Fiordland turned on the sunshine last weekend (21-23 Oct) as 1758 anglers from all over New Zealand descended on Lakes Te Anau, Manapouri and the Upper Waiau River to compete in Southland's premier fishing competition.

The Stabicraft Te Anau Manapouri Classic Fishing Competition is held annually at Labour Weekend and consistently offers one of the biggest prize pools of any fishing event in New Zealand.

This years prize pool was in excess to $150,000.

Competition winner Gabriela Johnson from Otago with the new 1850 Fisher Stabicraft boat he won at the weekend. Photo: Supplied

The competition's major prize of a fully equipped 1850 Fisher Stabicraft boat worth over $100,000 was won by Gabriela Johnson from Otago.

Competition organiser Don McFarlane said that while entries were down on last year, the weather couldn't have been better.

McFarlene said 502 people had also used the competition's new fishing app, which allows for catch and release, to register their fish.

Fish and Game Southland ranger Bill Jarvie said the weekend was a tremendous success and the fish brought in were in exceptional condition.

"I cannot remember fish of such good condition, so clearly they've been feeding very well."

"Harvesting, within bounds, is a healthy thing to do for a population... [and] this fishery is at least as good, if not better, than before the competition started," Jarvie said.

A massive 14.5 pound brown trout caught in Lake Manapouri at the weekend. Photo: Supplied

A surprise of the weekend was when Benjamin Leech brought in a huge 14.5 pound brown trout he had landed at Supply Bay in Lake Manapouri.

"It is exceptional for the area," Jarvie said.

Jarvie said mouse feed fish were starting to show up due to the beech masting, which could produce brown trout up to 14 pounds.

However because larger fish take more energy just to keep themselves going, when that food ceases they really go backwards quite quickly and often disappear out of the population, he said.

Evan Anderson holds the rainbow trout his son Tody caught at the Kids Go Fishing competition. Photo: Scott Slater

The competition's Cruise Milford Take A Kid Fishing event was also well supported with 180 junior anglers trying their luck at McGregors Pond.

Organisers had recently restocked the pond with 200 Rainbow trout, ahead of this year's competition.

It fished very well until the sun got up and started to reflect on it, which benefited those that were there early, McFarlane said.

(L-R) Ria and Peyton Burgess with the rainbow trout they caught at McGregors Pond. Photo: Bill Jarvie

Jarvie said as the day progressed, anglers needed to swap their lures for a quietly left bait for the rainbows to sneak up on.

One of the highlights of the junior competition was when Will Young of Otago hooked a large rainbow, one of just two large fish released by organisers.

"That boy almost lost his rod when it took it off down the bank, [but] he managed to grab it in time," Jarvie said.

Competition Statistics & Results

Entries into the Stabicraft 2023 Te Anau Manapouri Fishing Classic

• Men: 905 (1090 last year)
• Female: 307 (381 last year)
• Junior: 138 (153 last year)
• Child: 228 (297 last year)
• Total: 1758 (1923 last year)

Total fish caught

• 867 (412 last year)

Total entries into the 2021 Cruise Milford Take a Kid Fishing competition

180 (200 last year)

Total fish caught

32 (69 last year)

Breakdown of fish caught:

• Te Anau 618
• Manapouri 102
• Upper Waiau 122
• Not recorded 25
• Main comp total 867
• McGregor’s 32
• Overall Total 899

Where were entrants from?...

Overseas 6

North Island 4

Canterbury/Nelson 37

Otago 597

Southland 832

Fiordland 282

Cruise Milford Take a Kid Fishing competition results:

Ranked in order of condition factor (a formula of weight & length)

• BEST CONDITION FACTOR FISH CAUGHT AT MCGREGOR POND – Liam Saunders
• 2nd Peyton Burgess
• 3rd Will Young
• 4th Flynn McKenzie
• 5th Violet Anderson
• 6th William Anderson
• 7th Blake Veitch
• 8th Lexie Dwyer
• 9th Blake Saunders
• 10th Albie Buchanan

Kids Colouring Competition

• 4 & Under: Darcy Hill
• 5 – 7 years: Quinn Callahan
• 8 & Over: Charlotte Watt

Prize for the first person who entered:

• Alex van Leeuwen

Prize draw from those that entered prior to 1 October:

• Bryan McInerney

Furthest travelled:

• Rene Rischer (Germany)

Heaviest Perch

• Dave Roberston

Heaviest Salmon

• no salmon caught this year

App results (longest fish entered via App)

• Child – Thomas Irwin (51.5cm)
• Junior – Todd Darling (53.5)
• Female – Jade Clarke (57cm)
• Male (59.5cm) – Callum Greaves (59.5cm)

Ranking is by condition factor (a formula of fish weight & length) – NOT by heaviest fish.

Weigh in winners

Child Lake

• 1st: Eva Bedford
• 2nd: Hunter Legg
• 3rd: Cruz Issacs

Junior

• 1st: Kace Wilson
• 2nd: Ryan Carter
• 3rd: Bre Issacs

Women

• 1st: Toni Hudson
• 2nd: Emma Hogg
• 3rd: Yvonne King

Men

1st: Hamish Neil

2nd: Ross Marshall

3rd: Corey Johnson

Shoot Out - 5 names are drawn out of the barrel from the adults that weighed in a fish

• 5th Terry Wilson
• 4th Bruce Williams
• 3rd Paul Fieten
• 2nd Lisa Katon
• Winner of the Stabicraft Boat: Gabriela Johnson (Otago)