TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand
 

Hi gang:
Hows the cold, wintry northland :-)

So far here in New Zealand, so good. We spent the first day getting
here (long drive) and spent the first night fishing until midnight at
the mouth of the Waitahanui river, casting out into the lake. Pretty
thin goings, with only a strike each. My least favorite type of
fishing: standing waist deep in a lake, casting into the pitch dark at
nothing. I was using my 7wt rod since that's what we were told you
needed to catch the big fish here, but I am not as skilled casting it
as I am my 5wt, so I was getting wind knots all night. Its grueling
trying to untangle a knot or retie a fly in the pitch dark with a
headlamp and 47 year old eyes. Its like aiming at a blur, vainly
jabbing again and again (sort of reminded me of the aftermath of a few
frat parties back in college...); it took almost 20 minutes to tie on a
fly, only to get the line all knotted again a few minutes later. I
finally quit just before midnight, just as a torrential downpour came
in.

Then yesterday, we got up at 6am and drove/hiked to the main part of
the river and fished the deep pools until noon. Got a bunch of little
trout, but we had heard stories from folks at our guest house about BIG
fish....mostly around 5 kilos, with the occasional behemoth at 8 or 9
kilos. In the afternoon, we went into town and tracked down a fishing
guide who is buddies with Vaughan from Sweden (and got him into the
biggest fish of his life) and spend an hour talking to him. He's also
from Sweden, and told us the Kiwis are pretty over-armed, using only 7
or 8 wt rods when a 4 or 5 wt is much more versatile. So I put my 7wt
away and am only using the more managable 5wt. He also showed us some
great spots on the map to go to: as we suspected, around Taupo everyone
follows everyone else around. They all fish the lake at night, the
stream in the morning, and drink beer all afternoon. They are very
dogmatic about what flies to use, what water to fish, and what style of
fishing to do. He said we should forget all that 'local folklore' and
just fish like we already know how, but in more remote spots.

So this morning at 8, Roger and I drove about 45 minutes south and
hiked into a remote stream. It was BRUTAL! We bushwacked about 100
meters through blackberry bushes about 3 meters tall; way over our
heads. I kept my waders in my backpack and wore heavy pants and a long
sleeve shirt, and my arms and legs still got shredded and bloodied. And
its HOT here, so we were sweating up a flood. When we got to the river,
it was deep and fast, so it was hard to wade along. Nonetheless, I
rigged up and cast into this deep pool, and instantly hooked the
biggest fish I ever had on my line. I saw a little flash near my nymph,
so I set the hook and my first thought was that I had snagged a rock. I
pulled hard, the rod bent over, and nothing happened. I pulled harder,
and suddenly the rock tugged back. I was stunned; we've all heard the
"gee, I thought it was a rock" line, but it really happened. I managed
to get it to come towards me about 5 meters, and it sat back down and
just did nothing. I tugged and coerced, but it wasn't going nowhere.
Then it rolled up for a second and it turned downstream and swam off
like I wasn't even there. My reel went ZZZZIIIINNNNNGGGG!! and then
suddenly my tippet knot let go. Damn! I'm not sure it even knew I had
it hooked, and even though I didn't get a picture with it (or even get
it under control), it was a real rush to know that there ARE nice fish
down here and they aren't impossible to get into.

We fished the section for a few more hours, I caught and released a
smaller one (about a half kilo) and Roger got two more about that size
(he says they were bigger, but there are no witnesses or pictures wink
wink). My second fish was a funny hookup: I was nymphing again and
daydreaming about the 'big one that got away', and I was reenacting my
hookup. I was thinking (and probably talking out loud) about how I set
the hook, and I instinctly yanked back on my rod, and suddenly there
was another fish on!

Roger later tried fishing for my big fish in the pool where he broke
off, but didn't hook it up although he spotted it (or one like it)
under some brush and aknowledged that it was one of the 'New Zealand
critters' that we are looking for.

Anyway, we'll keep you guys posted. Between fishing with Clark later
this week, and Vaughan's friend on Friday, we might get into some
bigger fish soon. I'm checking and retying all my knots tonight.

Tight Lines;
--riverman

TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand
 

angler wrote:
Hi again,

Will, of course, take loads of pictures.
Today, after speaking to Sean Andrews, .....

and riverman wrote:
Hi gang:
Hows the cold, wintry northland :-)

So far here in New Zealand, .....

Fine stuff, guys. Keep 'em coming.

(and PICTURES!!!)

TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand
 

riverman Hows the cold, wintry northland :-)

You forgot dark.

Anyway, it sounds like you're having a great time there. Keep us
posted.

--
Jarmo Hurri

Commercial email countermeasures included in header email
address. Remove all garbage from header email address when replying,
or just use .

TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand
 

On 29 Jan 2006 23:18:21 -0800, "riverman" wrote:

so I was getting wind knots all night.

