My work takes me to NZ a couple of times a year, and up until now I haven’t made the opportunity to fish there. Things have changed…
I typically fish the salt, with only a few trutta trips under my belt, so tales of wary NZ trout didn’t exactly paint a rosy picture. I brought my 7wt (itwas either that or my 4wt) and waders, knowing that I’d be here during the end of NZ’s winter, not prime fishing time by any means. Stopped by a few local shops to chat up some info and buy maps and a few flies. Overall the prognosis was terrible. Most backcountry waters are closed until 1 Oct, and I only have a short window after that to fish.
Screw it.
I left after work and headed north, headed for a river I couldn’t even pronounce - the Hurunui.
The drive was about 1.5 hours which left me with a couple of hours to fish before dark.
The first pool I climbed down to had a big (for me) brown sipping something off the top. I had to feed him from perched on a rock, upstream, with a friggin 15kt wind while trying to lay out a 16’ leader on my backcast. After about 5 tries I got it right, and he ate before heading downstream and into my backing.
I caught that fish as soon as I climbed down to the river… the other 1.3 hours were spent heading up the riverbank high above the water looking for more fish in the failing light. The bottom of the gorge was dark well before the sun dipped below the mountains, making spotting fish impossible. Hopefully tomorrow I can explore more of the river. So far I’ve only seen a few hundred yards of it.
Pillage and plunder with a 9wt and a fist full of clousers.
Very nice and congrats on your first “foreign” fish. I bet you really can’t wait until December now.
Heck, I can’t wait until tomorrow… I’m going to fish as much as humanly possible. But yes, December is cicada and terrestrial season, plus better weather.
Pillage and plunder with a 9wt and a fist full of clousers.
I don’t see anything wrong with the weather in these pics. Good luck, fish hard, catch many and then maybe we can hit the flats when you are back here in September.
“The good fisherman is surprised when he doesn’t catch fish: I am just the other way around.”
Gene Hill, Passing a Good Time.
Jerms, not sure how long your’e going to be down there or where, but if ya want a kayak to use while there I can get ya one to borrow from a buddy that lives in Auckland. I spent 6 weeks down there with him setting up the Ocean Kayak manufacturing plant. He lives just outside of Auckland in Waikato.
