Saltwater Snapper Shindig

Saturday I went fishing with a retired AgResearch Employee.

Bruce Binnie is probably in his late 60's and a severe type 1 diabetic. He's a decent bloke (I'm picking up the lingo) full of information, well traveled and just fun to be around. He hunted me up as soon as he heard that a new AgResearch employee liked to fish!

We went out on a charter out of Kawhia (pronounced KA-fi-a). We finally got to the harbor at 7:00am after a faulty alarm (not mine) and two wrong turns forced us to zip speedily through the twisty road leading us through the hills of New Zealand.

The sun was just breaking over the Eastern sky as we pulled into the harbor casting a beautiful scene of a sea town waking up in front of us. Unfortunately we would only see the sun once more that day as it slipped below the clouds in the West briefly before it dove into the salty abyss. The Dove left the dock behind with "14 pob" (persons on board) as the Maori skipper reported to the coast guard. The usual Captain was away hunting feathered foul since it was opening weekend of duck season, but he left his trusty deckhand to man ropes with his son acting as the first mate.

As we snuck out of the harbor and slipped over the dangerous sandbar a pod of dolphins joined our trek to the fishing grounds. They leapt through the water closing the gap between them and us till they were all around the boat. Several swam directly in front of the bow, only a few feet from the boat. Occasionally they would break water with a gasp shooting mist in our faces.

When we got to the fishing grounds we baited our hooks and dropped the tasty looking muscles and chopped up fish into 30 meters of the bluest water I had ever seen. Immediately we started pulling in fish. The action was great! The fist Kahawai hit the deck behind me with the first mate scooping it up to skillfully take the fight out of it and dump it into a bucket of saltwater for the purpose. The pole jumped in my hands soon after and the fight ensued with me winning in the end. I had landed my first ever saltwater keeper. A 16" Terakihi, and good eating I was told. The action continued with more Kahawai and the occasional, highly prized, Snapper. Bruce and I both also landed a Red Gurnard which grunted in disgust at being caught. Bruce said because of the noise they make, the are often called pigfish. They were also said to be delicious, so we put them in the chilly-bin.

After a while we headed farther out to the reef where there was supposed to be more snapper. On the way there a few people let out some lines behind the boat and we caught two species of Tuna this way, Albacore (one that reeled in) and Skipjack (a beautiful shinny swimming machine). When we got to the reef we started catching more Snapper, and a few yellowtail (that we used for bait). Then the Barracouta started hitting. The water was so clear that you could see them circling 30 feet below us, waiting on a chance to take chase at our passing gear. Occasionally a blue shark would slide by, barely noticeable until it flashed into action as we would land a fish. I ended up landing a barracouta, but the skipper took it off. They are pretty dangerous in the boat according to the seasoned fisherwoman next to us....and she had the scar to prove it. The barracouta were tons of fun to bring in, but the were also death to our rigs so after a failed attempt to drive them away by sacrificing one of them to Davy Jones, we moved again.

Other people on the boat caught carpet shark, blue shark (which we kept), a fish they called grandpa fish, which looked a lot like Nemo! (I suspect it was some clownfish species) We also landed another species of junk fish which the skipper called by a french name, not repeatable on this blog.

Even from 13 miles out, Mount Taranaki loomed in the distance like a slumbering giant, and as the sun sank lower, it guided us back to the land. As we pulled in the cove, a last ditch effort by the sun shone brightly off the light tan cliff faces in front of us. The end to a great day on the water. As we drove back to Hamilton, I couldn't help but think, what a blast it would've been with Grandpa and all the other Dotterer walleye warriors. Nonetheless it was a great day, just the thing to get my mind back from the preceding crazy three weeks.

Settling In

Amazing! It's been two and a half weeks and I think I'm settled in. I thought I would take some time to reflect on everything.

