Sometimes the fishing gods just smile on you.
And there was quite a tribe of us to smile on. Joining Tracy, me and our wee son Hamish on our summer sojourn in Okiwi Bay, were good friends Sam Rentoul, his daughters Amelia and
Olivia, and Scott Cameron with his kids Anareia, Elijah and Evangeline. Okay, honours list out of the way, let’s get to how the action unfolded over a two-day period.
We anchored in Squally Cove in 10m, next to a mussel farm, and set the berley in place: a mesh bag containing mussel meat and lowered to a depth of 3-4m. We were using running rigs with two hooks per line and a mix of pilchards, squid and anchovies for bait—the anchovies ultimately proving a real hit with the trevally.
On the first day, snapper hit almost immediately and it was exciting to catch them in quick succession. The kids had a ball battling the feisty fish and it was thrills all around. Then a big kahawai put up a good show, but the highlight was a thumper of a trevally.
We fished from late morning to early arvo but, regrettably, had to pull the pin because Okiwi Bay is tidal and we needed to get the boat back on the dry with reasonable ease. Leaving knowing that a school of trevally was lurking near only fuelled our enthusiasm.
Next morning, we hit the water much earlier, determined to capitalise on the great fishing. Lines on the bottom and we were, again, straight into the fish: snapper and trevally (anchovy munchers). After a good deal of excitement bottom fishing, Sam suggested we drop the lines to the level of the berley— 3m or so—where we could see trevs attacking the berley bag; big ones at that.
We dropped the little kids’ lines over and they nailed it—the fish literally hooking themselves, darting around, pulling line and setting the kids squealing in delight. Tiny rods bent over, the tips nearly touching the water—it was exciting stuff and I’m not sure who got the biggest thrill, the kids or the adults!
The total bag for two days full on fishing fun was 14 snapper, 1 kahawai,1 gurnard and 18 trevally. A fabulous and fantastic weekend.
