9 February 2010
Clacko and I were off to New Zealand again, we left Canberra for Melbourne, then caught a 6.40pm flight to Christchurch. Dropped $225 on Duty Free grog (for family and friends.... of course). Arrived in CCH at 11.59pm. Clacko and I then stayed the night at the Sudima.. which is a hotel right by the airport. Bit of a hole just quietly especially for $135 a night. I shared a room with Clacko... you would have thought that I would have learnt my lesson about sharing a room with him. I can tell you this though.. it WON'T happen again. Snore... bloody oath... I couldn't hear for 3 days. 2 hits with a pillow and a belt on the foot with shoe didn't break his stride either... old Phar Lap just kept going.
10 February
Checked out at 7.50am. Ian from Renny Rentals was there at 8am sharp to hand us over the car. At my cousin's place to collect our gear by 9am. Shopping done at Woollies by 10.45am. Small shop this time - $470. Met Floyd Dean and his lovely wife Janet at Raikaia, just out of Christchurch.
It was great to see them. Floyd had brought me a new fly rod from the States, an Orvis Helios and also a new pac lite wading jacket from LL Bean. Can you spot the bloke with the new gear?! Don't feel bad if you can't.
Janet, myself and Floyd Dean
We then drove to the camp ground in Omarama, stayed there for the princely sum of $40 a night. We went and fished the Ahuriri Rv at Clay Cliffs before it got dark. We all managed to land a fish... but they were all small... like 8-12 inches. Finished fishing at 8.45pm. Met Chuck at the camp ground, had a scotch with him and was in bed by 12.10am!
11 February
We left the camp ground in convoy today at 9am. Headed for the Ahuriri. Clacko fished with Floyd and Janet, and I fished with Chuck. Clacko caught a nice one - which he estimated at 6lbs. Photo below.
Clacko with a nice fish
Chuck and I managed 3. Chucks was 4lbs, mine were 8.5lbs and 6.5lbs (see I can give precise weights cause I carry a set of scales). Here are a couple of snaps.
4lbs of fun
A rare photo of Ravetta actually looking at the river and not fishing.
8.5lbs - caught on a small copper john nymph.
We stopped fishing by 7.50pm and were home by 9pm. Dinner was eggs and sausages. Good first fishing day of the trip!
12 February
The weather forecast wasn't looking great so we headed south today. We fished the Mataura at Nokomai station rd. I was the only one that caught fish today (2), but nothing to write home about as they were both small in the 1 to 2lbs range. We started fishing at 3pm and were finished by 7.30pm. We stayed the night at the Mossburn camp ground.
13 February
Rain overnight.. lots of it. So we headed up to Mavora lakes. We were there by 11am. We fished the in flow into South Mavora. Janet lost a good one. I landed a smaller one which we smoked for lunch.
Clacko and Floyd fishing
Try out of the smoker I bought last year. Worked a treat.
Caught near dark - 4lbs
Floyd and Clacko hard at it.
We stopped fishing at 9.15pm. On the way out Floyd decided to back the campervan off a steep bank for some entertainment. It wasnt going anywhere without help. Clacko drove off around to North Mavora where there were plenty of people camping. He found a couple of likely looking chaps who had a 4wd. They came and pulled the camper van off the steep bank no problem! Home by 11.20pm. Pretty tired. Wrote this entry at 11.58pm... as I was eating dinner.
14 February
Fished the Mataura today. Got let through a property after asking permission, the gentleman (Lindsay) and his daughter Rachael even drove down through all the paddocks to show us the closest access to the river. Very kind of them!
Started fishing at 1pm, stopped at 7.45pm. Lots of rain showers off and on throughout the day... and it was cold (had a thermal top, fishing shirt, fleece and a gortex rain jacket on and I was just right!)
Clacko and I both caught one on a streamer. Tough day. Least Floyd didn't get the car bogged on the way out.
15 February
Fished the Hamilton Burn today. We shuttled the cars, theoretically meaning there would be a nice relaxing end to the day. I say 'theoretically' here, cause numb nuts (moi) left the keys to the car in his jeans which were back at Floyds campervan where we had started fishing the day. So a light 25 min jog back through the paddocks and along the river at the end of the day was just what I needed to 'relax'!
