Alex & Covo’s New Zealand Fly Fishing Adventure

Intro

The following story reads a bit differently to my previous blog entries. Parts of it have been written on location and parts of it are currently jotted down in dot points with my intention being to expand these as I find available time. Until then I hope you enjoy the story so far...

Day 1, November 14th 2009

This is it! The trip has officially started, and as I write this on board flight DJ146 to Auckland, Andrew is planning the evening’s activities. Any serious planning is somewhat impaired by Australia’s Finest, Crown Lager. We were both a bit disappointed with our drinking efforts last night, as we didn’t succeed in finishing a slab of beer, but are doing our best to get there now, down goes number 20! Awahou stream mouth is the first destination of the trip. My arm is starting to twitch in anticipation, only 4 hours to go till that first cast.

Day 1 Evening

Arrived at the stream mouth around 9 pm, empty car park brought out smiles in both Andrew and I, as we knew we’d have the water ourselves. This allowed us to search for the current flowing into the lake and pick the likeliest looking spot. Andrew was quickly onto it, and within 20 minutes he had his first take. Unfortunately the hook didn’t hold and it was trout 1, Andrew 0. After I too lost a couple of fish I managed to net the first one for the trip... oh YESS, what a feeling! The night ended with Andrew landing two more fish in the last 10 minutes of allowed fishing time, talk about leaving it till the end.


Day 2, Sunday November 15th 2009


Slept in

Fished Ohau channel, Andrew got 2, lost 2 good ones

Fished Hamurana, Andrew got 2, Alex got 1

Fished Hamurana, Alex got 4, Andrew got 2


Day 3, Monday November 16th 2009

Slept in

Fished Waihou Stream, Andrew got 7 (6 tiddlers, 1 acceptable) Alex got 3 (2 tiddlers, 1 acceptable)

Fished Awahou, Andrew got 2, Alex zilch (no takes)

Fished Hamurana, Andrew got 2, Alex 0 (lost 2)

Day 4, Tuesday November 17th 2009

Slept through 6 alarms

Fished Ohau channel, Alex got 3 (lost 3)

Fished Hamurana, Alex got 3 (lost a fcuking big one...), Andrew got 3

Day 5, Wednesday November 18th 2009

Packed the backpack and left Rotorua around 10 am

Arrived at Mohaka River car park at 5 pm

Walked for 3.5 hours in our waders and with 20 kilos backpacks, almost killed ourselves from dehydration

River was chocolate brown on the walk in, not a sight we wanted to see

Day 6, Thursday November 19th 2009

The river clearing, still dirty but fishable

Alex got 1 (3.5 lbs brown), lost 1, Andrew lost 2

Slow day after that, no more takes or sighted fish

Dip at the hot pools at the end of the day

Day 7, Friday November 20th 2009

Main river completely cleared

Fished the Nunya, fish sighted on every pool, pool after every 300 m

Alex got 2 browns around 4lbs, 1 on Royal Wulff, lost 1 and missed 2 more, fcuking loved it too!!!!

Andrew lost 2, got broken off by a big one estimated at 6lb+

Fished the evening on the main river, Alex landed a 3.5 lbs brown



Day 8, Saturday November 21st 2009

Walked out of Mohaka at 11 am

Fished a run along the way, Alex lost a small 1lb rainbow

Had a dip at the hot pools after the 3 hour walk

Back at Rotorua at 6 pm

Fished the lake at secret spot, Andrew got his mojo back and landed 2

Day 9, Sunday November 22nd 2009

Fished Hamurana in the morning, no success in the lake, Alex stalked and spotted a chunky rainbow in the stream

Fished Rerewhakaitu with no success

Fished Hamurana, Alex got 2 (one nice one, one small of about a pound)

Day 10, Monday November 23rd 2009

Fished Rangatiki river (secret local spots)

Andrew got 4, 3 out of the first run known as Andrew’s run

Alex got 2, couldn’t find the path to Alex’s run where he lost 5 two years ago

Fished the lake in the evening

Alex got 4, all on black woolly buggers

Andrew got 3, 2 in 2 casts

TOP DAY!

