The Flash Tinnie goes Hi-Tech

Went out for a bit of a fish the other week (as you do). Launched at Leigh and motored directly towards Little Barrier Island until we were in 40 metres of water. This had us about 2 kilometres offshore I think.
Our fish-finder was crap so we couldn't really see what we were floating over. It wouldn't work when we were moving, and fish-finders generally don't work when the boat is still (they can detect the bottom but you have to be moving to be able to see what the bottom looks like).
So we just took a punt and started fishing in the middle of nowhere (not the most efficient way to catch fish). We were on the tail end of a bad weather system so we had 2-3 metre rollers coming in from the North East. Those of you that know the area will be thinking "Hmm, they would have been really exposed to that swell!" - yup we were! We stayed out there for about 2 hours, the boat was more than up to the task, and it was really nice being out on the water again.
Todd caught a Blue Cod, and while reeling it in a reasonable Trevally jumped on, so he battled two fish up from 40 metres below. That's one of the benefits of fishing deeper water I suppose!
When we got back to the ramp we met a local guy who had been out setting a long-line. Once he'd confirmed that we were locals he proceeded to tell us all of his top fishing spots :D and then gave us a pretty respectable Snapper to take home :D
He said he'd rather pop down to the pub than head home to fillet the fish so we obligingly took it off his hands.
It's good to know that there are good fish out there, and they are starting to bite again.

So when we got home to discover that the Fishing Show guys wanted us to make an NTSC version of their DVD for america you can imagine what we negotiated as payment...
Fish Finder
Now we just have to wait for fine weather so we can take it out and see if it does infact find fish!

Next on the list... a GPS unit. We're going to have the most hi-tech 14' tinnie in New Zealand!
:-)

Next thursday we're off to Little Barrier with the guys to fish for Snapper in the deep reefs :D