Beach and Boat 3

Another late night and early start. Got to bed around 1.30 am and up again at 6.00am. It is a better day today with no wind so we are going out the 11 miles to the Hen and Chicks.

As we head out the swell gets bigger. Brent tends to get sea sick so we are a bit worried about him. It's very foggy so hard to see.

We arrive out there and while the surface of the water has a glassy sheen the swell is solid and there's a bit of easterly cross movement on the surface which sends Brent straight to the forward cabin to lie down. The rest of us are feeling a bit stretched from last nights festivities so we have to suck it in to avoid the onset of any nausea through sea sickness ourselves. This is why the photo today is a bit average as the last thing you need is to be trying to hold a camera and get a good shot when you are trying to fend off the sea sickness feeling.

There are fish on the surface everywhere. Paul is fishing both beach and boat and the nationals. Paul and the skipper Shane are currently winning the Kahawai 1 kg tackle glass. Paul hooks up on a big Kahawai but with 1 kg tackle its going to be a long fight. We have to bring our lines in and start the engine to keep in contact with the fish as it takes more and more of Paul's line. After 50 minutes fighting the fish there's a pop and the line breaks. Disappointment all round.

I then hook up on a big snapper on my 15 kg line. It strips the reel with a couple of runs and then I start to get some line back on it. Half way up from the 75 metre depth the trace on my line breaks. I have either had a nick in the line or it rubbed up against a sharp piece in the snappers mouth. Major disappointment as it was a big fish.

Another 5 hours of fishing and we get plenty of Kahawai and a few average snapper. Brent is still in the cabin so I have to keep fishing strong to defend our team in our boat challenge for the bottle of Appleton's . Shane brings in a good size snapper to take the lead. I follow shortly after with a bigger one to take it back and eventually win the Appleton's.

We are pretty exhausted after the full days fishing and then it is back to the marquee to work the final evening. Prize giving saw the overall winner get 1st place with a 10.85 kg snapper to win a huge pack of prizes and Kawasaki jet ski.

We crash at midnight. Paul snores all night and I probably get about 2 hours sleep. Thank god it's over.