THE North Coast Fishing Bonanza, now in its fourth year, will be held again in Ballina between the 26th and 29th of September.
Last year’s NCFB was reportedly a big success with over 300 competitors entered and this year’s event promises to be even bigger and better. The event will now be staged at Fawcett Park, on the Ballina River.
Gamakatsu and Evinrude are once again the event’s major sponsors and will, with the help of some other well known brands, ensure that there is again something for everyone who attends.
Costs are $120 for Adults, $50 Cadets and $15 for Juniors.
Lucky door prizes include two fantastic TABS boat packages plus a host of other sponsors’ product.
Whether you prefer to fish offshore, in the estuary, off the beach, rocks or in the dams, the North Coast Fishing Bonanza has a species for you to catch and now has new “live” whiting and bream categories, along with Adult, Cadet and Junior categories – no matter what your age; you will be well catered for. You don’t even need a boat to compete.
Even if you don’t catch a fish at all, every entrant will go in the draw to win one of two awesome boat, motor and trailer packages. The Adult draw is for a nifty tiller steer open boat, while the Cadet draw is for a smaller tiller steer estuary fisher. There are also numerous random draws to be held over the course of the comp.
Other sponsors include Lowrance, Atomic and Samurai, so there will be mountains of giveaways throughout the entire event. During the catch, photograph and release competition, anglers are encouraged to provide images of live fish (example below) to be posted on the Fishing World website. 10 winners will receive $50 Frogley’s Offshore Prize Packs and three-month Fishing World subscriptions.
The fishing tank display will also be popular, with Michael Starkey and Jay Morgan from Frogleys Offshore conducting talks for visitors on some of the finer arts of fishing with lures in the local waterways. Both these guys are locals to the area, so are well in tune with local lure fishing tricks. Talks will run on the hour from 11am to 2pm each day, starting Saturday and concluding Sunday.
During the talks, prizes valued at over $7500 will be given away, with a special kids mega-draw scheduled for Saturday at 12 midday. In addition, the incredibly realistic fishing simulators will be on display with a competition surely on the cards for anyone who thinks they’ve got what it takes to tackle a sailfish, tuna or GT. Kids can also test their mettle on smaller species such as bream and bonito.
The NCFB has a facebook page and website for competitors to keep up to date with the event. The entry fee alone could see you pick up a boat as the lucky door prize.
