snapped the line, Alyssa said she was still enjoying herself. Her six-year-old sister, Tiana, said she wanted to catch a snapper and take it home as a pet.
Their father, Brian, said he enjoyed spending time fishing with his girls.
‘‘We come down here quite a bit. Well, as often as we can,’’ he said.
Club captain Glenn ‘Trout’ Watson said the annual event, which was free entry for children aged between three and 14, was still proving popular.
‘‘It gets them out in the sunshine and fresh air.’’
Every child who entered the competition got a prize and there were also prizes for the heaviest land and sea-based catch.