Keado’s Weblog

Yup, JD-K and myself went this morning to Army Bay rocks for JD to catch his first snapper – and – he wasn’t to be disappointed. I have never seen the sea like this before. High tide was 6am and we were there around 10am, so the tide was pretty flat. You know when watching a sea/swimming scene and you go “oh, that’s filmed in a pool” – well, they could have filmed it off the rocks this morning. It was a large coral swimming pool – flat, crisp, clear, blue – couldn’t believe it. I was a little bait not far out and watched if go all the way to the bottom – we could see the sand, coral, everything – never before.

Anyway, had to cast pretty far out to deeper water and landed a nice 31cm snapper – filleted and half for me, pan fried with ginger, chilli and lemon. Kim had hers sashimi with wasabi & soya. Guess where I am 6am tomorrow morning.

Also had the appointment with the orthpeadic this afternoon and got the all clear to start training again – although he did mention that I wasn’t 25 anymore? So, waited for 7pm to get a little cooler and went for a celebratory run by Shakespear.

Kim off the the Silverdale market tomorrow morning, after I get back from fishing of course and pretty sure a day at the beach will be in order.

Last week K said she was old enough now to come with to the rocks fishing with me. Normally, I have only taken the kids to the wharf for sprats – now- she was ready for the big league. She was determined to come with and catch her first snapper. In the times we’ve been to Army Bay, we’ve only caught 2 legal snapper and with the tide coming in and high winds & sea, chances were not very good. Obviously I did not tell her this and kept the excitement going. We only went around 5:30pm and she became increasingly uneasy about being out in the ocean a long way from the beach. I had the two rods in and when cast in the right area, there were actually some signs of a few bites. Most of the time the seaweed resulted in loosing the bait and rig – told K that the fish were biting “look, bait totally gone!!!” – very excited.

After an hour the excitement started to fade and the incoming tide started to cut off our path back to the beach – actually had a 2 hour window. Then got a good bite and striked hard – got him..K was going crazy…then when he came onto the rocks, he looked a little small. Bear in mind there are thousands of new born and undersize snapper this time of year- she got the tape measure and with a quiet prayer, 27,5cm [legal 27cm] and promise, didn’t stand on him to flatten him out! She, in true K spirit, wrote a song about catching the snapper and told everyone who would listen “dad took 2 years, I took 2 hours!!!” She’s hooked – later “dad, can we fish tomorrow”..”dad, can we go Sat”..

The next day we planned our day’s holiday “up North”. JD was so excited to travel “North”. Our first stop was Matakana, just outside Warkworth, for hot chocolate and coffee. Was only 45min away but made sure it took longer. Matakana is a stunning place – winery after winery. Then off to Leigh and Goats Island. The beach is tiny but being a reservation, fish are everywhere. We stood in the water and within a minute, a large snapper swam passed and gave me the “middle fin”. There were bright blue fish and lots of parore [black snapper]. The tide was in and kids couldn’t snorkel so I took up the challenge with swimming glasses and $1 snorkel. Needless to say I swam in a large path, saw [I think] a sprat and came back in. Next time I’ll ensure we have the proper gear-other people were fully kitted out.

Not much point sitting on a rock with nowhere to play so decided on next beach - Pakiri - 8 km’s further down the road. A sand road which I thought was good fun in the Landy but Kim’s face and white knuckles told a different story – as K said – she was outside her comfort zone.. Pakiri was white sand, surfers & large lagoon for kids. The kids played in the surf a little while I literally stood over them because of the side wash which we just don’t have at our beaches. The lagoon was stunning -crystal clear water to dive into and shallow enough for them to play freely. It was coming on 2pm and we were all getting hungry and needed a break from the sun- so off for ice cream and the next beach. We just drove in the general direction of home and stopped off at any sign that said “… beach”. Had an awesome chicken burger the size of a small frisbee + fish & chips in Leigh. Around 5pm we stopped in Snells Beach for a final swim – except it was low tide and we had to walk through seaweed and sludge to get to the water – must have been honestly around 200-300m – Kim lasted 50m and couldn’t handle the slush anymore. The wind was up also and eventually we made it to the water, to find we had to walk another 20m to get to above my knees – even walked passed boats moored obviously at high tide. The kids had the final swim and after a quick play on the playground, we were off for an adult drink at the famous Salty Dog on the main road. Kids had the trampoline to themselves, I had a Smirnoff Ice and Kim a glass red. Kids were playing the fool – both had us in stitches.