Day 11, Tuesday November 24th 2009

Got the Forest permit to go to a special place

Couldn’t go to special place due to bureaucracy and general bull shit, also 50 ton trucks aiming for us

Dropped in at Aniwhenua, didn’t fish

Fished Rerewhaikatu, no good

Day 12, Wednesday November 25th 2009

Fished Whirinaki

Alex got 1, lost 1?

Andrew got 3

Fished Okareka

Fished Ruato bay, Andrew got one close in, unfortunately it wasn’t a trophy, needed 9 more pounds

Day 13, Thursday November 26th 2009

Fished Whirinaki

Andrew got 1, lost 1, then he took a dunk and killed the radio

Alex lost 2, then climbed a mountain to get out of a gorge, only to realise the track was even further up, losing those fish seemed even more painful after all that

First fish wrapped me around a log, trailing hook got stuck in the log and straightened

Possibly lost the second fish on the straightened hook

Fished Tarawerra and Okareka, no good

Day 14, Friday November 27th 2009

Fished Ohau channel, 2 1 hour sessions, no fish, Covo left the reel at the cabin and had to use the spool only, all was going good until he dropped the spool into the channel and when he finally retrieved it he was left with a fly line/backing birds nest to untangle

Fished Awahou with 7 other fisherman... bloody hate the crowds...

No fish at Awahou, moved to Hamurana, no good.

Day 15, Saturday November 28th 2009

Shopping and crap stuff

Day 16, Sunday November 29th 2009

Home....

Goulburn River Quinella, October 2009

While at this time of the year most people's minds are wondering off to the racetrack and a chance of winning the big one, my mind is still set on fishing and getting as much of it done before my November trip to New Zealand. With that mindset, I've been lucky enough to manage two trips to the Goulburn in the last fortnight. Due to the recent rain we've had, the water level has been kept low, which has resulted in perfect water temperatures for insect hatches. This in turn has resulted in some great fishing.
My first trip to the Goulburn started off with a bang. A 2 pound rainbow within the first 20 minutes was pointing to a great day. Unfortunately things slowed down from there and I landed only one more juvenile brown for the afternoon. The evening brought a hatch and with it the fish started to show themselves. However, my attempts to fool any of them proved futile, this turned out to be one of the most frustrating sessions I've had in a while. Never mind... another trip was just around the corner...
The forecast for the Eildon region was cloudy with few showers, but on arrival I was greeted with clear skies and summer like conditions. The day started off slow, but I didn't expect much action until the evening. Eventually I hooked two pan size rainbows. These fell to a pheasant tail I tied myself, first fish on one of my own flies, milestone 1 achieved. They were caught on my new Redington CPX 5 wt, rod christened and milestone 2 achieved. While I was waiting for the sun to set and hatches to intensify I tied on a bead head woolly bugger with the intention of swinging it across the current. The first cast was met with a sharp tug and a feisty fight from a 1.5 pound rainbow. The second cast caused a massive bow wave to race across the pool, followed by a swirl and a tug at my fly. Two fish in two casts, things were really looking up now. The next half an hour was pure excitement, with every third cast resulting in a take or at least a follow or a swirl. Two more trout were landed and another 5 or so were given the long distance release. All in all it was a great trip and a great way to prep for the big one, only two weeks left.

