Pensioner skips church for fishing show role

 

A Mangawhai pensioner couldn’t believe her luck when she landed a starring role on popular TV show ADOS Addicted to Fishing. 

Hazel Constable, 80, was supposed to be in church that morning, but when she got the call from TV show host and producer Nicky Sinden, she couldn’t resist. God loves a fisherman says Hazel, and it’s just as well!

Nicky, another Mangawhai resident, says she heard about Hazel when she went to drop a parcel off at the local Post Shop.

“The lady behind the counter there knows I’m always looking for new people to come on the show and she said you’ve got to take Hazel out, she just loves her fishing.”

On the show, the two ladies test the old adage that you should “fish your feet first” by spending the day fishing just minutes from the boat ramp in the Mangawhai Estuary.

“I wanted to show how lucky we are here in Mangawhai,” says Nicky. “You don’t have to go far to catch fish, you can actually have heaps of fun and take home food for the table without even crossing the bar.”

Nicky, who is the only full-time female fishing show presenter in Australasia, loves the fact that her show is ‘down to earth’, and features many keen local anglers from the places she visits.

“There’s no barriers to who can appear on the show. You can be any age, any gender, the only prerequisite is that you have to love fishing,” she says.

The show also featured a beach clean organised by Nicky earlier in the year, after her and a friend were shocked at the amount of plastic waste washed up on their local shoreline. Nicky says she is a passionate advocate for the environment, and does what she can to help.

“We’re all the ocean's caretakers, so it was really awesome to see so many people turn out to help with the beach clean. Mangawhai is my home, so it’s important to me to give something back to the place I love so much.”

The Mangawhai episode of ADOS Addicted to Fishing aired last Saturday on Prime but will be available to watch via the ADOS Addicted to Fishing Facebook page.

Hazel Constable (left) and regular show host Nicky Sinden with a good catch. Locals know Hazel just loves her fishing.