Anglers caught out over comp cash
Angry fishermen are biting back over what they say is a botched fishing competition.
They say they have missed out on
$23,500 prize money at last weekend’s Kings of the Coromandel Fishing Competition. At the event, which drew
487 competitors, no prizemoney was handed out to second or third placegetters in five competition categories, despite prizemoney being advertised for those placings ranging between $1000 and $5000.
Bobbie Opperman, from Auckland, placed second in the kingfish category, hauling in a 17.2kg fish. According to the competition website, he should have won $5000, instead he got stickers and key rings. He was ‘‘totally disappointed’’ with not being given any prizemoney and had considered taking the issue further than dealing directly with the organisers.
He said people won spot prizes of fourstroke engines.
‘‘Surely there should have been money – I just can’t see how there isn’t.’’
Other anglers were equally outraged and vented their frustration on the organiser’s Facebook page yesterday. The organisers waited until the end of the prizegiving ceremony to tell second and third placegetters there wasn’t enough money to go around.
‘‘At the briefing, nothing was mentioned about no payment. On day two it was never mentioned. I’m absolutely gutted.’’
He said with the weekend’s poor weather, he would not have bothered competing if he knew there was only money for first place.
‘‘We went out in the elements to fish for a place to get a prize.’’
He said it was not just the prizemoney he was upset about.
With the $150 entry fee and costs for food, fuel, accommodation and travel from Auckland – ‘‘It’s a lot of money to get down there for the competition’’.
He would like to see something good come out of it, whether that be him awarded his prize money or the organisers held accountable. Coromandel locals Wade Adams and his partner Megan Brown organised and ran the competition for the first time. Adams said they had stated from the beginning that prizemoney was dictated by the number of entries.
He said he believed they could have approached the matter better ‘‘but hindsight’s a bitch, isn’t it?’’.
‘‘We don’t want to have to rely on that disclaimer and that rule, but ... you aim high and you just don’t miss that mark.’’ He said they were not trying to rip
people off and everyone walked away with something, with more than 140 prizes being handed out.
One post on the competition’s Facebook page stated: ‘‘If registrations don’t make the total cash prizes. Then 1st place snapper 1st place kingfish, spear fished and line caught fish get paid.
‘‘The rest of the money will get divided across the other categories (sic)’’.
Adams told Stuff registrations did not get high enough for there to be money to divide for second and third placings, and that he and his partner had to call on family to borrow money for the competition.
He said they ‘‘tried to the very last minute’’ to get prizemoney for second and third placegetters.
‘‘We spent more money than any other person.
‘‘We spent seven months building this competition all for nothing.
‘‘We didn’t get paid for it – not a single cent.’’
He said he had been contacted by the Kahawai category third placegetter.
‘‘A third place friggen kahawai out of all the fish and you’re complaining about the third place kahawai. You’ve got these monster fish and then you’ve got third place kahawai going ‘Why didn’t I get it?’.’’
Total prizes amounted to more than $120,000, which included cash prizes from entrants’ fees as well as prizes from sponsors.
Adams said he and Brown were putting together a cost break-down to prove where all of the money went, but did not comment when asked if they would run the event again.