Front door steps

A couple of chronologically selected snaps taken from Auckland's promenade to the stars and gateway to the kings. The slightly less glamorous parore was a happy accident and like the more desirable subjects was served upon a silver platter to two hungry diners, crumbed, fried and delicious.

Why your sunglasses will eventually divorce you

When I first started hanging around with these beautiful Arnette polaroids, I couldn't get enough of them. We'd hang out all day, and at night I'd polish them carefully and put them lovingly in their case. I took care of my personal hygiene, since I didn't want oil getting on the lenses. We danced, sometimes, just the two of us: no music, no light, just dancing. I never missed a birthday. Over time, we started seeing less of each other. I got a new job and didn't have so much free time. I worked hard and felt like I was doing the right thing by us - we needed the money to keep the comfortable, easy-going lifestyle we wanted. But, in working for the lifestyle, I sacrificed the ability to live that lifestyle. Sometimes we were together, but it was always fleeting: on the way somewhere else. I never had time to clean them anymore. They stopped living in their case. One morning, not so long ago, I woke up and put them on. The lenses had seen too much salt water, and the polarising transfer was coming off in a terrible pock marked pattern. Then, I knew: my neglect, my complacency, had killed what we had. And things would never be the same again.

Moocherati

This handsome beast took a jack mackerel in 5 metres of water, close into the bricks. In his stomach, I found a bait pilchard I'd cast and lost earlier, some crabs, and a stone tablet with an eleventh commandment relating to the inappropriate use of sinkers in shallow water.

Tackle review: OPUS BULL 6000

TACKLE REVIEW: DIAWA OPUS BULL 6000
If you're the kind of puny weakling that gets sand kicked in your face by fishing bullies, this reel could well be for you. With 15kgs of drag, it has a good amount of grunt, and its robust, chunky, bulletproof body will fill you with confidence when you stride onto the rocks to tackle topwater kingfish, kraken, or passing boats. These reels are cheap for the quality they offer, and while they are undeniably mid-range-ish, they perform and last well. I absolutely thrashed one of these bad boys for three years, catching plenty of good fish and dinging it up on the rocks in the process. The Opus Bull 6000 never complained once. The reel still works reasonably well, but the drag pulses at bit at the top end: entirely forgivable considering how much work it's done. I've retired it to a shelf alongside other treasured reels, in the hope that it will breed.

FINAL WORD: 
These reels are a good combination of performance, robust components and affordability. The extra spool seems standard, and is very handy. Buy at least one Opus Bull immediately, before you have time to consider the mortgage or a loved one's birthday.

Rainbow alliance

Releasing a fine rainbow in the Tukituki in Hawke's Bay. This is a river overlooked by many, ignored by some, and unknown to circa 6.98 billion of the world's population. The poor fools.

Autumn reds

A few hours wanderingabout a quiet Hauraki Gulf isle produced this and a handful of similar fish yesterday. All tricked with soft plastics languidly twitched and wound across a sandy bottom in just couple of hands past a fathom of sea, with Gulp curly tail jigging grubs on 1/4oz light bulbs being flavour of the day.

The first fish of the day taken from the top left point of this reef

                                            

A good string puller

Flying fish

For all those deniers who repeatedly and pig-headedly assert that fish aren't slippery in spite of the excellent scientific evidence proving the contrary, here's something that ought to change your mind.