Halfmoon Bay Fishing Derby - Sechelt

by Nathan

Activity:

THE FISHING DERBY

Hello my name is Nathan, and I am 10 years old.  It was the summer of 2001 and my family and me were on a vacation in Sechelt.  Sechelt is a small town on the Sunshine Coast. We were driving along the highway to our hotel, when I saw a sign saying “Halfmoon Bay Fishing Derby.”  My dad took us to the Halfmoon Bay General Store where we registered for the derby.  We stopped off at the beach to look for some sea worms.  Unfortunately, we didn’t find any of them. 

The next day we arrived at the wharf where we would fish.  There were a lot of people there.  My dad got our rods set up.  We used prawns for bait.  It was very windy and cloudy.  At first we just caught little fish.  My sister caught five bullhead and I caught three bullhead and two shiners.  Two other people fishing nearby were always catching really big fish that looked like cod.  I cast my line out into the water.  I looked at the other kids fishing and they seemed to be doing pretty well.

Suddenly, I felt a big tug on my line and I started to reel it up.  It was very heavy, whatever it was.  I finally reeled it up and found out it was a rock cod! The fish was reddish brown and looked very ugly.  It was very big; the biggest one of all!! 

After that I didn’t catch a lot more.  After two hours of fishing we took our fish to the General Store where we got them weighed.  My fish was 1.56 kilograms. 

The moment we’d all have been waiting for finally arrived.  They were announcing the winners for the biggest fish.  In first place … Julia Person.  The girl walked up to the announcer looking very happy.  She received a gold coloured medal and a boogy board. 

In second place…  Eva Jackobs.  She received a silver medal with a different boogy board.  In third place: Nathaniel .............. !!  What?!   Cool!  That’s my name!  I rushed up and received my prize.  I won a bronze medal that said “Halfmoon Bay Fishing Derby.”  I also got a boogy board that pictured five fish eating each other.  And that was the fishing derby!!                              

Details:

Halfmoon Bay is a small village 15 km north of Sechelt.  The “Halfmoon Bay Fishing Derby" takes place in early July as part of the Halfmoon Bay Country Fair.  The fishing derby is free, but you have to be 12 years old or less.

Area:

Halfmoon Bay is on the Sunshine Coast.

Season:

Summer