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....
