There is a difference between "going fishing" and "killing fish". We do both, but killing fish is generally a carefully planned expedition to the right place at the right time. And that is almost always the top of Mair Bank in summer with darkness and a rising tide.
So that is where we went last night, intending to kill fish. And for two hours between 7.30 and 9.30 we were just going fishing. Berley for Africa, and squid in lotsa tide in 3-4m.
Pleasant enough, chatting with Ellen and feeding small snapper, with one just legal in the bin. Dark dark (tho with the moon on the rise) by 8.45, so by 9.30, when the tide seemed to be slacking off a bit, we had been fishing for 45mins in ideal conditions for 1 fish and we were just starting to talk about quitting.
Then a good bite started, and in just over half an hour, we took another six fish.
Snapper 37, 34, 32, 32, 31, 31, 30. All well regressed.
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davflaws
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Re: Whangarei Heads Reply #946 - Mar 24th, 2019 at 10:00pm
Painting the house this morning, then a wee lie down and load the boat for a scallop dive in the inner channel off Taurikura.
Eventually got in the water at 5.30. Followed round by couple of legal snapper in 6m while burning 60bar. Took 40 scallops within 30m of the anchor, but it is the last week of the season and they are pretty thin.
Daughter and grandson up for Easter. Decided to kill fish so went to the top of Mair bank for the last couple of hours of the flood in the dusk. Light gear, squid and lotsa berley produced 1 keeper in a nearly two hours. So stopped on the way back to Urquarts Bay ramp and fished for half an hour on the first of the ebb in the inner channel between Caliope Is and Urquharts Bay Wharf for three good fish
Snapper 39, 38, 37, 32. one male - the rest indeterminate.
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Out to the top of Mair Bank in the dusk with a mate last night. an hour with light gear, berley, squid and mullet produced no keepers, so bearing in mind that the Inner channel off Urquharts had been much more productive on Saturday, we headed back in and spent an hour there for a couple of fish.
I am back from Niue - where I had the best visibility ever in more than 50 years of diving, and heard whalesong (very loud) while SCUBA. It had to be loud cos I am deaf as a post without my ears. I also hunted Uga (coconut crabs).
Back here I am cold, but scallop season is open and snapper will be running in the channels any time now. Repairs to the dory are done, and I am about to set up a recently purchased 20hp four stroke instead of the 15hp Mariner I have had for the past 20yrs. Standby for further info.
As a married man, I find the two most useful words in my vocabulary are "Yes Dear", so for the last few weeks I have been replacing strakes and ply, sanding, filling, sanding, priming, sanding, undercoating (x3), and (soon I hope) putting two topcoats in the bloody anchor well! No boating!
But I have been out for a couple of scallop dives off the beach and took 30. Fat as. 30 scallops occupy 500ml.
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Re: Whangarei Heads Reply #956 - Oct 7th, 2019 at 11:15pm
Boat maintenance seems to expand. Cockpit sole and locker tops now being redone, and I reckon I will find myself repainting the entire interior.
So I am having a few scallop dives off the shore. And thirty years ago there used to be scallops in the inner channel in McLeod Bay. There aren't now.
What there is is shitloads more very fine sediment (probably too much for scallops), and shitloads of what I think are Mediterranean fanworms standing up off the bottom like a whole lot of magic markers 150mm high with orange fans of tentacles coming out the top. I have never seen them before.
Interesting. I used to snorkel in the Med every year for 25 odd years. Month at a time with windsurfing. Same spots, Sardinia and Corsica. In that time the shoreline went from loads of small fry, mixed species, and shellfish, sea urchins etc to not much at all except the sea grass over sandy bottoms. A total decimation of the seafloor. The water still looked clear and blue though over the limestone sands and rocky headlands.
“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.”