Clacko caught 1, I didnt land any, lost 5 - looks like it was just one of those days! A streamer took care of 3 anda sz 14 parachute and a bead head sz 16 took the other two. We were back at the camp ground early (6pm) so decided to have a cast.
Belting a couple out.
16 February
Took Floyd and Janet down the Mataura today. Started at 10am and finished just after 6pm. Floyd caught a nice one of 4lbs
Floyd with his first decent fish in NZ!
Working the rod
A sly way of giving the camera man the finger!
Clacko and Ravetta fished the Oreti. Chuck caught a nice one:
17 February
Up and away early. Jumped in Chuck's raft and paddled across the lake to where a river came in.
For information - any time you see a photo of Ravetta rowing, and me sitting in a raft doing nothing, you can rest assured I will be smiling!
Clacko caught a nice 3lbs rainbow on his 2nd cast, I managed a 4lbs rainbow on my first cast.. what can I say Clacko.. the Gods were smiling on me. (Plus I didn't cast to a fish until I was sure it was going to be bigger than his). If anyone reading this things I might be competitive, you are wrong.... I just like to win.
Clacko hooked up.
Good job Clacko
After a cup of tea we bushed bashed into a river that drained into the lake. Saw some really good fish in it... like at least 20 that were all over 10lbs!!
Chuck caught a 5lber on a woolly bugger. I managed to hook a 12 1/2 pounder also on a woolly bugger!
Playing the fish.
Both Chuck and Clacko helped me land it. Could not and would not have landed this fish without their help as the fished dived here and there trying to get under logs and without their help I wouldn't have the photo below! So thanks guys!!!
Biggest trout to date... 12.5lbs!
We had a good day, Chuck landed 2, and Clacko landed 2 as well.
We stopped fishing at 8.40pm, dinner at the pub and in bed at 11pm. Totally knackered!
18 February
Chuck, Clacko and I went for a float today. We put in at 11am. About 15 mins after putting in the weather closed in badly, it was raining, very windy and very cold. By 12pm old mate Clacko had had enough and pulled the pin. He only had to walk about 500m back to the car as that was the total distance we had travelled in that time - I would like to say that it was 'not Ravetta's best piece of rowing', but that would be unkind and to be fair the wind was blowing up river pretty good by then!
Irish coffee for lunch ... in an attempt to warm up!
Weather cleared somewhat by 2pm. Turned into a good day fishing wise. Caught 13 on a sz 4 rubber legged woolly bugger. I reckon I must have had another 40-50 chase the fly all day though!
A rare photo of Chuck drinking beer and not rowing.
Chuck also managed to land a couple when we stopped a couple of times, which is great considering how little time he actually spent fishing!
19 February
Today was an easy day, organising our next big adventure.. a helicopter ride into Fiordland. Got our gear cleaned and got the relevant certificate. It was actually a lot faster than I thought it was. Got my the top of my head smashed by Clacko for good measure as he was shutting the boot - he claims he didn't see me.. but I know better Clacko... I saw you line me up! :-)
20 February
Up at 6.15am. Went to the Sandfly cafe for breakfast. At the Helicopter place by 8am.
Is that where I put the body?
Roger that
Flying In
All alone now, well Chuck and Clacko were there as well.... so yeah... all alone.
Landed at the site at 9.15am. Set up camp and we were off fishing by 10am.
First cast... a nice 3.5lbs rainbow.
Ravetta hooked up.
Chuck giving us the thumbs up... with one of the few remaining digits still on his hand.
Smoko - after a bit of a walk
Clacko with a nice 4 pounder
Chuck getting a lesson! Ha ha
Getting the hook out
Beautiful water
Clacko with the proceeds of the 'beautiful water' a 5.5lbs rainbow, this biggest taken from this Fiordland river.
Clacko had a great day, he ended up with 9 - his best day ever. Just on that Clacko went fishing after dinner to catch one more so that he could break his previous record, and good on him too.
