I had fresh mackeral an hour old, so wasn't really keen to kill more fish just for bait. The mackeral did the damage. The spot was good. It was dead low tide with a building NE wind churning it up. By the time I left at 10:30pm it was gusting 20knots, which isn't huge, but not that pleasant right in your face.

I'm learning heaps fishing up here. People think the Bay of Islands is easy pickings. Testament to how its not easy is how poorly Stuart was doing until I took him to some of my spots and showed him some things to look out for. They took me the best part of a year to find and test in all conditions before I finally started producing regular feeds. Prior to that his only catch was kahawai after kahawai.

The BoI is like everywhere else. You have to work for your fish. You can throw a rod off any beach and sit there and get nothing. I've been to several beaches and been the only one catching anything. Other times I've caught nothing, and the guys down the beach from me have fared no better. I agree fish are more readily available up here, but like everywhere else, if you don't put in the effort you won't catch fish consistantly. What I learned in Wellington was easy to put into practice here. Beach fishing is getting more results than many boat fishermen I know are getting. That may very well change as summer approaches. Time will tell. Am looking forward to it.