Getting good..
Had a quick meeting this morning and Keagan wanted to go fishing off the wharf after lunch – who was I to say no to a child and juyst so happened that the tide was perfect. Kim even bought some bait on her shopping spree this morning..
Again, sea and weather perfect – there were about 6 other people fishing so not too bad. Pride got a little bruised when trying to cast and the line caught in the gear somewhere and after a huge heave, line & sinker almost hit the chap in front of me. Little sprats were out in the thousands and soon had 3 in the bucket. On the second cast of the long rod [surf caster], I felt a soft pull and when I added some pressure, the line started to pull hard – fish on. Knew it was a kawahai – getting good at this fishing thing – I can’t tell the fish where to swim so intangled my line with 2 others – now, fishing etiquette states if there is a fish on – get your lines in fast to avoid exactly what happened. Here I am trying to get the fish in and the one on my left is sort of watching and the chap on the right is more concerned with a sprat that he may lose. I brought the fish up close but they never bloody got out the way for me to pull the fish in – anyway, after a struggle, managed to grap hold of the trace and pull the fish onto the wharf – you think then they would give space – no. The lines where tangled so I asked K for the scissors and just cut all my lines & rigs loose – the fish was waiting patiently for all this to be sorted.Cut my lines loose, took my gear and fish and left them with knots & tangles..
Fish was a nice 2kg kawahai, same we smoked last weekend. I took it to the water to bleed [sorry] and iki [knife through head - sorry again]. There were so many people now on the wharf it was silly, and more people were arriving. Surely if you get to a spot and it’s crowded, you find another. No, chap & family pitched themselves right over / around our chair and gear as if we weren’t there. K was playing in the water now and I just had nowhere to go – this family took over and with so may people now, I called K and we packed up and headed home. You would think there were other spots to go but actually there isn’t another place where you can take the kids fishing – so many beaches etc and there just isn’t.
Decided not to smoke the fish – too lazy – it’s Sunday. Had to go to Wayne to meet new emppoyees who arrived from Christchurh, had a drink and took them to the Gulf Harbour Lodge – we putting them up there for a week until they find a place. Got back and got stuck into there dinner – roast chicken, potats and veggies. All home by 7 and quiet time now…
Mr Kawahai going to be bait for next week…
Kiwi apprenticeship
I’ve come to the conclusion that we’re all going thrugh some kiwi apprenticeship – acting like kiwi kids to get to the adult stuff. Mostly I suppose because every time something “silly” happens there’s never an adult that’s doing the same, just maybe some kiwi kids…
I suppose growing up as a kiwi kids you start off fishing with little rods off the wharf catching sprats -then, get a bigger rod and start the rocks fishing – all the time yearning for the chance to earn $2,000 and buy your first “tinnie” – generally a 4m aluminium with a 4hp motor. Well, we’ve ticked the wharf and pretty much ticked the rocks – with some laughs..
Where am I going with this – last week Sat Wayne & I decided on a mission to find a new spot X on the rocks and found ourselves at Arkels Bay, not far from us. Tide was 2 hours from high but we found a perfect spot on some rocks that wouldn’t be affected by the tide – perfect weather, perfect sea conditions, good bait. On the walk around the side of the beach/rocks little warning to Wayne, “careful the rocks are slippery” [if something is going to happen, 99% of the time it happens to Wayne" ... 10 steps later he's on his side half in the water, trying to hold up bait / rods / backpack/ phone/ wallet .. good sign though - he sais when he falls on the way to fishing, he catches.. So half wet we perch ourselves and fishing begins. I had to tell him that the night before I had a vivid dream that the rocks and stones came crashing down the cliff face behind us and "what would we do as an escape plan" .. my brain had calculated the risks of stones / boulder / tree / branches [what else do you do when you sleep?] Anyway, knew that I could either dive into the water as there was no rocks or “go left” where the rocks flatten out and away from the side … and so we fish. Murphy!!! Some little stones come down and with my back to the cliff, Wayne shouts “watch out” – and as the first shower came streaming down, I was 10m away – I would have out-jumped a gazelle – he stands facing the shower watching it cover my bag, tackle box etc.. Not “cover” I suppose but enought of this light shale type stone to create a huge mess. The rest of the time I sort of faced the sea and cliff at the same time if that’s possible but no other action. We did throw rocks on the cliff face to see how much we could get down..
