Organisers of the annual Houhora One Base big game fishing tournament could probably feel entitled to give themselves a quiet pat on the back following the success of this year's event.

Rugby league once gain took the initiative in the Cold War against its rugby union counterparts...

Kerry Hewitt joined a small and prestigious club when he speared an 84kg fish 12 miles off the Hokianga Harbour...

SO there he was, The Offsider, getting rather excited at the prospect of seeing some epic waves in his backyard courtesy of Tropical Cyclone Pam.

It took until the last day of this year's 2015 Snapper Bonanza for the ultimate winner to be revealed.

There was a thrilling and dramatic climax to this year's Radz Challenge when a massive blue marlin weighing 280.5kg failed to make the cut-off time by only 10 minutes...

His younger brother is getting married this weekend but Boris Jurlina won't be there to see it.

As of yesterday afternoon, with several hours fishing remaining before day two of the 2015 Snapper Bonanza was completed, no one had pulled in a snapper to better the 8.245kg specimen caught by Mike Dowden.

Having dominated the competition for the previous two years, the Te Rarawa Football Club is aiming to secure a three-peat by winning the under-8 division for the third year running when the Kaitaia junior football winter season kicks off later this year.

The Houhora Fishing Club was in the thick of the action in the New Zealand Sports Fishing Council 2015 nationals competition, with 15 impressive specimens bought into the Far North weigh station....

The saying the devil finds work for idle hands can certainly be applied to Kaitaia.

A significant number of marlin and yellowfin tuna were either bought to the weigh station and or tagged and released during the 2015 Hihi Marlin Classic.

Drag race for revved-up 90 Milers

Future Black Caps continue with junior programme...

Schoolboy cricket is alive and kicking in Kerikeri with the local high school able to field two sides in Whangarei-based competition this summer.

Kaitaia College 66 Okaihau 22: The 2015 NorthTec Adam Blair competition got away to another early start this year with the first game taking place between the two Far North schools...

A group of Kaitaia College athletes cemented a number of top spots in the national rankings at the second leg of the Road to USA CrossFit challenge series in Hawke's Bay earlier this month.

SO THERE he was, The Offsider, wandering through what he had come to regard as the Summer of SAM.

The Far North community has been given an opportunity to help a talented young Kerikeri footballer travel to train at the world famous Valencia football academy next month.

The Houhora Fishin' Chicks contest wiggled its way to another end with the organisers noting the weather was a bit unkind to the 40 ladies and their skippers over the two-day event held last Friday.

Pops Bratz triumphed over the competition to take out the grand title at the Whanau Triple Challenge tournament at Lindvart Park on Saturday.

Another year of gymnastics classes are all ready to go at the Kaitaia Gymnastic Club beginning from next Monday, February 9, for Term 1. Session times for the coming year are as follows.

Kaikohe motor racing enthusiast Fred Courtney's Northland Special racecar, which won the first New Zealand Grand Prix in 1950, will be at the 60th national grand prix at Manfeild in Feilding...

New Zealand's outrigger canoe "first family" - the King whanau from Cable Bay - lived up to their royal reputation at the recent 26th ActivePost Waka Ama Sprint National Championships.

The big game fishing season is starting to show some reel action off the west coast of Ahipara...

About 335 anglers tried to hook some of the $35,000 worth of prizes up for grabs during the two-day Doubtless Bay Fishing Contest and Auction at the weekend.

The 30 senior members of the 90 Mile Beach Surfcasting Club participating in the Riders Sports Store/Rogers Motors-sponsored field day were happy to see 13 junior club members alongside them.

Kaitaia teenager TJ Beatson is leaving New Zealand on Saturday to take up a scholarship playing college rugby in the United States.

Kerikeri ran down Kaikohe with ease in the seventh round of the senior district cricket played in dauntingly hot summer conditions at Northland College on Sunday.

Two of the Far North's most successful powerlifters trained together in Kaitaia last week, sharing techniques and tips, and discussing strategies for their campaigns.