Memories with Stu: Fishing with the Colonel 

A lifetime of memories from Stu Murray

We lived in a tin house in Whangaroa with the only water from a spring up the hill that went down to a tap outside. We walked to the hotel once a week for a bath. The water started to taste horrible so on a visit by father he investigated. There was an eel jammed in the pipe – half in, half out. Father tried to pull him out and he broke in half. This was when I heard father say a word that I didn’t know. He managed to get some bits of eel out with some wire with a bit of a hook on it. We went down and turned the tap on and the rest of the eel came through.

We shifted to better accommodation but still had to use the hotel bath but we had a rainwater tank. The small house was on the water’s edge, the high tide actually came under the house and you could sit on the steps with your feet in the water.

We often went fishing on a boat loaned from, I believe, the Thompson’s, who I also believe were farmers. We were always towed to our fishing possie by the Army launch. Father was always on the launch but mum and I had to stay in the dinghy. The fishing was always good. I don’t think dad ever put a line in the water as he just baited my line and pulled some big fish that I couldn’t, which was most of them. We were using green cord line, nothing fancy, no sinkers as the snapper were schooling on the surface most times we went. The boat was clinker-built and leaked a fair bit of water.

On one trip the Colonel came with us, but before we left, the tin for bailing the water from the boat was missing. Tins in those days were practically non-existent so Mrs Thompson lent us a very valuable jelly jar with the words ‘Please return it with a couple of fish’. So the Army launch arrived and away we went. The fishing was good, mum and I were catching lots but the Colonel hadn’t any luck at all. Dad suggested he bail out the water in the bottom of the boat. This he did. A snapper took his bait and ran with it just as he was tossing a jar full of water and away flew the prized jelly jar as well.

From where we fished we had a view to the harbour entrance and on one of our trips we saw a very big fish leaping out of the water several times. It looked more like a marlin but it could have been a whale. It was very large. This happened well inside the harbour.

The boat was clinker-built and leaked a fair bit of water.