NSW Opening Weekend, October 2009

Spending the first Saturday in October on the banks of Eucumbene River has become a tradition for Andrew and me. This year was the fourth in a row, incidentally corresponding to Melbourne Storm's appearances in the NRL grand finals. For most of the 7 hour drive I was accompanied by pelting rain, and as I learned later, Andrew was too. This had me worried about the level and colour of the water, especially given that weekend prior my plans to fish the Ovens near Beechoworth were a non event once I found the river in flood. Having arrived at Kiandra around 1 am, I grabbed my torch and braved the freezing conditions to check the state of the river, waiting till the morning was not an option. Realizing I still had one bar of phone signal I phoned Andrew to break him the good news, it was high but clear. Upon his arrival we opened a bottle of 12 year old Tullamore to toast the new season and to keep us warm. We took our first casts of the new season before dawn, and it wasn't long till we were both playing beautifully conditioned rainbows onto the banks. Great fishing continued into the morning and throughout the day, pity the same could not be said about the weather. At first, fishing in the snow seemed somewhat adventurous, but the novelty quickly wore off. We decided to call it a day once our fingers had lost all the feeling in them and it was near impossible to tie on a replacement fly. By this stage we were nudging 20 fish between the two of us, quite a respectable tally.
In the afternoon we tried the lake. Fishing turned out to be a bit slower on the lake, but seeing water in bays that we haven't fished for some years proved motivation enough to persist with it. On the first night Andrew got a couple out of the lake and I got my first lake rainbow for the trip on the next night.
The river fishing continued to be brilliant. When it finally seemed to slow down, we took advice from a local fishing identity and went deep, really deep. Tying on the heaviest fly I had in my box, the Tongariro bomb, brought instant results. I had one of my best sessions on the last afternoon, catching 8 in 2 hours or so, and loosing or missing at least twice as many.
There was one negative on this trip, and that was the crowds. If you prefer your own space and are not a fan of sharing water, you probably should wait for at least a week or two after the opening weekend before fishing Eucumbene. On a number of occassions we had people drop in on us, some of them fly fishermen, but with the fishing that good we didn't really worry about them. It was definitely one of our best opening weekend trips and what a great way to prepare for a two week fishing adventure in New Zealand. Bring it on!

NSFFC Club Day Trip - Lauriston Reservoir

Before the break of dawn Mark and I were cruising along the Calder Highway towards Lauriston Reservoir. This was the destination for the NSFFC's August day trip. Out of the three lakes within Coliban Water system, it is the one with the highest water level at the moment and the most promising fishing opportunities. We decided we would start fishing on the bank opposite of the public reserve at the dam wall, and then meet up with the guys from the club at the reserve around lunchtime. While I have done very little fly fishing at Lauriston, I have bait fished it many times in years gone by. My past experiences were telling me not to expect much, but first sights of the lake had my hopes rising. Within minutes of stepping out of the car we spotted occasional rises dotted throughout the lake. Most were out of casting range and appeared to be oncers, but any sight of moving fish generally gives a shot of boost to a fisherman's enthusiasm. We rigged up our rods in record time and given that we would not be wearing waders today (wading is not permitted at any of the Coliban lakes), we were making our way to the water within minutes. Mark's first cast was to a rising fish not more than 3 meters from the bank. His cast was good, his fly selection seemed good too, but soon as the line hit the water the fish was gone not to be seen again. Once again Lauriston looked the way I remembered it, a beautiful but tough fishery. We fished on, looking for any signs of fish and covering the likeliest looking spots. I made my way to the right of the dam wall stumbling across such a spot. A very long and narrow point was sticking out into the main channel of the lake. I started at the base of the point with the plan to work my way right to the point itself. Towards the end of my first retrieve I felt my line stop with definite weight at the end of it. I lifted the rod, and the weight started to pull and roll in disagreement. I knew it was a solid fish. Soon I was proven right as the brown took off to the air trying to dislodge the fly stuck in the corner of its mouth. This was followed by long runs into the depths, but soon enough, the fish was landed. I photographed it and quickly released it.
I continued to fish with renewed enthusiasm, but this enthusiasm was short lived. Gale force winds that were forecast for Saturday strengthened and made the fishing extremely tough. In the late afternoon Mark and I met up with the other club members, and we all made a move to a nearby lake which offered more protection from the wind. Unfortunately we could only afford a one hour session on this lake, during which no one caught a fish. Even so, this lake is already on the top of my lakes to fish list for this year and I'll be back soon giving it a fair go.

