TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand

New Zealand day three.

Today we visited the Mohaka river and one smaller to do sight fishing.
The smaller one ran murky because of the earlier showers that we had
seen so with nothing to report about that I'll just say that it was one
of the prettiest little streams I've ever seen.

The Mohaka above highway 5 comes from three rivers in the area around
Poronui and is just about the nicest area to fish in, with big rolling
hills surrounding the river. It was just beautiful. We started with
standing on a bridge looking down into the water when a BIG brown swam
by, talk about exciting.

Myron went upstream and I down, this proved to be a lucky choice for
me. In a stretch of some 50 meters I caught 12 fish and lost another 6.
Three of these fish were around lb2-lb2,5 and of the 6 lost two were
among the three largest trout I ever had the pleasure to hook into.
The first one of the two big ones I didn't get to see, but my guess is
over lb6, since it after about 20 yards broke my leader. The other one
surfaced before I lost it (due to the fact that the hook wasn't set
good enough). Let me tell you, I almost cried, that trout looked like a
f---ing salmon. It was huge, an estimate lb7 or more.

Anyway, progress has been made and allthough we still haven't gotten
one of the really big ones we are at least fooling them (and they us).

I just realized that this computer has a USB port (we're at an internet
cafe) so tomorrow I'll try to set up a couple of photos for you.

It's hot here, we're probably loosing a couple of kilos every day from
sweating, only to add another three by drinking beer at night.

Myron mentioned that he could live here, I'm just acknowledging that I
couldn't agree more.
A lot of credit to Sean Andrews at Taupo Fishing & Gunshop, that guy is
a treasure, bringing his own maps to work so that he can show us where
to go and even sending his maps with us when we leave for the days
fishing.

Tonight we call Clark again and see if we can get some fishing done
together with him.

More later

/Roger

Hey Tony:
I tried to contact you via your website, but I get an error on the
'email bish' link. Feel like meeting up with Roger and me? We're at the
Waitahanui Cottages, and you can leave a number with Shane French (the
owner) and we'll contact you.

--riverman

Just for clarification, the reputation for skittish trout that take off if a
fisherman blinks is primarily about brown trout in he crystal clear waters
in the South Island. The Central North Island where they are fishing is
primarily a rainbow fishery, although there are good numbers of browns as
well, but like the South Island they are nervous.

The North Island fishery is quite different to the South Island, so making
any judgements on NZ fishing based on a couple of rivers in the North Island
is being a little excitable:-)

I have nothing but admiration for them if they got up into the headwaters of
the Mohaka on foot, this is rugged terrain indeed. Most helicopter in and
raft down.

"Willi" wrote in message
...
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

McIntosh responds--did not find this true on my trip----most of the big
browns were found in wide rivers where a guide says :'' there he is about
forty yards away over by the big tree next to the bank--put it just above
him as you will only get one chance".
Most fun was fishing alone up a medium paced stream about 25 feet wide ,
selecting good lies and catching 18 to 20 inch rainbow and browns . [
Timaru creek on south island ]
Biggest browns were found just downstream of salmon farms, but if I was
as young as
roger I would try to catch a couple of those long legged German backpacker
girls.

angler wrote:
New Zealand day three.

The NZ Tourist Board should put you gents on the payroll. g

JR

Hi,

I don't know how to describe what I've seen today without you guys
thinking that I'm lying.
We employed a guide today. This guide showed us what it means to sight
fish in a NZ stream with big browns.

As soon as we began walking along the stream we saw a lb5 - lb6 brown
trout swiming upstream. It was a crystal clear, shallow slow flowing
stream at about 8 - 10 cubic meters of water per second and alternating
sand and gravel bottom with patches of weed. The surrounding was forest
and bushes (dense) with small paths leading to spotting places.

We saw around 20 fish from lb5 up to lb15 (one rainbow and the rest
browns) and only a handfull more but smaller. The largest one of those
I had the pleasure of trying for, and let me tell you, it looked like a
friggin' atlantic salmon in size. The feeling, approaching that brown
still sends shivers down my spine.
Of the 20 fish I'd say that 80% were feeding and hence we tried to fish
for those.

