A winner of the Flava Fm radio competition in New Zealand, got the chance to participate alongside Auckland’s DJ Manchoo, in the Samoa International Game Fishing Tournament earlier this month.

Mike Fagaiava of Auckland was over the moon when he heard he was the winner of a month-long run competition on his local radio station. 

Faigaiva was the lucky winner of free return flights to Samoa flying on Samoa Airways with free accommodation at Aggie Greys Hotel in Apia during the S.I.G.F.A. tournament.

As an avid fisherman, he said the news was like winning lotto.

“I’ve never won lotto before but for someone like me who loves fishing – it was like winning the fisherman’s Lotto,” said Fagaiava. “I’ve never been game fishing before so it was such a different experience, it’s not for the faint hearted. I take my hat off to the skippers because we were trawling for about 11 hours – I don’t know how they do it.

“You got to be really patient but I think for those out there who are passionate about fishing and who’ve never gone game fishing - this is something that would be on your bucket-list to do at least once in your lifetime.”

Mike Andzue also known as DJ Manchoo is the music director of Flava FM and as a keen fisherman himself, the chance on offer to collaborate with Samoa Airways and the Samoa International Game Fishing Association was the perfect break to promote Samoa and give away the opportunity of a lifetime to one of their listeners.

According to Flava FM radio host, Athena Angelou, the station ran the on-air and online competition for just over a month and they received hundreds of competition entries from fishing aficionados, making it very tough to choose a winner.

“We got so many entries from our listeners to join Manchoo’s crew at the Samoa International Game Fishing Tournament” said Angelou “ but you know we were so happy because we’ve got a huge Pacific community in New Zealand who love to fish and to be able to connect them to something amazing like this in their territory is just really awesome and worthwhile.”

To add another “Mike” to Manchoo’s Crew, winner Mike Fagaiava invited his brother in law, Mike Chitar to accompany him. Chitar is no stranger to game fishing in Samoa, saying that this was his fourth time to Samoa for the event, and he was glad his brother-in-law finally got to experience fishing on a whole new level.

After having a taster of what game fishing involves, Fagaiava said that he was definitely gearing up to come back for next year's tournament, adding that the lure of the unknown Pacific Ocean is enough to make a repeat contender out of him. 

“The screaming reel is something I will never forget,” he said. 

“We caught a Spanish Mackerel and a 48kg Tuna -I’ve never caught anything that big before. In New Zealand, when you hear the reel, you expect a Kahawai or the King Fish Snappers depending on the sound but here in the Pacific – you don’t know what’s taken the reel, it’s all about the unknown."