Fish School
November 11th 2017
I was probably 8 years old when I first discovered fishing. Why on earth I waited that long, I’ll never know. There were 8 good years wasted there. Thus I’ve always been conscious I should start my kids fishing young – real young. They are now at the ripe old ages of 5 and 7 and already have a couple of years experience under their belts. Both are quite the dab hands at dropping a line and catching a feed. The girls love a day out in the boat with their old dad and our last aquatic adventure was a grand success. Chris and his son Jack came along to complete the crew. We loaded the boat with bait and snacks – plenty of snacks – and beat a path West at a rate of knots.
While fishing was our ultimate goal, the pod of dolphins who arrived to play in our wake proved an easy distraction from the game plan. It was a first for the kids who were ecstatic at their frolicking rolls and boat-side surfing. 15 minutes passed before the dolphins tired of our presence and carried on their course. It turned out to be the second most talked about part of the day – and we hadn’t even dropped a line yet!
Bouncing lures off the seabed along a slow drift had found us some heavyweight snapper on the previous trip, so I reasoned that a good method to start off. But in typical inconsistent fashion, the same tactic was not gonna work this day. We jigged and jagged and pitched and pulled a succession of lures through some real fishy territory, but not a single bite was had. So it was over to the tried and trusted technique of – “drop the anchor and dangle a bait’. There is a good reason most folk out West fish this way – it really works. Soon enough the fish found our squid baits and the children began reaping the rewards. The fish coming aboard were plump, firm and beautifully conditioned. While I was more than happy with the reds, the undoubted highlight of the day was Jacks sharky capture: a 2ft rig that writhed over the gunnels bristling with anger. The gasps of surprise and shrieks of excitement were quite different to the usual grumbles and grunts of dismay. Funny how we become conditioned to enjoy only the fish that are considered worthy. Wouldn’t it be better to enjoy everything that grabbed the bait and added interest to the day?
We headed for home with a happy crew, who finally fell into an exhausted silence while we bounced our way ashore, through an easterly chop. I recall similar days of fishing and adventure as a child back in the UK. In those times the seas were bountiful and most days we were rewarded with a fish or two for the table. Alas, that has all now changed due to massive over-fishing and corporate greed. What we never had was a recreational fishing body, like Legasea, fighting for the rights of anglers. Those guys are doing a great job in empowering the voice of the masses and hopefully stymieing the persistent ecological onslaught of the commercial fishing industry. While it’s almost too late to turn the tide of damage and disaster that has been wreaked upon European seas, my hope is that New Zealand’s waters are offered better protection. I don’t want my kids to witness any decline in the rich biodiversity we are still blessed to enjoy here. Lets hope they’re still out there enjoying it when they are as old and craggy as I am.
