- A Gumdigger's Holiday
Not all gumdiggers, however, waste their substance. Many when they indulge in a holiday, enjoy themselves in a moderate and becoming manner. Not long since I was rowing by the Matakohe Wharf, and saw a stout, thick-set man, whom I knew to be a gumdigger, fishing off its seaward end. His legs were dangling over the edge, his back was resting against one of the mooring posts, in his mouth was a short clay, and by his side stood a bottle of beer and a tumbler. His face wore a look of placid contentment, and he was evidently enjoying himself thoroughly. - Sketch of Schnapper
I have seen in the newspaper the price of fish called schnapper, quoted in the Sydney market at from thirty-six shillings to eighty-four shillings per dozen. These fish can be caught line-fishing in the Kaipara, at the rate of sixty or seventy an hour per line of two hooks, and of an average weight of about 9 lbs. each. The schnapper fisherman files the barbs off his hooks, that they may readily be extracted from the fishes' mouths; he also ties the bait securely on; and thus prepared, can haul the fish in as fast as he likes. The schnapper has most powerful teeth and jaws, and lives principally on cockles and mussels, the shells of which it crushes in its mouth without difficulty. It will, however, take almost any sort of bait, and is by no means a fastidious eater. The Kaipara waters swarm also with several other varieties of fish.