Things got so hectic dad would catch the fish while the family cleaned and washed them.
Labour Weekend was a great fishing weekend for locals and visitors alike in Hawke's Bay.
Schools of pilchards and anchovies invaded the bay and were intercepted by schools of kahawai.
South of Napier at Haumoana and Te Awanga, kahawai drove the anchovies in against the shore as they chased them.
Anglers were out in force and cast spinners at the schools of fish. Sea gulls and gannets followed the schools making it easy to see where they were feeding.
Anglers ran along the beach after them, chased them on quad bikes and tried to intercept them by driving ahead up the beach where they expected them to show up.
An even easier way to get among the action was to go to the mouth of the Maraetotara Stream or the Tukituki river mouth where they were turning up regularly. The schools were foaming the surface of the water as they chased the anchovies to the surface and smashed them.
There was enough room for everyone to get in on the action.
Tackle failures were common and one chap I spoke to leaving the river mouth while the kahawai still smashed the surface said that in the excitement of seeing all the fish, he had only brought one spinner with him and had lost that to a large and active kahawai.
The kahawai ran half a kilo to over two kilos. At the larger end of the scale, they tested a lot of the cheap tackle that was being used. Some family groups had dad catching the fish while mum and the kids cleaned and washed the catch. One such mum said to me: "I can't keep up with him." They had three or four fat two-kilo size kahawai.
I was at the river mouth of the Tukituki River while this was going on getting some photos. I even grabbed my softbait set and caught one kahawai on a oz jighead and a 5in Lime Tiger tail which was similar in size and shape to the bigger anchovies and pilchards that were around.
Most of the fishers used hex wobblers of various sizes and they did the job well for them. I did see one chap with a large Cobra trout lure take one fish.
The situation though with the kahawai foaming about on the surface meant that anything within reason was going to be taken.
It was just a matter of getting the lure into the mass of fish.
There were also some big snapper caught this Labour Weekend. These came mainly from the beaches north of Napier. It looks like Hawke Bay's is alive and well. Visitors will be heading home with some great fishing memories.