This morning up at 7.00 am ready for an 8.00 am start. I was meeting up with Ian who was taking me for a sea fishing trip. Mark at the Albatross backpackers put me on to this. I used to go fishing a bit as a child and always enjoyed it. Ian turned up promptly and drove me over to his house in South Bay Kaikoura. There was one other man who came on the trip called Martin. We had to get on the boat parked in Ian's drive, via a set of steps.
Ian drove Martin and I, who were in the boat on its trailer attached to the back of a 4x4, round to South Bay. His wife reversed us into the sea and then took the trailer back to their house. We set off to the crayfish pots first. When Ian hauled these up there were seven large crayfish the size of big lobsters in the pot. The small ones went back in the sea and the rest, about 5, into a tub.
We then went fishing. He took the boat out to where the sea was about 100m deep and baited the two large hooks on the line with some chunks of fish. Large lead weights tooks the baited hooks down to the sea bed. I caught two fish straight away. A sea perch and a large red cod. We then went back to the crayfish pots and baited them with these fish.
After that more fishing. I caught loads more sea perch and red cod. Ian was shucking scallops which he had caught the day before and stored live in a tub of sea water. He fed some to us raw. They were delicious. The seabirds were very interested in this and gathered around. There were lots of different sorts of albatross.
Ian scaled and filleted the fish we had caught and gave me a big bag plus a huge crayfish to take back with me.
I cooked and ate the crayfish for lunch
and then in the evening I met up with my walking friends from the day before and we barbecued and ate the fish.
I bought a bottle of Koura Bay sauvignon blanc to go with it. Yum, yum. Then joy of joys a lateish night in the knowledge I did not have to get up early the next day.
