New Zealand Jan 2104
12 Jan
Flew Qantas/ Emirates from Canberra to Christchurch. I meet Steve (who had flown in from Hong Kong - where he works) in Sydney - he caught me hooking into a bacon and egg McMuffin (minus the muffin) at McDonalds at Sydney airport.
On arrival we picked up the gear from my cousin, did a small food shop (only $405, GST inclusive I might add), then headed off to Picton as we were going to fish the North Island this trip for the first time. Arrived there at 12am.
13 Jan
Caught the 6am ferry to Wellington.
I think Steve is running on adrenaline in this pic.
Stevo organising his fly box - I was emailing the missus :-)
Its hard work putting all those flies in the right place.
Fished the Makakahi River near Eketahuna
from 3 to 6.30. Landed 3 between us. Stayed in Palmerston North the
night.
Steve with one we sight fished sitting behind some willows.
Off to a good start.
Drove to Rangitikei near Mangaweka. Saw land owner and went
down to the river and parked. Walked downstream for 1.8km (as the crow flies –
about 3km of walking).
Had a great time with the sink tip and the woolly bugger fishing down stream,
landed 16. Biggest was 4.5lbs. All rainbows. A good fun day of fishing. We then drove to Taupo
afterwards to meet Chuck.
Sometimes you see a flash as they chase and then hit the woolly bugger.
Its bigger than it looks - really. :-)
15 – 19 Jan
Took Chucks raft and got helicoptered into a river for a 5 day self made float. We had a lot of fun however the fishing was a little harder than expected (no dry fly action to speak of, all caught on nymphs and streamers). We averaged 6 per day between us. Best fishing was the last day.
Chuck asking the pilot to see his credentials.
Chuck keeping the dog entertained whilst the heli crew load up.
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| The cap may aid in identification in the event of an 'accident' on the river. |
Thats load one folks - second load to follow. But in saying that our gear in total was only 230kg.
First view of the river.
Getting out of the way - fastest I moved on the whole trip. Am actually surprised the camera shutter speed was fast enough so that I don't appear blurred.
The load. See its not that much.
Taking it easy in the shade.
First one for the trip - sight fished in the slow water. Took an adams. The only only fish I caught on a dry fly for the whole float. It went a shade over 6 lbs.
Camp site night 1. Stevo you might need to work on getting a little more tension into that tent fly old boy.
Dinner is on the go.
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| Charles pontificating about something. |
Stevo caught this one in the run above camp the next morning. Chuck and I were off arguing about something.
Working out where the hell we are. Well - the river is just behind us so we are on the right 'track'.
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| Tiny rapids ahead. We did go through a couple of hairy spots. Glad Chuck has 20+ years on the oars! |
They didnt all take nymphs.
Chuck showing me how its done.
Beautiful rainbow.
I reckon its just up there.
Camp sight night 2.
The boys making up tales.
What the hell is that.
Not what you want to see on a back country fishing trip.
I had just taken a dip, pushing the raft off a rock and had then slipped in, so the shirt was drying in the sun.
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| Flexing the cannons. |
There's one. Actually wait...1,2,3,4,5 of them!
Yeah baby.
Nearly 7 lbs.
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| About to check out a small branch of the main river. |
A back country hut, that we looked at then left.
Camp ground night 3. We weren't sure we were going to find somewhere suitable to camp so we were pleasantly surprised to find this great spot.
View from the tents down to the river.
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| View back to the tents. |
One of us powered by scotch, the other beans. :-)
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| Stevo working the grill. |
Drying some gear out in the morning.
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| Drying the tent flies after a night of drizzle |
Nice rainbow.
We saw this one feeding just above a drop off, classic spot. Stevo caught him from the raft.
Awesome.
Camp ground 4th night. We also weren't sure we were going to find a place for this night so we did well to find this spot. It was really good, plenty of room and a ready made fire pit.
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| Chuck hooked up. |
We had a great time on the float. We didn't catch too many fish on the dry fly, in fact only 1 I think but we still caught them and saw some great scenery. Not something you can do every day and without Chuck's raft we would not have been able to do it. A real adventure!
20 Jan
After leaving Chuck we headed to Taupo and stayed there the night. In the morning we fished the Hinemaiaia Dam today, just out of Taupo. Not very scenic but productive and fun. We landed 22 between us. Biggest 3lbs.
Stevo into one.
21 Jan.
We stayed the night at the Creel Lodge in Turangi. A great place. They are set up for the fly fisherman!!
Check the pics out.
Check the pics out.
Our lodge for the night.
They have hooks outside each lodge to hang your waders, and a bucket and detergent to clean your gear. Very thoughtful.
Also, a rod rack above the door. How cool is that!
Nice and roomy inside.
And one of the best features a fly shop at the entrance to the lodge, which is fully stocked and opens early! Awesome!