Through Matakana again & Warkworth – then decided on the Mexican restaurant in Orewa for dinner before heading home – only got there on 9pm. All finished and home with 2 sleeping children, a tan and a brilliant day. Definitely doing it more often!

Well, it’s been a month since the last blog and now I have the task of recalling what has happened in the life and times of the Kiwi Modlin’s.

For one it’s 2009 and summer – lots of beach time, fishing, training and get togethers.

The last blog was 8th Dec – just a note, if the letter “b” is missing from some words, it’s because the damn lightbulb fell from the roof once again, clipped by ear-hit the desk and landed on my keyboard. Realised that the bloody thing was hot and by the time I managed to pick it up, it melted the “b” and ”space” keys – nice one. The lightbulbs have the habit of dropped from their housing at the strangest time. Maybe going to buy ones that cost more than 59c next time.

Back to Dec:

•  we have had school concerts with both JD and K singing – at school and at the local Wharf Markets
• school picnics where the school went to Shakepear for a day of swimming in the sea, games, ice lollies delivered by Santa. It was supposed to be grey but turned into a sunny, hot and windless day- awesome. The sea was at it’s Shakespear best- crystal clear
•  horse riding
• end of year assembly where both JD & K got certificates:
•  JD for work in class and K for being a “Jump Jam” leader

The kids finished school Fri 19th and by 2am-bored – what did we expect. They built up this idea of school holiday and after 2 hours wasn’t living up to it’s name.

The days before Christmas were hectic as per usual with final little gifts on the way from the “pole” – a few from Trade Me at 25% of the shops price, although the shops were already discounting by 50% well before Christmas. Have to say that I didn’t find many fishing specials – we’ve waited so long for the fishing season to start and no tackle shop really has to discount anything. In fact, the prices from last year have gone up quite substantially.

Christmas eve was at “Groblersdal” as per pics and a quiet & uneventful evening. We had the usual hats and things that went ang – the usual kids fights and tears but nothing could damper the thought of one more sleep before Santa came to visit. We got home early enough to start the annual Santa preparation of milk, cookies, reindier dust, lights etc etc. The whole process took at least an hour..

Santa did arrive [surprise] – I expected the 4am start to the day but at around 6am, caught a glimpse of K tip toe out the room to the tree – tip toes back a lot quicker and whispered to JD – Santa came – there are so many presents. Needless to say the next few hours was absolute chaos – inside and outside the houses…

Lunch was at Lee & Carmen with some family & friends -which continued at our place as they had to head off to another party….and so the party week to New Years started. In between all of this was the now usual visit to physio for my back – a visit ot two to the doc for what they determined as now asthma.

Long story short on the physical – started the new year with the attitude – bugger this. Irrespective of the “asthma” meds, my chest cleared after a week and there is no asthma – shortness of breath etc. The high pollen mixed with 95% humudity and a touch of stress I believe was the cause- and easy to solve. Pollen was down, humidity down and stress down – no problem. As for the back, told the physio that there was no reason for the weekly massage I was enjoying. There is some damage caused by some silly training which I’ll see the specialised about in late Jan- otherwise back to training, very little discomfort if any, so bugger it. Feeling string and healthy, just running a little slower than before – but hey, still running.

The last few days and first few of 2009 have been hectic. Worked the Mon from 5:15am to 7pm – Tues work & running around – Wed work 5:30am to 6pm for New Years party ending 4am – fishing in the afternoon of the 1st – work the Friday etc etc.