Autumn Update, July 2009

Ok, so it has been a while since my last post, 4 months to be precise, and the silence was likely to continue for a little while longer had I not been inspired by a book I am currently reading. On Saturday I bought Philip Weigall's newest book, Fishing Season. It has been such an entertaining read that I am already half way through, and two other books that I am currently reading have been put on hold. Reading Philip's short stories about some of my favourite Victorian fly fishing locations has triggered many memories of events I experienced myself in these places. Here are just a few of the recent ones.

During May yet another season was approaching to a close and I tried to squeeze as many day trips to the Goulburn as I could. On the rare days when I found some water to myself, I also found success. Small rainbows and some better browns over a pound were common.

In late May I enjoyed another trip with FlyLife forumites. Dubbed the NEVERS, these trips are organised by Scottie, a guide from the North-Eastern Victoria. Scottie's culinary skills are exceptional, and his meals at the end of a long day's fishing are a real highlight.





08/09 season came to a close on Queen's birthday long weekend in June. I marked this occasion by spending the weekend fishing lakes, quite odd I know, but I believe it was the right thing to do as most Victorian rivers were slowing down by that stage. Covo and I had a great weekend at Millbrook Lakes and we both hooked into some really good sized fish, although the magic double figure trout eluded us. More reason to go back I guess.

Recently I have joined Northern Suburbs Fly Fishing Club, officially confirming my obsession with fly fishing, if anybody ever doubted it. This should help my improve my skills, both on the water and in front of a tying vise.
Next Saturday I'll be working, so any fishing excursions are unlikely, but with two NZ trips booked, a float tube from Sierra on its way, and the next fishing season less than a month away, there will be no shortage of fishing.

Yeppoon, March 2009

Although this was never going to be a fly fishing trip, it was so much fun that something had to be said about it. Julia and I arrived at Yeppoon on Thursday, two things we first noticed... how much greener everything is than in Victoria, and how much it rains. Fortunately the weather improved on Friday and Saturday, and we had two full days of laying about poolside, canoeing through rainforests, and making friends at Cooberrie Wildlife Sanctuary. Due to a forming cyclone offshore, the wind was relentless and my fly rod stayed packed away. One of many highlights of our trip was our taxi driver, who turned out to be quite a keen fisherman himself. He was very friendly and offered to take us fishing on his boat on Sunday. Unfortunately we were leaving on Saturday, but a fishing contact was made for our future trips to the region. One negative from the trip was the mob at Tiger Airways, who came close to losing my 8wt Strudwick. To my relief it was found after they went back and looked through the plane's cargo area properly. Turns out it is quite easy to miss a one metre long tube with a high-vis orange label on it... not good enough!

Lake Eucembene, Australia Day 2009

Australia Day weekend saw me make another trip to my favourite place in mainland Australia, the Snowies. Finally there were some good reports coming from the region, I had no other choice but to check it out for myself. The fishing was not on fire, but consitent takes were had each day which is a lot more than what could be said for our other recent trips to the lakes. That's all for now, watch this space as another long weekend is just around the corner.

Murrundindi River

After nursing a hangover for most of the morning, I decided to do something useful with my afternoon... fishing. I packed my fly gear and decided to give Murrundindi River a go. I fished this river on the second last day of 2008 with Covo and his dad. Due to the weather conditions on that day we didn't do as well as we had hoped, but 10 fish between the three of us kept us happy (Covo's dad got 20 on his last solo outing to the spot). I started fishing around 2pm, the temperature was a pleasant 28ºC, but felt more like 35ºC with all the gear I had on. It was not long before I landed my first trout, a small rainbow. Initial success was followed by a take in each likely looking run. If it wasn't for my sloppiness and delayed strikes I would have ended up with 20+ fish. I blamed my slow reaction to the still lingering hangover, but even so I landed 7 fish, best being a brown of about a pound and a quarter. I missed and lost easily that many fish, the most memorable being a solid rainbow which took my Parachute Adams while it was underwater experiencing life as a nymph. I called it quits just after 4pm giving me enough time to get home before dark, unpack and wash the car, and write this report. I am finding it hard to finish this entry as my mind is wandering, wandering to next weekend and my first trip of 2009 to the Snowys. Bring it on!