Success with the longline!

No posts for a while ... spring has sprung and I have been busy in the garden. There is a narrow window when you have to go hard out to get the ground turned and planted before the hot weather arrives and it is too late! Eric has been helping me with the digging and that has made a difference this year.

We took some time off to go fishing again yesterday. We had been out on 2 previous weekends and caught nothing. Once long-lining off Puwheke beach with a southerly wind and once at Aurere. We rarely leave Aurere without at least a couple of fish, so this was unusual. Conditions were semi-favourable - low tide an hour before dusk. A few hours before a front came in. On the minus side the Moon was pretty much full and the water was very clear. We had a nice walk both ways and even saw a big seal on the rocks.

So yesterday we were not sure what to expect. The wind was supposed to be a SW which is good. A front due in and a week after full moon. We do not have a good record at Puwheke never having caught anything from the beach or off the rocks.
We went with Nicky and Phil and their 2 children. Phil had scored a kayak with a boat long line. Not seen one of those before. It had two floats that are weighted down with big lumps of scrap metal. Between them is strung a long line with the baited hooks. You drop in one float and then paddle some way off and chuck in the other float. The swell was a little bit rougher than I would have liked and the sky looked pretty ominous too. In fact the conditions looked pretty unimpressive for an evening on the beach. I paddled our longline out. It is a 1km length of very strong fishing line. You stick a plastic bag of sand on the end that you take out. Paddle like crazy to get through the surf and then pull the baited hooks out as far as you can. We had about 18 hooks on yesterday and were using alternate squid and bonito baits. I only took it about 250 m out as I was not too keen on the rough sea. Then you paddle back, try to surf in without tipping over and then warm up preferably in front of a nice beach fire.

Nicky and Phil were organised with a stove on which they cooked up some sausages and bacon. We had brough some pizza with us. The kids explored the beach and built holes to get out of the wind. We noticed our line was moving about quite a bit and wondered what was happening under the surface. As the sun started to go down we pulled it in. Everyone was helping out - one of the good things about long-lining compared to rod fishing. It is a communal activity. As the hooks start coming in the excitement and anticipation is palpable. Is there a fish on or will it have all been in vain?

As you can see from the pictures, it was not a waste of time. The big snapper weighed 4.5kg or 9lbs and was 62 cm long. The other one was about half the size. Perhaps we would not have caught anything if we had put the hooks out further?

There was nothing on the boat line, but it was calmer when we went out to retrieve it. What a great way to spend a Saturday evening. We filleted both fish and smoked the heads, fins and frames today. The only bit that was thrown away was the guts and that will make compost in the chicken coop.