Where to hide from the easterly

We've been in the grip of a massive high pressure system for a week now. The wind is relentless, and the sun just beats down. One side effect is that rain, which under normal circumstances would be destined for our shores, is being dumped on Australia's west coast. Everything is dry. My lawns are brown and the earth cracked. The vege garden is watered at night, and by the end of the following day is bone dry again. Given that NZ's sea fisheries are east coast dominated, the easterly makes fishing slightly difficult for small boats, but fish we must. TT and I decided on a bait mission in the harbour. What a great city where for $10 parking, $4 launch/retrieve fees, $20 bait and , $10 gas (all split 2 ways) you can be out and catching. Well, trying to... Wednesday evening is when the 3 big yacht clubs have their club days. The ferry lanes are busy. Lots of summer boaties who don't understand speed regulations (and some professionals too... a local charter guy probably decided "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"). Throw in the wind and it was a big mean washing machine out there. We'd got some mullet (frozen unfortunately) for bait, our hope was that the pickers wouldn't hammer the bait before larger fish had a chance. We set up at the start of the incoming tide and hit fish straight away, returning undersized models. I managed to nab a yellowtail and he went into the bait supply. After an hour we'd put a couple of keepers on Ice, and seemed to be doing better than the boats that were on the drift. As yachts swirled around us, some closer than 2 rod lengths, TT hooked up on a much better fish of some sort. It took line with ease in the current. As he played out what we thought may be a ray, a couple of yachts raced by so close that the occupants had time to have a nice chat with us. After 5 minutes of struggle, finally the fish revealed itself with some tail nods and surfaced. A really solid snapper of just over 6kg lay in the net, a solid catch from the harbour for sure.

Soon the tide really began to rip and staying in touch with the bait became really difficult so we upped anchor and moved to Bayswater to fish in the moorings. Our baits were stripped constantly so we moved again to Watchman's Island. As the sun dipped the fish went off the bite and it was time for home.