Fish...Finally!

I suppose these fish are proof the sheer perseverance eventually pays off.

I took my friend Tony and his father (visiting from the UK) out fishing in the early hours of this morning. That is a 2am start for me and boat in the water by 3am. It is worth the early start for no other reason than it is so peaceful out on the bay at night. The weather predictions were bang on: Calm, no wind and warm.

Tony's father had never been out at night before and I was really hoping that we could treat him to a fish or two. In the end we had to throw some back. The fishing was that good! These fish are called squire which are juvenile snapper. They bite and really hang on! Still, they were nothing compared to this monster catfish that Tony caught. He was well pleased. I switched from bait to lures just to break the monotony and I still caught a fish!

I ended up doing most of the fish cleaning when we got back in. It was quite a job and I made sure I showed Tony how it is done for future reference. Cleaning fish isn't the best fun, especially when there are a lot to do. As gross as it sounds, I took the time to inspect the stomach contents of the fish which gave me a very good idea what they are feeding on in their environment. After cleaning them I took two for Jo and me for dinner and filleted them when I got home.

It is now later (and much hotter!) and I have to face up to mowing the lawn and getting a few things done around the house...

I suspect I will be back out on the bay tomorrow morning though!

EDIT:
I decided to put a comment I made on Jaxters blip in here to remind me when I look later.

The gross process of inspecting the contents of a fishes stomach is something I learn't as a kid when we went trout fishing. It gave me an idea about what flies to use.

These fish were feeding on small crustaceans, crabs and crayfish. Although I was using bait I also like to fish with soft plastic lures. Yesterday afternoon I went out and bought some look alike lures for next time I go out. Believe it or not the cost of the lures far outweighs the log term cost of bait!

Because it is so quiet at night you can actually hear the ocean floor 3.5 metres below through the hull of the boat. I sounds a bit like rubbing sand between your hands. It must be a busy place down there.

All this explanation and I don't usually catch much. I have only been seriously fishing the bay since May after a long boating break. It does take time to re-acquaint myself with places where the fish are.