Bad Day/Good Day?

November 25th 2017

Getting up at 4:30am and driving 80km to Sandspit seemed like a good idea.  Storing the live bait in a floating bait cage also seemed like a good idea.  Motoring out to Flat Rock to fish for a kingy . . . . yeah, you guessed it . . . .it seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately, none of the above were good ideas.  They were all bad ideas.  It proved to be one of those days when (almost) everything went wrong;

Lusting for a change of scenery and a change of species, a trip to Kawau made for an attractive prospect in the minds eye.  With kingfish the target species some frisky live-baits were an essential element to the success of the mission.  And things were going swimmingly until every last livey escaped through a hole in the cage mesh.  2 hours work undone in an instant! . . .  and it spiralled further downhill from there.

I’ve seen more space at Westhaven Marina than we found at Flat Rock.  It was more boat park, than fishing mark.  We didn’t have the bait and we couldn’t find the room so we made a hasty decision to try elsewhere.  North Kawau seemed a fair bet, so picked our way through the flotilla and sought sanctuary a few K’s up-coast.  But it was all guesswork and when you don’t know the marks, what tide to fish them and which techniques to use . . . then the odds are really stacked against you.  We spent a few hours dropping berley, baits and lures but the results of our efforts were a few tiny snapper and a solitary Trevally.  Slim pickings for a 12 hour day.

The one good idea came courtesy of my wife, who cooked up a veritable feast of delicacies.  Pulled pork buns, Frittata and blueberry muffins kept our spirits high while the fishing ebbed low.  All things considered, a day on the water eating like a lord and having a chin-wag with your mates is pretty bloody awesome.  I’m starting too see the attraction of buying a sailboat.  Those yachties have really got it sorted;  Savour the journey and don’t waste time on the fishing.