Chuck and yours truly landed 5 a piece, my biggest was 4.5lbs, Chuck's biggest was 'I don't know' which is American guide talk for "When we are all around the camp fire tonight and the guys are crapping on about how big their biggest fish was, I will tell them then that the fish I caught was about 2 pounds bigger than the biggest caught so far, that will **** em". Bet you didn't know I was fluent in the American Guide Fly Fishing lingo - but its a useful skill to have.
Collected fire wood for about 20 minutes, dinner was sausages and beans.
21 February
Left camp at 9am. Headed for the lake. Arrived there at 10.30, the walk down wasn't great. There was lots of soft mud and sand around the shore of the lake so you had to be careful where you walked. We caught the crap out of them at the lake, considering we only fished it for 2 hours. In that time Clacko landed 2 and lost another 2. I landed 8 and lost another 6, all on woolly buggers. The action was superb!
Nice fish for Clacko
I knocked off a fly from Chuck (well I found it on the ground - maybe he had walked past that way 1 minute earlier, or maybe he didn't.... but still, 'finders keepers') it was an orange size 4 woolly bugger. It accounted for 2 fish on 2 successive casts!
'Off you go'
We even had some double hook ups!!
I only managed another 2 on the way back to camp (lost another 3 in the timber and snags). We all had a great day, taking it in turns and egging each other on. Chuck landed 7. It was a tough walk up the stream back to camp though!
Clacko having a rest before dinner, after we arrived back at camp at about 6pm.
22 February
Got up early and we fished up from camp. There had been some drizzle overnight.
Quick cup of coffee and a cold snag and we were off.
Playing it in
Nice 4 pounder on the dry.
Old mate Clacko into one too!
Spectacular
We all caught fish heading upstream. We were back at camp at 4.30pm. We packed up and waited for the chopper, he was right on time landing at 2 minutes past 5pm.
Time to go. The chopper cost $2193 all up, but it was worth it, least I think so... 54 trout between 3.5 and 5.5lbs between 3 of us in 3 days. And what price can you put on the scenery and the adventure of going somewhere new with a couple of great mates (well Clacko is, not sure about that Chuck bloke yet).
23 February
Floated with Chuck today in his raft. Put in at 11am and we were done by 7.30pm.
Beautiful day weather wise.
The boys having lunch.
The release
Chuck, with his local knowledge (dont mind the fact that he might have been half cut by the time we got there), stopped us on a great glide where the fish were lined up. Once you got the depth right (ie 3 split shot) catching them wasnt too bad. Another top day, we all caught fish and had a relaxing easy day from the raft which was great after all the walking we had done in the last few days.
24 February
Floated another river today. Floated between 9.30am and 6.40pm. Another fun day, Clacko landing 4 and myself 11. Old man Ravetta did the rowing.. he knows his place that bloke (if only you knew him you would know how accurate, or potentially inaccurate that statement might be!)
We had a double hook up today which was fun.
Nice fish for Mr Claxton
Just taking it easy
Working the bend down the blank!
Ravetta may have had a couple of drinks by this stage.. am not sure. What do you think? I was a bit tuckered out from the fight this 3.5lbs fish gave me! It really had some go. Another cracker day.
25 February
Started the drive north. Ravetta had left the previous evening, but sure enough we saw him asleep in his van in Athol. So we quickly turned around, drove up next to him and lent on the horn! Fastest I had ever seen Chucky boy move before 2 in the afternoon! We had breakfast in Athol, said our goodbyes and took off. Stopped for a coffee in Cromwell.
We then drove into Lake Ohau and had a fish.
Clacko and I having a look at Lake Ohau.
Managed a small one there and another small one in a smallish lake near Lake Ohau called Lake Middleton. We hit Christchurch that night at 9.30pm, saw my cousin Mark the next day, stowed our stuff and flew home the next morning. Another sensational trip with great fishing and great company, seriously.. what more can you ask for.
Stay tuned for the next diary entry... which will detail my trip to Alaska which I am taking in August/September! Now that is going to be FUN!