Here Fishy Fishy

March 21

A chicken mushroom pie (a veggie one for Mitch) from Pembroke Patisserie was a great start to our day.

The almond croissant and cardamom bun put us over the top and we rolled out of the delicious patisserie bursting and well fed. Of course we took a Turkish focaccia to go and the award-winning ginger biscuits. Hey, why not? We’re on vacation. It’s no wonder the line was so long. It was all worth the wait.

We happened upon Hook Wānaka, a salmon fishing attraction near our lodging. We decided to kill an hour (and a fish or two), and signed up for the activity. $6 to rent a pole with bait, including all the tools to put the fish out of its misery after getting it on the hook and netting it on land.

The spring-fed lake is stocked with Chinook salmon (aka king salmon), which are fed a hormone and antibiotic-free diet, high in Omega-3. After all, we needed some more of those vitamins with all the food we’ve been eating.

It was pretty quiet at the lake, but I could see how busy this place would get on the weekend. We got our gear — fishing rod, net, bait (salmon!), fish pellets and iki jime, a tool that’s used to quickly kill the fish by stabbing it through its brain, right between the eyes. No thanks! Mitch did the honors.

We found a nice spot on the lake, I got the camera rolling and Mitch went about fishing for our lunch and dinner.

He put the bait on the hook, cast the line, threw in some pellets and a few seconds later, he got a bite. One was on the line. It was like the proverbial “shooting fish in a barrel.”

Our first fish was a smaller one, perfect for Hook to smoke for us right then and there. Why wait when you can eat it fresh out of the lake. We waited about 20 minutes for Hook to smoke it. It was flaky and juicy with a slightly smoky flavor – delicious.

Repeat the baiting and casting process and again, a few minutes later, another bite.

That was definitely not an accurate representation of fishing in the real world. But hey, we got dinner for a few nights and we had fun doing it. Win, win.

We waited about 20 minutes for Hook to clean, fillet, and vacuum pack the second one to take home for us to eat later.

After our big fishing expedition, we went back to the house to hang out. Mitch worked on our taxes (yawn!), and I watched a rom-com and wrote the blog.

Still full from our breakfast and lunch, we skipped dinner and watched more episodes of Suits.