30 January 2011
Flew Canberra to Christchurch. Arrived about 3.30pm. Shouted myself business class as a 'reward' for finding a new job in the Middle East (will see in the near future whether it should appropriately be viewed as a 'reward' or not :-). Met the inimitable Chuck Ravetta in Hamner Springs at 9.40pm
31 January
Left Hamner Springs – two hour dirt drive to the upper Waiau, through St James Station. Camped there for a couple of days. Great scenery, but no fish.
The view looking into the upper Waiau
Camp set up - had bought a new tent with a large vestibule. It took Chuck and I an hour to figure out how to put it up... man went to the moon faster than we erected that tent.
Me smiling as I am knocking off some of Chuck's food.
Beautiful water... pity about the lack of fish.
Putting the fire out before heading off for a fish.
Fish spotted at the tail of the run... but no luck.
Here is some footage Ravetta took... unfortunately no fish.
2 February
Drove from Hamner to Omarama. Pretty boring day. No fishing.
3 February
Fished the Ahuriri, wet and very windy today. Started fishing at 9.40am finished at 7.45pm. I caught a 6lbs rainbow. Chuck caught one too but didn’t manage to land it (fly had some how been set in the back of the fish. Its always tough to control foul hooked fish.)
A rare snap of Chuck smiling. :-)
A good fish considering the conditions... wet and very windy (the wind bothered us more than the rain as it makes spotting fish very tough).
4 February
Fished lake Benmore with Chuck. Fish tough to catch. Had a great day.
Fishing from Chuck's raft is always fun, whether you catch fish or not. Well that's no quite true, its only tolerable when you are catching fish and if you don't catch any then by the end of the day you are ready to top yourself :-) ha ha.
Chuck letting one go.
5 February
Picked Clacko up from Queenstown, had arrived at 11am and did all the shopping. Then we drove to the Matarua and fished from the Nokomai station access.
6 February
Fished the Oreti (saw only 1 fish) below Lumsden. So we then went to the Hamilton Burn. It started to rain pretty seriously at about 4.30pm. We stopped fishing at 7pm. Cold and wet but a good day.
Bit wet - that's me, not the fish.
Clacko's first for 2011.
7 February
Drove to Mavora Lakes as we had had a lot of rain overnight! The lake was coming out onto the grass and we saw some trout cruising. Tough to catch though. Another fun day, the weather was great.
Trying to catch one in the shallows. Threw 13 flies at it... no luck!
8 February
Drove from Mossburn camp ground to Haast. Stayed in a nice motel room. Clacko got a separate room, or more accurately I got a separate room for Clacko so he wouldn’t keep me awake snoring! We fished Lake Moeraki until 10pm. Clacko got 4, I got 3. Best fish was just on 5 lbs. A great day fishing considering we weren’t even sure if we were going to be able to fish given the weather.
Where's Clacko?
Hooked up.
Woolly bugger strikes again.
Clacko with a nice one.
Just on dark
Fished till 10pm.
Started out fishing the Turnbull Rv today. This is the first time we have been able to fish this river in 7 trips. Usually all the rain on the West Coast ensures that it is flowing high. We had a great morning, they all rose from the depths to take green cicadas! Started at 10am finished at 2.30pm, caught 2 a piece.
Looking for fish
Trying to play one from the bank
First one from the Turnbull.
We had some great weather for the West Coast
'Now where did he go...'
Then drove to the Jacobs river, had a look around and a bit of a fish, but no luck. Clacko and I only saw 2 fish each, so it wasn’t the best start. Doesnt necessarily bode well for tomorrow as we are planning to fish the Jacobs.
10 February
Fished the Jacobs river, great day weather wise, saw only a couple of fish but managed a few between us. Saw the land owner and had a chat to him. Caught most on a big dry imitation. Stayed in a dodgy camp ground just north of the Jacobs river. Not up to Zarifeh's exacting 5 star standards.
I wasn't using a size 18 mayfly imitation I can assure you.'Now if I can bounce the net a little more he might hit 4lbs'.
I know what you are thinking.. I am so much skinnier than the tree.
Lunch time
A view up river
Saw a wild goat on the way out. Given the noise of the river, the wind direction, and because Clacko treads so softly when he walks, he was able to stalk in pretty close.
11 February
Went to the Waitangitaona today. Caught a couple, one 7lbs and one 2 lbs. Clacko didn’t do so well and wasn’t not overly happy about it J. Stayed the night in Hari Hari.
Not a bad photo, considering I used the timer to take this snap. By this stage Clacko was 2km upstream (he had left me 5 minutes earlier, so I reckon that distance approximation is about right.)
12 February
Fished the Mikonui today, not a pleasant river. Not many fish and not easy to see them. I managed a couple but they were the result of blind fishing. Still it was sort of fun. Sort of. Saw some great looking water but no fish ?! What's that all about? Stayed the night in Hokitika.
You can see Clacko in the back ground fishing the opposite bank.
13 February
Fished the Kawakahi tail race, on the Old Christchurch Road, just out of Hokitika. Had a good day even though the weather wasn’t good. The two I caught went 7lbs and 5 1/2 lbs. Pretty happy with those two. Clacko caught 4 rainbows. No comment on the size of the four rainbows, except to say combined they may have equalled my largest fish..ha ha ha :-).
Who can open their mouth wider...? :-)
This fish was sitting not 6 inches from the bank. Caught using a little sz 16 nymph.
14 February
Up bright and early – ie 6.15am. Fished Lake Hawdon till about 12.30. Managed a nice 7lbs rainbow on a Muz Wilson special damsel fly. Then we headed over to Lake Marymere. Saw some great fish but no luck.
Sunrise on Hawdon
Clacko prospecting for fish.
7lbs of fun, but check out the rainbow's colouring.. looks like a chum salmon from Alaska!
Clacko trying to hook one in the shallows of Lake Marymere. Fish is the dark shape to the left in the picture. No luck unfortunately, they were all a little touchy in this lake. Actually that's a slight understatement, saying the fish are a little touchy is like saying the Tour de France attracts a couple of spectators. These fish could smell you brewing coffee 4 km away. Needless to say we didn't catch any. But it was fun seeing large fish cruising the shallows looking for food.
Left Lake Marymere at 5.30pm and we were in Christchurch at 7.30. Stayed the night in a place on Bealey Ave and flew out the next day to Australia. Once again another great trip!