After spending up big in the Creel Lodge fly shop ($15) we fished Lake Otamangakau. We picked up a few using a sink tip line and a small woolly bugger. Then about lunch time a damsel fly hatch took place. There after we picked up more by anchoring our boats in the weeds and stalking trout that were cruising the weed beds looking for damsel fly nymphs and emergers. I ended up landing 6, Steve 4. All nicely conditioned fished. Biggest two
were browns, 7.5 and 8lbs. Damsel fly nymphs were the way to go. Weather ended
up clearing even though the wind got up.
Steve's first one blind fishing.
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| Another solid rainbow from Stevo! |
We had one for lunch, this was the only one we kept on the trip as I figured the fishery could handle it. We had it with lemon juice, soy sauce and wasabi. I had left the filleting knife back in the car so it was't easy to fillet with a knife that had a 2 inch blade.
Damsel fly nymphs. There were heaps of them on my boat.
And one emerging into the adult. The trout were cruising the weed beds taking the emerging adults and the nymphs.
There were a couple of cicadas on the water, but not many.
Weather cleared after lunch. Picked this one up on my new Taransky 6'6" bamboo rod. Biggest fish this rod has landed so far at 7.5lbs.
8lbs of fun! Caught at a distance of 12 feet from my raft, so the casting wasn't a problem. :-)
22 Jan
We fished the Tongariro then drove to Stratford to try a different area. Steve caught 2 on
the Tongas. I still have never caught a fish in that damn river!
5lbs rainbow in fast water is always fun
23 Jan
Fished the Waingongoro river, at the Mawhitiwhiti bridge. We rang the farmer, Brian who kindly
gave us permission to fish the river and even drove us to a spot on his
property where we could fish. Very kind of him. We did ok, landed 7 and lost another 5.
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| Prospecting the water. |
Stayed in New
Plymouth the night and had the biggest feed at Lone Star!
24 Jan
We fished everywhere yeah… seriously tried 3 rivers and a
dam today… all for 2 fish (Steves was 4.5lbs mine was 4.25lbs) We caught them
under the high way bridge which was convenient of them to gather there for us.
Steve got his nymphing a run, I caught mine on a dry. We had decided to leave
the river after Steve had caught his fish and were back on the highway when I said to Steve ‘wouldn’t it be
funny if a fish rose now down in the pool.’ 2 seconds later that’s what
happened. So down we went. Couple of fly changes I caught him on a size 16 elk hair caddis.
A true wilderness fishery, 60m from the highway bridge!
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| This was a rare fish - as I caught it on a dry fly! It was nice to use my new little bamboo rod for the job though! |
25 Jan.
Fished the Waiwhakaiho river right in the middle of New Plymouth – another pure
wilderness experience! Steve caught 2 good fish and landed one of them –
4.5lbs. It was Steve’s last day in NZ and we only had the morning to fish.
Hooked up in the middle of town.
4.5lbs - after this fish Stevo was kind enough to walk over the levy bank and go to Subway to get us a couple of cold drinks! Very civilised.
Wilderness!
I dropped Steve at the airport at 1.30pm, and was sorry to see him go as we had had a lot of fun and even caught a few fish. Until next time.
I then drove up towards Taupo. Fished the Awakino on the way
– just stopped at a random spot on the road.
Caught 3 nice rainbows. They were very easy. Don’t think they had ever
seen a fly! Was in Taupo at 7.30pm and stayed with my Aunt. It was nice to see her.
26 Jan
I went and fished with my friend Duncan today. I met Duncan in Roturua and then we went and fished the Ngongotaha river, which has to be one of the most fished little rivers in New Zealand!! We saw lots of fish but they were very touchy. Tunksie managed to land one which was great.
Here he is and you can see about 3 fish just to the right of Tunksie's head. He caught one of these. Good job!
27 Jan
Fished Otamangakau again today. Caught 3 nice fish, biggest was 7lbs! Man what a fishery that place is. I picked them up with the damsel fly nymphs as they cruised through the weeds.
Here is a photo of the lake, you can see the volcanic action on Mt Ngauruhoe in the background - the two clouds coming out of the mountain about half way up.
28 Jan
Drove from Taupo down to Masterton today. I did stop for a fish along the way but only caught one tiddler - on my first cast mind you. I thought I was in for a stellar day.. how wrong I was!
29 Jan
I fished the Tauweru river outside Masterton until 5.30pm, where upon I drove to Wellington in anticipation of getting the ferry back to Picton. I did ok, landing 5 fish up to 4lbs.
Hooked up
Classic spot for a brown trout to sit, in the bubble line right next to a steep bank.
Putting my 6'6" Taransky bamboo rod through its paces! Nice fish this one.
Once again I had another fun trip to New Zealand, albeit to the North Island this time. I would definitely go back!