Oh,Wayne caught a nice 2kg Kawahai which we decided to smoke – I also wanted a fish – I cast in and got “hit” by something very quick – so same bait on and cast to the same spot – boom, hit again – bugger – I wanted this guy – third time and waited as he hit the bait I hit him – got him – after a nice fight turned out to be another 2kg Kawahai same as Wayne – maybe brother & sister? Can’t rememer what we did the rest if the Sat but all met up that evening to smoke the fish. The fish is very rich in flavour, almost like a game fish and you just can’t eat too much of it. Between 4 adults and 4 kids, we managed to eat about 1/4 of one fish – the rest went into the googler…
Sun morning we went back but no action from the cliff or fishing. Sun was also a big day as it was the Orewa Surf Club awards ceremony and K got her two silver medals – very proud and so keen for next season. She is going for sea trials and most likely additional swim training in the off-season.
Fishing story #2 – Fri I collected kids from school and went shopping for Kim’s birthday presents which was fun -had a hard time convincing JD that Hot Wheels TricTrak wasn’t exactly what mom was looking for. After a while he agreed that his birthday is next month and maybe it was a better present for him. Got back 4:30 and after a quick call, Wayne & I back on the Army Bay rocks for an afternoon fish. I knew low tide was 8:30pm so plently time to fish and get back before the tide came in. As you do on a Fri afternoon, a few Kaos were stored on ice to end the week. Fishing was going slow and not too mcuh happening. Nights getting chilly and I was getting a little nippy out in the open even with a windbreaker – Wayne had a t-shirt but another Kaos sorted that out. It gets dark now around 7pm and although an almost 1/2 moon, not enough light to tie detailed fishing knots. Picture, two kiwi kids on the rocks, dark, a few drinks and now time for home… For whatever reason, the drinks affected Wayne a little more than usual and he was on form … he’s packing up but was battling to hold the rods / chilly bin/backpack and tackle box .. which he all managed earlier to carry in. Anyway, tackle box into backpack and inner backpack onto over shoulder. Meanwhile I’m sitting in stiches laughing - now dark & just moonlight – on the rocks 2oom from the beach .. right – all ready, Wayne looking like a packed mule and off we head. 5m later “wait, the rods aren’t weighted” The rods heading in every direction – set – another 10m and rods all over again – oh, he had to keep a free hand for our final drink on the walk back – me, no problem.. another 10m and I decided to remove him of the problem rod – walking through water, over rocks etc by a 1/2 moonlight – 20m and the remaining rods unweighted – I was in stitches… removed those from him. Moving a little faster now “Wayne, watch your step”… BOOM – Wayne tripped and does a parachute roll with chilly bin etc all sprawling all around. Not so funny – ok, wasn’t for a split second but didn’t last long. Traces of blood on his hand, knee and wet again – we joked that hyperthermia was well advanced by this stage. Eventually we arrived back at the car where it was agreed that I would drive the 2km home – we did take the time to explain to some people where the scouts camping ground was [actually not sure where they were but pointe them in the general direction]
Amanda & kids were at our house – picture the scene of Wayne walking in after a hard nights fishing – I couldn’t stop laughing. Not too much damage, a few scrapes and minor cuts. A true kiwi adventure. It took an hour instead of the normal 20min… Not that I could go to sleep after dinner, I promised Gareth that I would show him the way to the airport to fetch Grant – flight from Aus coming in 00:10am – we left at 23:30 and got home 01:45 – I was a little tired…
Sat morning was Kim’s b/day – K woke me up 3:30am convinced it was time to wake mom up! I had just gotten to sleep! Got her back to bed and next JD at 5am – then them both from 6am and gave in at 6:50am- choc & candle – we sang like a choir. We had a lazy morning and went b/day shopping before lunch [new camera!!!] and then a treat, lunch at Sparx [we both had salmon, avo, cream cheese on bagel- mmmmm]. I dropped Kim & Amanda at a restaurant in Takapuna, all dolled up for a night on the town – Carmen met them there and she would bring all home. Wayne took kids tenpin bowling – I joined later. Kids had a ball [ha, that's funny-get it-tenpin-had a ball] – back to Wayne’s place for coffee and I had both sleeping angels at home by 10:30. Kim came in around 00:30 – they stayed at the restaurant and did the girly thing – the intention was to go to a live music place across the road but they were having fun, so stayed. Another 1am stint…
Daylight saving ended this morning so woke up at 6am [which was 7am yesterday] – think wash the cars this morning and see what the day brings.
JD won there last basketball game on Thur – unbeaten – so play next week in a championship game for a certificate. K kicked butt at karate – the coach was showing when you get a tall boy against a small girl – they grap each other, some pushing, and K steps back forcing the guy to stumble down – couch “jump on him” – and K was all over him with a choke hold [arm around neck] – he had to submit! Very cool.
Otherwise, some training – Kim did a 40min run Tues which pushed it and didn’t feel great after. Got a bug and took the rest of the week off. Another week before school holidays, oh boy…