We got totally skunked. Even the guide said we did everything right,
but to no avail. It was obvious they were feeding on nymphs, from the
fact that we could see every move they made. I must have tried 20
different dropper and tandem nymph combinations, going through my nymph
box and the guide's. At the best the fish would turn to see what the
nymphs were but would not take. I do beleive we did everything right,
as far as technique goes, both since the guide thought we did have
really good presentations and since we didn't spook more than two or
three fish during the entire day. Myron even got to try for an hour at
one brown, all the while the brown was feeding. We (and that includes
our guide) couldn't just figure out what these fish were feeding on.

I just don't get it, how can a stream like the one we visited today
hold so many large fish?

Spotting these big browns take time. What would have been a half hour
walk turned into a days fishing.

We probably go back tomorrow (seeing 20 fish of which probably 15 would
have been a new personal record will have some effect on the decision
making) and try to fool them with more (different) nymphs.

/Roger

Days 4 and 5:

Day 4:
Got rained out all morning, so we caught up on some laundry and
errands. In the afternoon, we hiked the most gawdawful beautuiful gorge
to seek out some fish. Found a nice casting spot, but only got tiny
ones (really, even by NZ standards. In the 6 inch range). Interesting
learning curve, though. I was fishing some generic nymph as a dropper
below a Humpy as an indicator, and these tiny rainbows were taking the
humpy. I lost the dropper in a bush, so I put on a Copper John, and
suddenly these tiny Browns started taking the CJ, like cast after cast
after cast. The best lesson in selective feeding I ever had.

Although we got skunked for big fish, we both agreed that it was such a
stunningly beautiful hike that it was all worth it.

We also had a hilariously funny experience at KFC that I will post
later, when I can think about it without laughing my ass off long
enough to write a post.

Day 5:
I'll let Roger post the details, but I'll summarize it up with a few
words.

BIG fish. Really BIG BIG BIG fish....brownies in the 10-15 pound range.
WOW. LOTS of them, and an incredible day spent stalking them 'New
Zealand style'. I don't know if I can ever catch a 12" Brown trout
again and not feel a touch of longing.

I'm moving here. :-)

--riverman

did you get my email? phone 093608035


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

Roger We saw around 20 fish from lb5 up to lb15... We got totally
Roger skunked. Even the guide said we did everything right, but to no
Roger avail.

Hi Roger and Myron,

Sounds like you're having a great time and lots of excitement.

As for the nymphing problems... hmm. I'm just throwing these around
for practice and fun, I'm not trying to say you haven't tried these
yet.
- Try the Leisenring lift. Should be absolutely deadly since you can
see the fish.
- Take a net and get a sample of the insects.
- If dead drifting doesn't work, try fishing from upstream. This could
be difficult with the clear water, though. Use a sink tip or enough
lead to get the fly down to the feeding level. Try different
retrieve (swimming) patterns.

Well, those are the first things that come to mind.

Your TRs do make me think once again about our (me and some Finnish
friends) plans to visit NZ. I myself don't mind fishing without
catching big fish, but some of my friends do mind. So while I've heard
that the scene and the fish in NZ are amazing, I have also already
heard earlier that _catching_ the fish them can very
difficult. Looking at your TRs from this point of view, you are past
day 5 and even with
- some prior information
- the climbing and bushwhacking you have done
- a guide
- the skills (I've seen Roger cast),
the largest fish you have landed so far have been lb2-lb2.5
(IIRC). Some would qualify that as pretty difficult fishing.

--
Jarmo Hurri

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

On 1 Feb 2006 23:19:29 -0800, "angler" wrote:

Hi,

I don't know how to describe what I've seen today without you guys
thinking that I'm lying.

snip

Sounds like you guys are having a great time and getting some shots at good
fish. Can't ask for *much* better than that. g Wish I was there, but your
excellent TR's will have to do. Can't wait to see your pictures.
--
Charlie...
http://www.chocphoto.com