May 2023 Fishing Update

We have been away fishing for the last couple of magazines and the fishing has been great, as Arthur showed on his cell phone from his South Island trip.

Starting with the CNZ South Island Trout Competition at Cromwell T&C Club, then Moana on the West Coast on two consecutive weekends, it has left the tackle box in a bit of a mess.

Cromwell Club turned on great weather for the Clubs New Zealand South Island Trout competition. This Club has the most inviting views a fisherman could ask for, Lake Dunston lapping at its boundary, yes you could have caught the winning fish on the front lawn. Lake Dunston has easy access, but I believe the hardest to catch fish in. My arm was about to drop off after thrashing the water in several locations for a straight eight hours for a couple of small fish, not worth weighing in. Saturday night came in cold and windy, putting a damper on proceedings with most of us retreating from the presentation marque back to the warmth of the main club. Hornby Club had 22 entered.

Jack Elcock is always looked forward too on the Christchurch interclub calendar, Friday was a clear sunny day with great expectations for a good day’s fishing on Saturday. Waking early before the sun got up, with the sound of a continuous din from the hardest rain I have heard in years. Good insurance was to put your cell phone in a zip lock bag and your wallet in another to protect them from getting soaked. One fisherman had to drain a hundred gallons of water from his boat, he had the drain plug in to get a good early start.

Jason, our skipper, said we need to be on the water by 7.30am to get the early rise fish, yeh only if they were feeding on rainwater. This drove the fish down as the fish finder told us, with Brian catching five before anyone else caught one, he was threatened with being sent overboard to join them, Kaisa Smith was our navigator and certainly put us over some very good fish. Brian ended up catching 15 fish with all, but one put back. Colin Dunn scored second prize in our comp and Jason was third. Riely Wilson disappointed that he could not fish as a junior was rewarded with catching the Best Factor fish winning the Moana Trophy. Colin Dunn on our return to the Motel had forgotten to put a spare pair of trousers in his suitcase, he did cause some funny looks as he set off to find the laundry to dry his trousers, he now knows the location of the laundry for next year. Paul Loader having taken the grandchildren to show them how it was done, caught what would have been the winning fish an hour after cut off.
We had our AGM on 19 April with Arthur Sands stepping down, Paul Templeton was voted our new Chairperson and Darren Smith our Vice Chairperson.

Congratulations to you both, and thanks Arthur for being our previous Chairperson.