Boarding early and feeling a little 2nd hand from the night before, we steamed out to our chathams fishing grounds, barely 15 minutes from the wharf. This somewhat confused us, a pack of fishos who target out of the way spots in the Marlborough Sounds, but we trusted our skippers knowledge of fishing the chathams, and we watchd the glorious seabirds in awe.

When ‘lines down’ called, the thick rope , sporting a lump of cast iron and 2 old hooks struck the bottom barely 40 feet below and it was all on.

Blue cod like I have never seen before, were flowing into the boat 2 and 3 at a time, of exceptional size and wearing that awesome blue/green coloration that denotes ’serious bluey’ for the average mainland fisho. The amazing fishing continued for hours and at times we would drift over a patch of school haupku or groper and the pulling through the line would signal that more tasy fish was coming on deck.

One of the boys took over some light softbait tackle, instead of using a handline, and did very well when he could get it to the bottom. The locals had never seen gear like it, let alone the fish, but it certainly did the damage.

Out of the seven days we had we spent another day out fishing, this time closer to pitt island to the south. The rest of the time there was much exploring and gathering to do, abalone, crayfish and more fin fish formed the bulk of the haul. In the tidal lagoon, we netted flounder or flatfihs, and uncovered old fossils. The amount of seafood on offer at the chathams is just next level, compared to south island amounts.

The jury is still out on whether or not the locals were taking the piss about the sharks teeth, but we all enjoyed plenty of laughs and banter on how stupid we all looked scratching around in the sand like a pack of chooks.

For those who have not experienced the chathams before, i cannot praise it enough. Diving chathams should be high on anyones list also! The experience of fishing chathams is one I will never forget.

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