It takes a great deal of skill, patience and finesse to hook up with a red cod. These fish are well known for their seeming stealth, almost bordering on cunning, plus their feeding fickleness when it comes to bait selectivity is legendary, their ability to throw the hook when the angler treats them with the slightest hint of contempt.

I believe this is the problem you guys face when you fish local competitions; you treat this fish far too lightly totally failing to grasp the merits of a truly sporting great. You should be out their lauding the fact our beaches are a winter angler's haven. When other surfcasters pack their gear away, sadly not man enough to handle the temperatures and the lack of a truly excellent table fish, especially an adversary freely acknowledged for a dogged fight ... indeed a sportsman's worthy nemesis.

Hawke's Bay anglers have it made. I am encouraged to ask; just when will you learn to appreciate our good fortune?