The Otago Daily Times had heard the fishing was good on Otago Harbour this week. But, being dedicated journalists, we decided not to take anybody else's word for it.
So, after loading the boat up with necessities, we slipped into the water at Careys Bay just after lunch yesterday, ready for a day's work.
The first boat we encountered contained Wayne Morris and Billy Jeffery, of Dunedin, but not many fish.
"We got a few feeds of blue cod, just off Cape Saunders, but then there was a warning of a 25-knot southerly forecast, so we decided to head back in," Mr Morris said.
"Now we're having a trawl up the harbour for some salmon."
Jeff and Flynn (11) McDonald and Paul Davies had caught some fish, but they were the wrong sort.
"We've been trawling up to Aramoana and back, hoping for some salmon, but we've caught nothing. Just a couple of barracuda," Mr Davies said.
However, it was a memorable day for Flynn, who was still grinning from ear to ear after catching his first barracuda.
Friends Glenn Vaughan and Adrian Van Der Vliet were trying their luck on the other side of the harbour, near Otakou.
"We're bottom-fishing for blue cod. It's always better fishing on an incoming tide," Mr Van Der Vliet said.
The fish were only part of the fun for Mr Vaughan, though.
"We only get out once or twice a year. It's a holiday-season thing. That's why we're not very good at it," he chuckled. "It's always a nice day out, though."
Bob Mitchell and Des Gray had moki on their minds as they laid a set net off Otakou yesterday.
"It's a bit early in the season for salmon," Mr Gray said.
"You always set the net on an incoming tide. Moki are a good feed, if the seals and sea lions don't get to them first. The best way to cook them is to coat them with egg batter, then just pop them on the barbecue."
Dunedin Community Salmon Trust supporter Lyall Nash was busy catching, losing and releasing salmon.
"We hooked two salmon, but we only got one back to the boat. It was about 15 inches [38cm], which is a good legal length, but we thought we'd put him back for someone else," he said.
"Trawling along at five or six knots seems to work the best. You go out to the Cape or the canyon for blue cod and the harbour for salmon. Smoking them is the best way to eat them."
