Fish may be the family dish but it’s going to need to
be battered before eight-year-old Amber Hill will taste her monster
catches.
When Amber told her friends at school she caught two fish on Anzac
Day they didn’t bat an eye. But then, what her friends didn’t know
was the mammoth rainbow trout were nearly as big as she is.
Amber’s skill with an old rod and reel are enough to
make a grown angler cry.
Fishing with her family at the Tekapo canal Amber landed
the over 9kg (20lb.) and nearly 10.5kg (23lb.) fish on an old rod
and broken reel her parents had given her to learn on.
After her first catch the family made her touch everyone
else’s rods for luck – but Amber’s luck was not transferable. And
it wasn’t just family members trying to cash in on Amber’s luck either.
Nearby anglers kept moving closer and closer until one
of them caught a fish too, her mother Rata said.
However, catching the big fish was no walk in the park
for the young angler.
The smaller of the two fish put up such a fight it nearly
dragged her into the canal, Mrs Hill said.
"You could see her feet getting closer and closer
to the edge."
Amber wasn’t aware of the size of the fish until her
father scooped it out of the water.
"It didn’t look that big in the water but when
we got it out it was humungous."
Although a little scared after her brush with the feisty
fish it has not put her off one of the family’s favourite past-times.
She coaxed her family to bait up her hook with another
worm, but the fish weren’t biting.
Amber’s catches have been filleted with some shared
around the family, while the rest is stored in the freezer waiting
to be battered.
After all, the only way she will eat it is with chips.
