You know your lure is realistic when...

Overcast and still - it felt like perfect conditions at the river mouth, but nobody was catching any fish.

I was about to pack up when a guy hooked a decent-sized kahawai that leapt out of the water a few times. He had it on the line for a minute or so (I find 'time' takes on a different quality when a fish is hooked and have trouble judging how long playing a fish takes - more so when I'm the one playing the fish), but he ended up losing it.

It renewed my urge to fish, so I started casting again.

I've had this lure for a while now, but seldom use it. I love the paddle-tail action of these types of lure, but this one always feels a bit big for some reason (it's only just over 8 cm long, so it's not really that big).

Soon there was a tug on the lure, and before long a shag instead of a fish broke the surface.

I pulled the lure out of his beak and was able to wind it in quickly before he got hooked (shag grabbing it once more and chasing it underwater to the shore).

One more cast in case the shag had learnt his lesson; he hadn't. I was able to wind in again and change lures.

I've never had a bird grab my lure before - they normally seem quite aware that they're imitations. Must be a good indication of future success (with fish!), surely...

Monkey Bay Revisited... with surf

Continuing with the Monkey Bay theme, I popped over there yesterday to check out the massive surf that was coming in to Rarangi Beach.

From the lookout point you could see the waves pounding into Monkey Bay, so I walked down the track to have a closer look at the cave that runs through to the other side and opens out towards Whites Bay (I didn't go through the cave - the waves were coming all the way through to the entrance on this side).

The sound coming through the cave was deep and thunderous, so I tried to record it with a video on my phone.

I could see that the waves coming in to Monkey Bay had come right up and then down into the cave, but they seemed to stay at a safe distance after getting to the bottom of the track. Until I started recording some video.

Turns out the mic on my phone didn't pick up any of the bass sounds coming out of the cave anyway.

Monkey Bay

While browsing some Marlborough Museum archive photos online recently, I noticed the photo below and instantly recognised the view as Monkey Bay, just to the north of Rarangi Beach.

Copyright Marlborough Museum - Marlborough Historical Society Inc.

Here's my photo today of the same scene.

Looking south from Monkey Bay, Marlborough, New Zealand.

The people in the old photograph are listed as:

• Guard, Edward (Junior)
• Baldick, Darcy
• Baldick, Herman

It's hard to be exact on a date for the old photo, but I also found this one that gives the year as "about 1887."

Copyright Marlborough Museum - Marlborough Historical Society Inc.

This one lists "Guard, Edward (Senior)" as the man on the right-hand side of the photo. If it is Edward Guard Junior standing beside him (no name provided), looking around ten years old, then the Monkey Bay photo might be 20 years later, where he looks around 30 years old (give or take ten years!).

A lot of speculation involved, but by my estimation the old Monkey Bay photo must have been taken approximately 110 years ago - circa 1905.

Bait Fish

A lovely still winter's day; at home alone wondering whether to savour the time alone with a book and glass of wine or get out and make the most of the weather and go for a fish.

Looking out the front window of the house, I noticed a neighbour drive past. He parked in the nearby carpark, and got out of the car with a bucket and a few other things. I know him well enough to know he's bound to be going for a fish, and he pretty much always has good home-made burley - a good guy to fish next to.

I grabbed my fishing gear and walked across the road with the dog. I've enjoyed getting back into fishing with bait recently and have wanted to catch some bait fish so I have some fresh bait on-hand (and an alternative to the store-bought squid I always seem to use); this opportunity was ideal.

Filling my bucket with some sea water, I climbed around the rocks and started fishing next to my neighbour. He'd already caught a few yellow-eyed mullet by then - bigger fish than I was expecting.

After putting some small pieces of squid onto my Saltura Sabiki rig, I also start winding in fish before too long. Great fun. Fresh non-squid bait is now officially at hand.

A walk after rain

The Marlborough rivers are high and muddy from the rain.

 A trip into Blenheim yesterday showed the Taylor River almost covering the arched walk-bridge near Raupo Cafe.

The walkway that runs beside the river was flooded and unusable.

Today the wind was coming from the sou'east, bringing dampness from the sea and cold from the mountains further south.

 Tee Tee had been curled up shivering by the fire earlier in the day, but was now skipping amongst the newly landed driftwood oblivious to the cold, intent on what she might find.

 There were some dead fish amongst the driftwood.

Trawlers had been working the area a couple of weeks earlier - the dead fish were probably from them.

A dead young seal was also seen soon after I noticed the trawlers, but I don't know if they were responsible.

I have a love/hate relationship with the trawlers; I like to see some boat traffic in Cloudy Bay, but I don't like to see them so close to the coast, taking the recreational fishers' catch – especially with the regulations so much in their favour.

(Update: although trawlers are frequently seen in Cloudy Bay, I believe the vessel shown above is dredging for clams.)

Northern Cloudy Bay

The early evening after returning from my trout mission, I decided I should pop across the road to try my luck with a new saltwater soft plastic lure I'd recently purchased - the colouring is white/grey/black, more realistic than the 'Nuclear Chicken' type I had tried previously, which is garish pink and green. I like trying to keep things looking realistic these days; makes more sense to me.

The conditions felt perfect - only a light breeze and nice calm sea. I normally like to fish the last half of an incoming tide if possible, and this was not long after low tide, but it still seemed ideal.

After walking the few minutes across the road to Monkey Bay, I noticed someone already fishing in my spot, so waited at the lookout and set up my rod. What I assumed was his girlfriend looked to be getting a bit cold behind him, popping the hood up on her jacket and and hugging her arms closer to her body, so I figured they'd move on before too long.

I was still finishing setting up my tackle when they reached the lookout where I was. I asked if they'd had any luck - they hadn't, but wished me luck with my new lure that I showed them.

After about ten minutes of casting, something took my lure - I could see my line moving throught the water and feel the pull on the line. I tightened the tension on my reel, as it was quite loose; I probably should have had it tighter. He was on there for maybe ten seconds when I saw him come to the surface and roll over and my lure come out of the water. Possibly a dogfish - he didn't fight like a snapper or kahawai, and had a serpentine movement to his body.

That was the only excitement of the night, but it has renewed my enthusiasm for fishing somewhere so close to home that I had pretty much given up on, due to lack of luck in the past.