No fish? There is always tomorrow

If you haven't caught any fish today, tomorrow could be completely different.

Nga mihi o te tau hou ki a koutou katoa. Nga mihi hoki ki o tatou tini mate. No reira, haere e nga mate. Haere ki te wa kainga tuturu o to tatou Matua i te rangi. Haere, haere, haere atu ra. Ko ratou te hunga mate ki a ratou, ko tatou te hunga ora ki a tatou. Kia kaha tatou i o tatou oranga.

I would like to begin this article by wishing you all a belated Happy New Year for 2016 and may it be a happy, healthy and prosperous one for you and your whanau. I also acknowledge those who are no longer with us at this time. May they rest in peace.

Thanks again to the many people who encouraged me to write more of these articles over the holiday period. A part of my 2016 plan is to do so.

Another part of my 2016 plan is to hang up my golf clubs and go back trout fishing. Especially since my son Eruera, now in his third year at med school, is showing some interest in trout fishing, too.

I grew up trout fishing at Awahou and I hadn't been out for at least seven years. Wow, things have changed. Previously at Tangaroa fishing competitions there would be rows of waders and rows of boats lined up with people fly fishing and the people trawling were few. The other day there were only two waders, 17 boats trawling and I was the only one fly fishing from a boat.

I thought it was kind of cool being old school and the only one fly fishing off a boat, until I saw how many fish the people trawling were catching and although there were fish all around my boat, I couldn't catch a single one! I philosophised by saying to myself that if fishing was only about catching fish, then no one would fish anyway, but it still sucked.

However, that changed the very next day when I went fishing with a couple of guys out at sea. Considering my previous day's lack of fish can you imagine my sheer delight when we caught snapper, cod and a good feed of huge kahawai.

There are things in our lives that we see and will never forget. The good, the bad and the ugly. On this occasion I saw something good, exhilarating and scary.

After catching sufficient kahawai they hooked up a huge live kahawai to catch an even bigger fish! I will never forget looking over the side of the boat and seeing big dark shapes circling around the live bait in the water.

The first big dark shape hooked up was a big mako shark which was quickly released. The next big shape hooked up was a king fish as tall as the guy who caught it and at least 18kg. This experience added substance to that saying, there are always bigger fish in the sea.

So as you go through 2016 you, too, may have days when everyone around you is happy and "catching fish" while you catch nothing and life sucks. However, the next day that could all change.

Like me, with help from friends you could find yourself in a different situation, with a bin full of fish bigger than you ever thought possible. 2016 happens one day at a time ... the good, the bad and the ugly ... May you have many good days in 2016.

- Ngahihi o te ra Bidois is from Te Arawa and is an international leadership speaker, author and consultant. His book is available at Mcleod's Booksellers and the Lakeside cafe in Rotorua. His website can be viewed at www.ngahibidois.com.