Fish Plentiful Off the Coast of Auckland

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 67, 10 June 1927, Page 6

Fish Plentiful Off the Coast of Auckland

Week-End Sport With the Line To take from the sea some little part of its harvest of fish, plentiful and rich about the Auckland coast, a crowd of earnest fishers board ship each Sunday, and, leaving behind the gentler swell of the Waitemata, steer out to snare the succulent schnapper in open sea. It is good sport. All are keen, and the trifling considerations of “fisherman’s luck” and the like do not worry them for a moment. Last Sunday there were both kinds of luck—there were plenty of fish, and plenty of wet skins among the fishers. But that was all part of the fortune of fishing, and few grumbled. The party, some forty strong and banded together in what is called the Globe Fishing Club, set out in the morning aboard the good ship Iranui, and chugged seaward, past dark Rangitoto, and verdant Motutapu and Rakino. All kinds of men were gathered together aboard —business men and labouring men and tradesmen, all with one thought. The morning was calm to begin with, but as the boat moved out it became plain that there would be a good “chop” outside. Out past the Noises the anchor was dropped. with Rakino, Motutapu and Rangitoto in a line directly astern. FISH FLAPPING ON DECK Then the business of the day began. Cases of choice-smelling mullet were opened, and a couple of slimy eels were produced,-all for bait. Each man had his allotted position at the boat’s side. In less time than it takes to tell it, forty lines were in the sea, forty hands on the lines felt keenly for the tug that would indicate the attention to the bait of some hungry schnapper, and before very long forty fish flapped on the deck. Excited talk went on, for was there not a prize for the biggest fish hauled aboard? Schnapper were plentiful, and men with three hooks on the. line were half the time pulling in three fish. Keener and keener the fishers grew’. There were shouts of complaint when lines got tangled and time was lost, and candid talk—very candid talk —was bandied backwards and forwardsTOUCHES OF MAL-DE-MER That was all to the good; but, keen as some of the fishermen were, there was something coming that was stronger than their eagerness. The anchored boat had tossed for a couple of hours in the heavy swell, and the driving wind. Presently some of the men began to get a sallow colour, and to look more queer than the fish they had so lately and so carelessly flung on the deck. The fish had the laugh on them for a while, and many a schnapper would have gurgled joyfully to see men lying on the deck, seized by merciless mal-de-mer, and wishing earnestly that the expedition had set off without them. “Are you sick, son?” one of the stouter-stomached men asked a boy. “No,” replied the youngster; “but I wish I could be.” There were more than one or two in the same position. If the wish expressed by the boy was a general one among them, then the attitudes of some who leaned heaving over the side told a tale of its gratification “TE MAORI SCHNAPPER” Others went on cheerfully with their fishing. One man pulled up a young ground-shark. “Hey!” what’s this?” he yelled excitedly. “Oh, him te Maori schnapper.” came from some fun-merchant across the deck—and there was a laugh. Another fisherman found a great weight on his line, and pulling with a will, got it out of the water. Then it suddenly lightened, and he proclaimed that he had caught a kingfish, a schnapper and a shark all toI gether. i The president of the club was in the offing. He smiled knowingly. He was a fisherman himself —he had heard that kind of thing before. “Where are they?” he asked drily, and left the author of the latest fish story protesi- | ing confidently that it was a true bill. AMONG THE FISH-HEADS Talking and fishing went on till the time came to leave, and to clean the fish. The deck became slippery with water and scales, and one or two seas came aboard. More than one man slid on his back among fish-heads and fins, and with every roll of the ship someone lost his footing and others grabbed the nearest support. It was all

good fun. The reporter who with the party had been invited oy - president. He was grateful aT) . president—so were the hungry sc __ per still left in the sea. for h not a very good sailor. 5 One thing the trip did . o^.->*>ur that Auckland has outside its h . a sea plentifully supplied There were not only scores o: - per caught that day, but strangely-made gurnard, the nan kahawai and kingfish. There is a able harvest at the city’s front ao

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