Evening trip bonus.

[Mal Thomas]

These trips are a real bonus and help warrant having a boat in a short season harbour like Christchurch, this is only the second or third I have managed this year 😔.

Knowing the wind was likely to rise later I decided it would be a following sea for the trip in. So with thoughts of fresh mackerel and frozen offerings I set out in calm seas and choose to anchor off the end of the ledge, I managed a couple of full strings of Mackerel but very little else, so a move was in order for the flood. Anchored on the Western side this time with some confidence it was a decent area. After the fresh scent trail was established, I had a conger of 20lb, followed by a few smaller ones. For some reason I was still upbeat something else would turn up and It did. A plump 6lb Bass who gave a good scrap, It was returned. Then a rare Thorney turned up which was welcome, shortly followed by a Bull Huss of a similar weight. Another 2 full strings of mackerel, then the wind was building and thoughts of a wash down and good tidy up was entering my mind, whilst the body and mind were weakening.

Strong tide and large waves on the way in had me dodging loads of semi submerged net or pot buoys. As often happens once in the wind dropped off and a clean up followed.

A good decision to go out, my spirits and thoughts of the boat and the costs with very little use has been weighing on my mind, also with the threat of a large increase in mooring fees in Ribs pond. The engine went well and sounded much better than recent past trips following the new injectors being fitted.