when i was fishing off the rocks with my Aunty around Torbay the water was so clear you could see everything in the water, truly clear and clean,
throw some wet mushed up bread on the water and you would have sprats and piper right at your feet,
catching the sprats was no problem but the piper where wary of anything with a hook in it,
so you would catch a few sprats then fillet them cut small bits up and place them on a hook,
you need a small stick or back then they were called TT2 ice blocks which had a stick to hold onto, this was the ultimate bite indicator or a stripped down Gull feather, put about 2ft above the baited hook,
now you could not cast it due to it was all attached to a bamboo pole, so you swung it out as far as you could,
now the problem was once you hooked a piper you had less than 10sec's to get it way out of the water,
after catching just one or two the Kings would move in and sit just meters away from your fishing spot,
these kings would be all over 40lb some even around 60lb and they new the instant the piper was hooked,
bloody amazing these huge fish swimming so close to your feet....
if you where lucky enough to be down on the beach when the mass fish turned up in there millions, sprats turning the sea black jumping onto the beach and Kahawai chasing them with Kings chasing the Kahawai onto the rocks and Dolphins eating everything, total mayhem, kids with buckets throwing the fish further up the beach and gulls pinching them before you could throw another bucket full,
how fantastic it was to be a kid back then...
when you learn't how to row a dingy you would tow a couple of feathers tied to a hook or a cigarette inner liner which was nice and shiny raped around the hook and catch Kahawai, then head 50/60yds out to sea and catch 3 or 5 30/50cm snapper all within an hour and head home with tea....
when walking to school i would always walk the beach if the tide was out, taking note of the holes in the sand over the pippy beds,
if there was any good marks and with a incoming tide late evening i would set a long line of 3 hooks tied between the two post that held the boats up so their bums could be cleaned,
in the morning you would run down early trying to beat the gulls to the snapper left high and dry on the sand...
we had a creek which run up to a waterfall and this creek in summer would fill with sprats and shrimps, we netted the shrimps with butterfly nets and catch sprats by the bucket full for the cats,
what a shame all this has gone due to sediment and run off, kids back then were so easily entertained with nature right on our door step...
Thanks for everything you did for us Eric. may you rest in peace, You were one of the real legends of NZ recreational fishing