Sea fishing at the Marlborough Sounds

So I pretty much grew up at the lake. From the time I was about 13 my family was at the lake every single weekend.

Dad spent a good portion of his childhood at Falcon Lake in the Whiteshell in Manitoba. His parents owed a lake front cottage and he spent most of his time on the lake, sailing, boating and fishing.

Unfortunately the cottage had to be sold and it was years later until he went back.

Fortunately though for me, mom and dad decided to go back. Although I was opposed at first with this taking off every weekend business because all I wanted to do was ride horses, it wasn’t long until the weekend couldn’t come fast enough.

Dad started off with a small rec boat, upgraded and flipped boats until we tried multiple types of fishing boats as well as wakeboarding boats. Usually at the same time. Dad worked really hard and I can say I had the best childhood ever.

It’s been years since I’ve been able to go out and fish so when I heard the Easter trip for this year was Marlborough Sounds, a couple boats would be out and we’d go fishing, obviously I was pretty stoked.

I got this whole fishing in the lake thing covered.. clearly…(see picture below)… I hope you’re laughing as much as I am!

I was even more stoked at the fact that I was going SEA fishing! I mean I was going to catch tuna or a swordfish or something… right?!!?

Meet Spot.. the spotty fish. One day he’ll be a realll fish…

Ha don’t worry I didn’t actually think we’d be catching tuna. I actually had no idea what we’d be catching but it completely acceded any expectations I had. We were catching little fish, Cod, Tarakahi, Perch but there was no shortage of reeling them in having enough for tea every night.

Even a few mis fits of the bunch.

A few sharks, and Barry, the Barracuda… we don’t like Barry.. he’s heavy, he’s too big, has sharp fins and an attitude problem..

Our first few days out on the water were absolutely beautiful. Blue skies, sun shining. After a week of rain in Canterbury it’s just what we all needed.

Queen Charlotte Sounds

We pulled up one afternoon with hungry stomachs, bbq and cooler full of food to a random dock and sat down for lunch with our Weka friends.

Weka, one of New Zealand’s large flightless birds

I was pretty content with going out and just fishing. I didn’t expect to see anything else really but when we went over to the salmon farm and I saw seals.. WELLL!!

If you don’t know already know, I have an obsession with animals and even more so with marine life. I was more excited about seeing these seals more than anything. I thought my trip has been made…

It gets better though… just wait..

Fur seal of New Zealand. I literally could watch them all day!

The weather on our last day wasn’t as good as the days before. We had a spit of rain, cooler temps and overcast but of course that didn’t stop anything.  We had another good lunch at Ship Cove, a cool memorial for James Cook. Just as he stopped to replenish food and supplies, we replenished our stomachs for an afternoon of fishing.

This cove was named after Captain James Cook when anchored his ship, the Endeavour on January 15,1770.  It was a safe spot to gather food, water and supplies.

Once we were out on the water again, we headed back to a spot we had some good fishing success on the days before and it was here, my heart was made whole again, the clouds parted and lo and behold a pod of dolphins.

I know I sound like a huge nerd but I was just in AW.  I don’t even know what to say but I saw dolphins!!! I’m still in AW.

It really was a combination of everything, fabulous sites, wonderful company and amazing wildlife that made my first sea fishing trip totally unforgettable.

View from the front room of the house we stayed at

I can’t wait to go back to spend time on the Queen Charlotte track, kayak, possibly wine taste and most likely splurge on getting in the water with the dolphins. There’s no shortage of things to do at the Marlborough Sounds!

Have you been up to the sounds? What’s your must do? Favourite part? Any advice for me when I go back?