The (not so) perfect car:

My rental car agreement was set to end Friday, so feeling the pressure I set out to find acceptable transportation. I looked high and low on trademe (kiwi version of ebay, craigslist and autotrader all wrapped into one), I searched dealers stock online, I even went to a used car lot. The salesman there seemed more interested in getting me financed, than finding a suitable car (unless an early model, high mileage, nissan bluebird is your thing). Then I found out about the auction yards. It's a format of buying and selling that is common here in NZ. Basically when a reputable private party wants to sell their car, they ship it to an auction yard. The auctioneers, shine them up, advertise them and print an estimate of what they should sell for given the condition of the car and the current market. After the car sits on the lot for a week, it goes up for live auction. If it doesn't meet the 'expected value' it is open for bids, or outright purchase. It's really an ideal format for both the buyers, sellers, and even the auctioneers. The buyers are assured of a clean title (no debt), current registration (NZ road tax) and recent WOF (warrant of fitness, required every 6 months on all vehicles). The seller is assured of high visibility and doesn't actually have to do any of the work. And the auctioneers can lay off the high pressure sales tactics and be honest with you. Thus is the story of our '86 honda accord. It is a very tidy, well cared for car, with about 87,000 miles on it. I paid a song and a dance for it, didn't have to worry about financing, and drove off with wheels that will get me from point a to point b, paid for in full.

Pukeko (the real national bird)

The first night in the 'love shack' introduced me to the Pukeko. I had just turned off the lights and curled up in bed when I hear an awful screeching outside the window. I flicked on the outside light and 'poof!' birds went scattering. These bird, were like none I've seen before though. They are big, about the size of a laying hen, with bright red heads and sleek, blue bodies. Since then they have became commonplace around 'the shack'. I nearly get one every time I come flying into the driveway. I tried to snap a picture of a few, but the kept running away from me. Here's the wikipedia article so you'll get the idea. The more they keep me awake, the closer I get to having pukeko for dinner, but as the article states, they are supposed to be pretty gross. I've heard this tale told about a boot and an axe head too. My curiosity may get the best of me......I'll keep you updated on this one. It's opening weekend of duck season here, and these plentiful birds fall neatly into this category.

Still haven't seen a kiwi though. I guess their nocturnal

Driving

Kiwi drivers are rumored to be the worst in the world. I'm not convinced, because I've been to Jamaica. Nonetheless, I've pretty much became accustomed to driving the kiwi way. Round-abouts no longer scare me, in fact I find myself getting frustrated with the car in front of me for not entering when they clearly could've fit their car in between those other two that were coming from the right. I actually prefer them to a 4 way stop, because everyone can go at the same time, and no one can get a ticket for a rolling stop! One thing I have noticed is that nz drivers tend to ride the edge of the road. Often driving in the bike lanes....I'll have to watch out for this if I get a bike.

Work

I'm settling in at work just fine. The office is still not decorated, but I find myself knowing the way things work around the Ruakura Research Campus. Morning tea is at 10, and is actually coffee for most. Your feijoa rinds and kiwi peels go into the worm farm compost bin and afternoon tea is at 3. But beyond that, I've learned a bit about New Zealand agriculture.

New Zealand is basically one big farm and a great place to visit. This is evident through their economy. About 75% of New Zealand revenue is from agriculture, horticulture and forestry products, about 15% is from tourism, and the remaining 10% is manufacturing and industry.

The agricultural sector is predominately dairy, 95% of which gets exported, mostly as milk powder, followed by beef, destined to be mixed with high fat USA beef and served in McDonald's. Sheep production for meat markets are also a big part of the agricultural sector, with sheep for wool steadily declining. Deer are also commercially raised for European markets, primarily Germany. Kiwifruit are also big in the country as are apples.

New words and Phrases

mate (friend)

bloke (acquaintance)

g'dday (greeting, good day)

keen (interested)

chilly bin (cooler)

flask (thermos)

Check back later in the week for a post on saltwater fishing