We all met up here at Waikawa Bay, just past Picton.
Vroom! We're off!
It was a little chilly to start, but absolutely GORGEOUS day in the Sounds.
Captain Pat, owner of the boat!
We had to try out a few different spots before we had any bites, but once we found a magic spot, the fish were biting like mad! We fished for blue cod and red gurnard, both bottom feeders.
Here's a gurnard! (prounounced Grrr-nerd)
Captain Pat with a cod...
Denise in action..
...and smiling with her result!
I was definitely the "remedial" fisher. Everyone else was getting bites and catching fish, but I was striking out big time! But finally my time came. Here I am, reelin' in the big one....
And whadya know, I caught a cod---- by its TAIL!
Yup, I'm *that* good.
The Blue Cod are an interesting bunch, actually. First of all, they aren't even actually a cod-- they are a sandperch. The Ministry of Fisheries has a minimum AND maximum length of fish you're allowed to keep (between 30 and 35 cm, FYI). This sounds like a weird rule but it's there for a reason. The blue cod are able to change sex from female to male, a process known as protogynys. The males typically then grow larger. If there WASN"T the maximum size rule in place, there would be much less "big" fish around, and this would force the females to switch to males at a younger, smaller size, thus making more males and less females, offsetting the natural balance in numbers. (Hope that makes sense.) See, there's a reason for all rules!
Here's George with his BIG CATCH of the day!
Ha. In all fairness, George actually caught one of the BIG blue cod, about 39 cm! But we had to throw it back in, because it was *too* big.
Pat's daughter Abby and her partner came with us too. They caught heaps of fish, then went diving, too!
Look at all the scallops they fetched while diving!!!
After our excursion, we got cleaned up and headed to Pat and Pam's house to cook up our freshly-caught seafood.
The guys shucking, scaling, and fileting...
Then scallops for an appetizer... SO tender and DELICIOUS!
Crumbed fish ready for panfrying...
Then ready for eating!
Pam had some paua in the freezer. She minced it...
... and made it into paua patties! (say that three times fast!) :)
Some salad and chips (and plenty of tomato sauce (ketchup) for this American gal)--- what a great dinner, caught with our own two hands (and rods and reels)!
Great memories, great friends, and a good feed. Thanks Denise, George, Pat, Pam, Raewyn (and Graham)--- I'm going to miss you all!
Cheers from your favorite foreign fisherwoman!
No comments:
Post a Comment