Fishing is getting exciting. This week been out four times - Tues & Thur morning, Fri afternoon & Sat morning. The sunrise has been nothing short of spectacular. Sitting on the rocks at 6:15am watching the yellow/red/orange all come over the islands while all size of boat come drifting past. Tues was awesome - as I got there the fish were on the bite – everything I threw in was eaten in a few seconds leaving nothing but the hooks – we use big hooks this time of year as the little snapper are around and eating everthing in site. They eat the bait and around the hooks - they are too small to get hooked. I was the only sole for most of the morning with 3 others arrving around 9am with lures after kingfish [from the first word I heard I would have bet they were ex Hout Bay]. They were casting / trolling to my left on a higher rock face- I had pillies on looking for snapper. I use two rods – one in the water-check other-add bait-check other – BOOM- one of the rods bent big time and the reel screamed [line was being taken out at a rapid rate] FISH ON…It was a fighter all right – just was I was looking for..the one chap overlooking my position came down to offer assistance with his gaf [pole with large hook to "gaf" the fish to bring in when close].

We fought for about 5 min before he came in close and the guys higher up confirmed it was a kingfish – a good one – they fight hard – come in close and head for the rocks – come in and off again – this one didn’t disappoint. As he came close, boom, off to the rocks – it’s a fight to turn him before he gets there – eventually I got him onto a small ledge and the Kaapie got him up – I initially thought under size but he measured just under 80cm, with above 75cm being legal.

The thoughts hit – how do I get him home-how do I iki [kill] him, how do I fillet him-how do I freeze him-freezer too small-etc-etc. When the Kaapie asked if I’m going to keep him, I said casually, nah, lets let him go…there hasn’t been a moment since where somebody has not mocked me. Aurey has been here for 12 years and not landed a “legal land based kingfish”.

Had a chat with the boys from “Die Kaap” and went on fishing with no more success. Funny that they had the gear for kingies and I landed it on snapper bait. Thur was quiet, Fri afternoon was quiet and Sat morning also quiet. Every day however there were multiple “boil ups” where the fish litterally go beserk on the surface eating bait fish – with the birds by the hundred diving for a feed – the kingfish after the bigger fish and the snapper under them eating the scraps – BUT just too far to cast out to – so, just watch.

New Years was the normal Keepers Kraal party - it rained a little on and off just enough to get the brolly out, then would stop again- by 2am we had all eaten and decided to move into the garage – music still going, door open – K lasted until 1am and JD  I think almost 1:30am - by 3:30 were were tired and the we dispersed – who were left anyway. Took about 30min to clear up enough to go to bed, with the morning cleanup to look forward to. 

The morning clean up was interupted at 11am with Wayne on a walk – bought him a beer, I had a Kaos and late breakfast was served around 1pm with baco, eggs, sausages plus everything you could want to eat. Really mellow evening / morning and a late afternoon fish with “the boys” at Army Bay to end the day – what a pleasure. Actually caught a nice panny [legal snapper that fits into a pan] which I did prepare for lunch the next day but decided it would be better served as bait for the next trip.

Kids have been enjoying the beach and surf. Spent most of one day at Orewa – McDonalds for lunch on the grass – over an hour in the sea with the boards catching waves – then the customary “small” ice cream on the way out.

Taking the kids on the 6km running route when I head out – they cycle and I run. We had such fun Fri morning – stopped at the park 2.2km’s -then dirt track 4.5km’s- JD got back sweating he worked /played so hard. We’re going to have to invest in a new bike for him- he has to peddle so fast to get anywhere – little legs moving to get momentum but so limited on the bike. Not serious, a second hand bmx is only around “$350″!!!

Been to the movies – this coming week planning a trip north for the day to Goats Island – a little protected beach / reserve where no fishing is allowed. Apparently you stand and watch small 10-15kg snapper swim passed your feet [average we catch is around 2kg when we lucky]

Cheers for now and my motto for 2009 – bUCK the trend!