Last days on the water

Now that we are well into Autumn, the summer duck season has closed, the crops are gone, and the geese deserve a break, so it's was a great opportunity to head to Nelson, catch up with Bailie and see her family.

And go Fishing!

It had been hell of a summer on the water, and most weekends saw us with the boat out chasing blue cod and crayfish. As good as the fishing had been, there was one New Zealand sports fish that had always eluded me - the King Fish. The snapper had been biting well around some parts of Nelson, but Bailie's dad Terry (Duff) hadn't had much luck on them. Bailie and I joined Duff and his Fiancé, Amanda, hoping to change all that.We headed out to what we thought to be the right water depth, and with the right bottom, we lowered the burley bomb overboard, then dropped some gear to the bottom, to see what we could find. Light tackle and loads of burley was the plan of the day. With all of us hooking into snapper within the first 5 minutes, we thought, maybe, just maybe, luck was on our side.

Fast Food at its best! From the Ocean to the table in a few hours

Our thoughts were not misplaced, and before the turn of the tide meant the bar at Mapua would be a problem, we headed back to the ramp with a fantastic catch of Snapper. Duff and I set to work with the fillet knifes, and cleaned the boat, while the girls got the salad ready. We invited a few lucky guests round for dinner, and others dropped in to collect some fresh fish, as we couldn't eat it all - and rather than freezing it, it was best our friends got to enjoy it like we do - straight out of the ocean.

A few days later, with everyone else busy, I thought I might try my luck on a solo effort. I figured I would head back to the same spot, but having some extra room on the boat, I also put the Kingy rod and reel in - just in case. Today was a different day. I couldn't even catch the bottom, let alone a fish. I kept up a great burley trail, checked and changed my bait, but nothing seemed to work. I had a pilchard and a bit of squid stray lining out the back, on the off chance for a kingy, but considering we hadn't seen or touched one the last time we were here, it was more of a hope than anything else.

Maybe a prince in size, but a King Fish all the same!

Then all of a sudden, the bait runner was screaming! After a good fight, that took it right, left and under the boat, eventually, the fish tired first. I didn't know what it was - A giant snapper? A shark? When I saw the flash of the beautiful tail, cutting through the clear Nelson water, I knew what my perseverance on the water had led to. Boy was I chuffed to catch the one fish that I had hoped to bag, before leaving New Zealand. It wasn't a huge kingy, but it didn't bother me one bit! I released him back into the sparkling water, and with a few powerful thrusts of that tail, he was gone. Then, like the fish, I headed for home, but with a very content look on my face.