Sunday, February 19, 2012

OUR FISHING EXPEDITON, BLOW BY BLOW

Right ...  here we go! 

ABOVE:  after arriving and boarding the boat, we headed down the river towards the harbour... in the thick fog...

ABOVE:  passing another charter fishing boat on it's way down the river.  We got to our first fishing spot and HALF AN HOUR LATER that boat caught up with us.  My Dad's old boat is FAST.

ABOVE:  Tony, the owner/skipper... navigating our way down the river using GPS and depth sounders... it was the only way to do it as we could not see further than 50 metres in front of us due to the fog.

ABOVE: the sun trying to peep through the fog.  It was darn cold with the fog too!  First time I had felt cold in MONTHS!  It was kinda nice.

 ABOVE:  we had to pick up some passengers from Shelly Beach wharf... I was scared Tony would crash into it cos we couldn't see it for ages!  But.. we didn't of course... lol.




ABOVE:  I have NEVER seen anything like this before!  Like a rainbow/halo over the water... due to the fog and sunrise I think.  It was AWESOME.  The water was DEAD CALM too.

ABOVE:  Finally, the sun came out...  see all the fog down low!

 ABOVE: heading to the northern end of the harbour, right near where the harbour meets the sea....


ABOVE: Stew caught the first fish...

 ABOVE:  shame it was a bloody shark!  We threw him back .... not worth keeping.   At this spot we just kept catching sharks, so we moved to another place....


 ABOVE:  Dave caught his first fish... a really nice gurnard... he was wrapt.  AND, get this... he lives in our suburb... just over the back of our street!  We had never met him before... talk about a coincidence. 


ABOVE:  Stew showing off another of his fish, this time a Kawhai.... we hope to buy a cheap smoker today so we can smoke some of our fish.

 ABOVE:  the LAST fish of the day!  MINE.  A freaking stingray!  He fought like buggery too... but he got chucked back in too.  Not good to eat.  
Everyone on board caught their quota (allowable  number) of fish .... so it was an EXCELLENT day both weather wise and for the fishing.



ABOVE: huge heat clouds (I'm sure they have a proper name) over the hills.  The scenery was just AMAZING.... we couldn't have been anywhere more beautiful if we tried.


We have already decided to go again soon... and next time we will take the kids too.  I am sure they will love it. 


TODAY:  sleep in for a while, then we are heading down to Hamilton to see family.  
ONWARD...
HAMILTON:  well, it was stinking hot!  Like, really really uncomfortable hot. Melt in the car hot.  Get crabby hot.
But, we had a nice lunch at The Base with Kelly and Rena, then visited Amanda and the kids.


We bought this from The Warehouse:


ABOVE:  a smoker.  It was darned expensive for a tin box!   Even at the cheapest place in town.
When we got home from Hamilton we put some of our fish in it.... and learnt a few lessons in smoking fish....  

ABOVE: Our smoked fish.  Lessons learnt:
- Don't use THAT much wood chips...
- Don't use THAT much brown sugar!
- Only smoke THICK fillets or whole fish.
The bottom layer ended up bathed in sugary wood chips!  But still edible.
AND our fish was really nice.


While our fish was cooking we had a quick visit from Jacqui, Martin and kids.... they were on their way home from Thames and got caught in gridlocked traffic... so stopped in here to feed Sofia... who was getting grumpy.  4 month olds tend to do that when stuck in a car in this heat.


End of Day:  a super hot day today, but glad we got to see the family in Hamilton... seeing as we didn't go to the family event yesterday.
ON TRACK:  maybe not today... I had KFC for lunch!  
nite nite.

18 comments:

  1. What amazing pictures. It really looks like you had a great time.

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  2. Beautiful pictures, lovely time :)

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  3. Beautiful! That's all I can say!

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  4. The fog and sun pictures are stunning the flat calm sea like glass amazing pictures, those heat clouds are called Cumulus clouds. Nice fish too.

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  5. Looks fantastic, glad you enjoyed it!! xxx

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  6. Anonymous10:12 AM

    What a small world to meet your backdoor neighbor!! lol Just never know who you'll meet up with! Looks like a lot of fun! Love the pretty photos. They were really pretty,all of them! ...debbie

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  7. hi chris, wow love that shot of the rainbow halo...beautiful shot.! Looks like you had a wonderful day and plenty of fish for dinner..nothing like fresh fish. Our neighbour caught a marleen out at piha 2 weeks ago..100kg .sue~nz

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  8. Wow! Your pictures are awesome! Looks like you had so much fun!

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  9. Awesome photos! Looks like you had a fabulous time! And am sure the kids would love it if you took them on it too!!! LOL @ meeting a neighbour on the boat! Hope your trip to Hamilton is a good one :)

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  10. Beautiful,beautiful photos, you are a very good photographer.

    Maggie (Melb. Australia)

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  11. It looks beautiful. What an amazing experience for you!

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  12. O Wow Chris,
    What an amazing adventure! What totally awesome pictures - they are breath-taking ! I agree with you about the "rainbow" look! Wow!
    I am so glad that you got to go. Good exercise too. Are you pooped!!!!!!!! LOL

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  13. Love the photos, Chris. Very nice! xxx

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  14. Excellent post! Great photos! I hope you didn't hurt any sharks! At the shark spot you shoulda dropped down in your scuba gear and took some UW photos!
    Seriously, this is one of my favorite posts on your blog!

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  15. Sounds like your fishing trip was great! Some of your pictures are amazing! I was raised out on the west coast of Canada so of course I was born with a fishing rod in my hand. It has some of the best salmon fishing in the world if not the best. I wish I could smell and taste through the computer because that smoked fish looks good.

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  16. Anonymous4:42 PM

    So would you put a wet suit on and gone uw for some shark shots?
    Sorry I laughed when I read that. There is no way in hell I would get in that water without a cage as their bigger friends could be in there to & why would you want to look like a seal with a camera!!.
    To much respect for the species.
    Mary H

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  17. I'm thinking to myself, aren't you guys scared of the sharks? In Singapore, stingrays are expensive and really good to eat. They are usually cooked bbq with sambal chilli.

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  18. What an amazing day. Glad to see you had a good time.

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