Community Contributed

Colin N. Webber

Colin is a Retired Plumber and keen fisherman.Following is a little about his life history.

I am a committee man on the Waitarere Fishing Club, which currently has around 150 financial members. The club was started about
10-15 years ago, by a group of local Identities, who all have an interest in Fishing.
Murray Hanlon (a retired Levin Dentist,) is one of the past presidents ,and he still helps with arranging guest Speaker’s for our club. The
club meets on 2nd Thursday of every month7 pm, at the local Scout Hall. The current President is Gavin Teal, & Gordon Whitlock is the secretary.
We hold competitions, at Labour Week End, Anniversary Weekend, & Easter, (where we sell fish by auction) & donate profits to local community
causes. We have a "fish of the month" competition, also yearly prizes for heaviest fish in various categorize boat, Canoe ,surfcaster, and long line.
Fish type ie. Snapper,. Kahawai,. Kingfish,. Gurnard. etc. Other types o f fish caught at Waitarere Beach, are Sharks, Elephant Fish, Red Cod'
Flounder, Trevally, Stingrays, Barracudder, eels. The boaties get Groper, Blue Cod, Terakehe & other larger species in the deeper water further out.
We also catch (Whitebait in season), at the Manawatu River & Hokio Stream.
I fish with a "Seahorse Kontiki" & long line, (about 9 years old) which has a range of about 1.8km from shore. Waitarere is an ideal beach to use
these, machines, as the beach access is easy, however in the 6 years since we purchased our house in Kent Ave, the number of these units has
grown rapidly, from about 10, to I'd say 3-400 now.

The number of units , & the experience the owners have, can cause major problems if people put out too close to one another, and although we
have approx. 13km of beach between Hokio & Manawatu River, there's really only room for max about 30 fishers, if all fishing at the same time! After
heavy rain, the rivers send down logs etc, & these can be a problem, as it’s easy to get hooked up on one of them, so, along with sometimes
"strong rips" it's not all "Plain Sailing"!!

Commercial Fishermen are also a "Pain", as they often put out long lines within striking distance from shore, & 1 have been caught up on one
of these before!
My father got me interested in Fishing, when I was about 10 years old, we had a farm in Tangiwai, which had a stream with trout in it, & I can remember
him catching Rainbow Trout in the dusk after milking the cows. This was around 1953, the year of the "Tangiwai Disaster," We sold our farm prior to
this accident, & moved to Napier about 2 weeks before.My brother & I used to bike down to the Napier Wharves, & fish for tiddlers. As I grew up fishing
was a main part of holidays,
I remember going out from Auckland,with the mum & dad & family on the "La-Rita," a converted Submarine Chaser, from world war 2, & it took
about 100 or so fishermen out past great barrier island, we used cord type hand lines with heavy sinkers, & we were pulling up Snapper, two at
a time!
When raising our own family, I always tended to head for coastal areas, and we rented houses at different Locations’ mainly in the north Island,
close to the beach so fishing was always available.
I am a retired Plumber/Drainlayer from Feilding, & am in my 70th year! I was a half owner of T. Tricklebanks Ltd, Plumbers, also Tri-Web industries,
roofing manufacturing, in the early 1970's, I was also part owner of the Guthrie Bowron franchise in Feilding, And the Feilding Gas Centre, (along with
3 other plumbing firms in Feilding).

I've been President of the Manawatu Master Plumbers Assn, & served on the committee. I have been involved in "Lions" since my early 30's,l am a
charter member, and now a life member of Feilding Manchester Lions Club, and have filled most positions in the club, since its inception. I don't get to
many meetings now, as it's a bit far to travel, but I feel I've done my bit for the community in Feilding, & we still own our house there, in case we want to
shift back one day?

I'm now enjoying the relaxed lifestyle, at the beach with my wife, and we love to both get out on the beach with our fishing gear, we’ve met some lovely
people here, & look forward to many more years of trying for the big ones!!

Regards , Colin Webber.

12kg snapper the top Kontiki catch 28th November 2011 Caught by Mr. Colin Webber by henryphillips	*Colin and Alison at their home, Waitarere Beach, Levin* by henryphillips
More than 100 members of the Waitarere Beach Fishing Club and visitors attended the November 2011,meeting held on the beach. Phil Schere, from Seahorse Kontiki, Demonstrated the new Kontiki with both the electronic compass and GPS. The weather was marginal witha strong rip but, despite these conditions, the new machine acqitted it self well, especially on the second set when Phil had aquainted himself with the local conditions. The machine looks a winner and already three members have purchased the new model. The weather has been very unfavourable but, despite these conditions, one leading Kontiki fisherman, Colin Webber, managed to catch a 12.06kg (26.5 lbs) Snapper. With the assistance of Fielding fisherman Russell Pedley, Colin has set a new benchmark for kontiki fishermen. For those who fish Waitarere Beach, Colin has disclosed that it was caught at a "secret spot 13' north of the Hydrabad and the fish had been eating large paddle crabs. Boat fishermen, on the odd day when fishing has been possible, have been getting good catches of snapper. Chris Judd leading the way with a 9.6kg fish and in front for the November fish opf the month. Fish of the month for October was snapper. and congratulations go to new excecutive member Stu Reid with a 7.96kg fish. Fish of the month for December is kahawai. The Xmas function is at the Scout Hall at 7pm next Thursday (December 8) featuring fish tasting and Christmas cheer. Next Wednesday (December 7 ), the club is assisting tutors from the Horowhenua Leaning Centre demonstrating Kontiki fishing, surfcasting and netting. Any members who have a bit of spare time please turn up on the beach at 10.30 am. The annual surfcasting competition is now on Sunday February 5 2012 ( Waitangi weekend). More details later. Whitebaiting finished on Wednesday. Catches had tailed off.	by henryphillips Colin Webber with a 9.7kg kingfish he caught by using a Kontiki at Waitarere Beach on the 8th April 2013
Colins fishing gear on the beach at Waitarere , Levin by henryphillips	Colins beach buggy by henryphillips
by henryphillip	by henryphillips

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