Better luck next year

My first ever fishing competition didn't quite go as planned. We were soooo organized - but failed miserably in our execution. We had our alarms set for Friday 2am - but after a hard week of work were both too exhausted and simply slept in. Fishing had officially started at 5am - we didn't even get onto the rocks until 10am. What a waste of time.

The conditions would have been perfect. The sea was rough and everything would have been nicely stirred up for the fish to get into a feeding frenzy. Unfortunately that sea was a bit TOO rough. At least for rockfishing. And since we got ripped off when we bought the boat (which is currently in the garage) we had no other choice but rely on the rocks.

Were we successful? Let's just say if there was a category for catching rock cods I would have definitely taken it out. I caught heaps - and big ones, too. Apparently they are good eating fish. But this time not what we were after. Our highlight at the price-giving at night was getting a picture with Piho - who is one of THE biggest entertainers in New Zealand.

Saturday we were better prepared - wake-up call worked, we packed our bags and were at our spot by 3am. Yet again the weather was not on our side. The tide was so rough that we couldn't get onto the rocks at all. At least not without getting swept off. So we camped under a tree and slept for another 3 hours (well, tried to sleep anyway with the rain and all). Just before sunset we finally hiked down the cliff, hopped on the rocks and got our lines in the water. We actually got quite a few bites this time. But nothing worth mentioning *sigh* I caught one snapper and since it was legal I decided to keep it. I wanted to weigh in ONE fish. That was my goal.

We were only able to fish for 3 hours before the tide once again became too high and rough. Some pretty scary rogue waves pushed us off the rocks way too early. Just when we were about to leave Matt thought he'd caught the big one - his rod was bending down hard and whatever it was it was rumbling hard out! Felt like a massive snapper! But it was too good to be true :-( Turned out to be a stingray...

By the time prize-giving on Saturday was over we were absolutely exhausted. Went straight home and to bed. And I don't think I can remember us EVER having slept in until noon. But that's what happened on Sunday *lol* And I was sore from climbing up and down those cliffs with tons of bait and berley and food on my back. But hey - it was a great experience, we had a good time despite our luck of success... and YES I will enter again next year *heehee*

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