Sun, sea, and a fish or two
After a couple of years of spearfishing, Chris Harland landed a fish yesterday he’ll be talking about for a lifetime.
‘‘This will be dinner for me and my neighbours,’’ he said of the kingfish he speared near the lee breakwater at Port Taranaki.
‘‘I got spooked a little bit when I first saw it. I just got lucky. There’s a lot of bait fishing at this time of year.’’
Harland was one of thousands around the region who hit the water over the weekend, taking advantage of the hot settled weather to catch a wave, a sun tan or a fish.
Temperatures hovered between 21 degrees Celsius and
26C for most of both days, leading to a quiet central city in New Plymouth but busy beaches.
Brooklands Zoo in New Plymouth was the hottest spot in Taranaki, peaking at a sweltering
27C, while Stratford hit 24.6C and Ha¯wera managed 22.5C. The only cool place was on the mountain where temperatures remained in the mid-teens.
The Knight family, of New Plymouth, were one of many families fishing on the breakwater yesterday, although mum Julie and eldest daughter Hannah, 14, admitted they were there mostly to provide moral support.
They came out every weekend so dad Darryn, Keira, 12, and Samuel, 9, could try their luck.
When they go camping, they hardly see Sam for dust, Julie said.
‘‘We stay out at Onaero and he just fishes from the time he gets up in the morning to the time he goes to bed,’’ she said.
Keira said she was ‘‘sort of’’ a good fisher, but they hadn’t caught anything so far. ‘‘Maybe it’s just not our lucky day.’’
The warm days are forecast to persist for most of this week, with temperatures picked to remain in the mid-twenties – at least during the day.
Possible showers tomorrow morning and some high cloud later in the week are the only blemishes in the forecast so far.