Lefty would tell you to cast with your forearm and not your wrist. g Have a
great time and, as others have implored, take lots of pictures.
--
Charlie...
http://www.chocphoto.com

TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand
 

Folks, not to get maudlin here, but this is what ROFF is all about.
Two guys that we all know and some of us have fished with, a half a
world away reporting daily on the fishing in a dream spot. These guys
are meeting up (or may be) with other ROFFians and friends of ROFFians
to get the local info.
ROFF is a great network. I went to the Sommerset NJ fly show yesterday
and met with three folks that I know because of ROFF. No, they don't
post, but two have been at Claves and one is an internationally famous
lodge owner and guide who recognized me on the spot (Kelly Staulcup).
The other two were Jim (of the famous Stan and Jim snoring team) and
Tim Trexlar, world class fly tyer.
Keep these posts coming guys and I hope to see you all soon. Hey,
mayhaps we can do a Crappie Clave in Nebraska.
Frank Reid

TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand
 

Frank Reid wrote:
Hey,
mayhaps we can do a Crappie Clave in Nebraska.

well...i don't see why not, we've already done the CACA in nc...g

nebraska?? is that a real state somewhere?

jeff

TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand
 

Keep up the reports guys. That sight fishing in the small streams sounds
awesome. What seems strange to me is that many of the biggest fish are
in the smallest headwater which is just the opposite of what we find in
the States. If you get a chance, ask Clark about that.

Willi

TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand
 

"angler" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi again,
/Roger


Thanks Roger and Myron! Great to here about a trip I would love to do one
day!

Op

TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand
 

"What seems strange to me is that many of the biggest fish are
in the smallest headwater which is just the opposite of what we find in
the States."

This assumption is not true - big fish are found in big rivers and small
rivers. But finding and fishing to big fish in smaller water is perhaps more
satisfying. Fishing the water close to the banks of the bigger rivers like
the Tongariro can produce very big rainbows and browns, but careful stalking
is required. In the area being fished the average size of the fsh is 2.2kg
(about 4.5lbs)

They are fishing in mid-summer when there are good numbers of 'resident'
fish, these are fish that do not return to Lake Taupo after spawning which
occurs from April to August (our Winter).

The fishing in this area is dominated by anglers fishing the winter spawning
runs - and ignoring the excellent fishing over Spring, Summer and Autumn.

Many of the biggest fish are caught at night in the stream and river mouths,
and a quick boast my biggest was a 14lb brown, in January a couple of years
ago.


--
Tony Bishop
www.bishfish.co.nz
New Zealand

New Zealand update: day 3
 

Hi gang:
Roger is sitting right next to me at this internet cafe, and I know
he'll tell you about our great day, but here's my overview.

Our first couple of days were spent getting our bearings: fishing the
tailrace of the Waitahanui, learning what the local waters were like
and where the fish were. We spotted a large amount of smaller fish, and
a smaller amount of larger ones, but weren't able to really get into
any. We also were hanging around the local runs, along with a bunch of
other fishermen.

So yesterday, with the help of Shawn (Vaughan's friend), we started
doing what we really came here for: to get off the beaten paths and
into more remote water, and see if our own techniques would catch fish.
We did our bushwack from hell into the Waipanga river, where I hooked
and lost my big fish, and Roger started getting some good hookups. Then
today, we headed further afield, and found a good access to the lower
stretches of the Mohaka. It was a completely different type of river,
with wide shallow turns and lots of bony riffles and deep pools. But no
fish...at least none that we could find. One aspect of these waters is
that the fish are bigger, but they might be fewer and farther between
on some stretches. Of course, its always completely likely that we were
just not enticing them, either.

Anyway, after a fruitless hour on that stretch (it also cliffed out
pretty quickly so we couldn't go upstream or down), we bailed and
headed off into the woods, literally. We took a lumber road onto a
lumber road onto a woods road and eventually came across the most
beautiful little tributary either of us have ever seen. It took the
most amazing downclimb to get into to, down a vertical cliff for about
100 meters, and ending with a drop from an overhanging tree branch to
the valley floor. No way out but upstream at that point. We fished this
little stream hard for an hour, and although it looked sweet, we were
once again skunked. :-(

However, don't get me wrong. Spirits were soaring, as we were both
keenly aware of the 'exploratory' nature of our day, and we were still
learning about how New Zealand fishing could be done. (And why every
Kiwi I have ever met is rugged as hell, too!)

Anyway, we then drove/hiked to a big overlook where we could see the
headwaters of the Mohaka, and it was a VERY attractive looking piece of
water. I'm sure Roger's post over there at the next computer g is
going to go into the details, but I'll summarize to say that, after we
found our way down from the overlook to the river, geared up and hiked
down and in, we had a very successful day. One particular tailrace was
stuffed with fish. We haven't got our trophy fishes (yet), but we
definately started getting into 1-3 pounders, again and again and
again, and figuring out what they like. So far, the fly of the hour is
a #10 Copper John with a 10 foot leader. Fish after fish were taking
them, and the legend of the 'skittish New Zealand trout' was not borne
out, as we both were getting hits and hookups in the same spot
repeatedly.

Tonight, we will contact Clark Reid and see if he wants to fish (if
you're reading this Clark, you know we are offering you worldwide
advertising for a day out with you g), and on Friday we hope to get a
day out with Shawn. With any luck, the trophies will follow, but for
now, just 'discovering' this island is a great time in itself.

We'll keep the posts coming, and pictures are in the making.

TL
--riverman