Fishing camp in the North Island has been reopened after two days of closures due to severe winter storms.
Key points:Auckland’s Fisherman’s Club and the East Coast’s Bass Fishing Camp reopened at 10am on Saturday after three days of closure due to stormsAuckland Fisherman Paul Fossey says he will be back in the fishing business as usual”It was a little bit nerve-wracking but it was just the right thing to do.
It was a bit of a relief to be able to get back into the fishing industry.”
Fisherman Paul Fisher, from Auckland, was fishing on the shores of the North River when the storms came and knocked out the electric power.
He says he expects to be back at work on Sunday, although there was some disruption to his business.
“I am going to be making the same arrangements as I did last week, and we are still on the water, so that is good news,” he said.
“It’s not going to make us too anxious, but we are going to have to be prepared for any eventuality.”
The Fishermen’s Club is still expecting a few hundred more people to come to the site this week to get in for a fish-based meal, but the camp has been completely reopened.
“We have seen a lot of demand from people that have been visiting the camp,” a spokesman said.
He said he hoped the number of people coming to the camp would be more than what was expected.
“If the demand is there, we can definitely see that coming down,” he told reporters.
“But it’s still a bit early to tell.”
The East Coast Bass Fishing Club was closed in February when the cold snap hit the North Canterbury region.
Fishermen say the weather has not been as bad in New York and New Jersey.
But Mr Fisher said he had not received any new fish reports since the closure.
“The number of reports we get are small, but I don’t know how many we actually have in the fish shop,” he explained.
The closure had been announced in February as the worst weather in the past year for the region.
