TR: The Swede and the Yankee do New Zealand

A pretrip TR for those of you cabin-bound and ornery. And a Happy
Chinese New Year to you all.

Its Friday, late morning Hong Kong time, and at this moment Roger is
enroute to Auckland, having left Tokyo about 8 hours ago and due to
arrive in about 8 more. He's going to check in to the airport hotel,
get a bottle of single malt, and subscribe to the Playboy channel for a
day. I don't want to know any more details than that.

My flight leaves Hong Kong in just under 6 hours, and I arrive in
Auckland tomorrow morning at oh-early-thirty, local time. I'll get the
Rentalmobile, Roger and I will meet up at his hotel, I'll get a quick
shower and shave, and its off for the 3 hour drive across the north
island to Lake Taupo.

Our destination is the Waitahanui River, a world-class trout river even
by New Zealand standards. There are some resident browns that tip the
scales at over 5 pounds, and a host of introduced Rainbows that run
about half that size. The fish make a seasonal run up the river from
Taupo Lake, and the prime fishing spot is at the mouth of the river.
Our accomodations are the luxurious Waitahanui Cottages, approximately
200 meters from the mouth of the river, with access to the entire
stretch of water as well as some other great locales. We ought to be
there with lines wet by midafternoon, tomorrow.

With any luck, we will meet up with fellow roffian, Clark Reid, and get
a chance to tip a bottle and wet a line with him and see some fishing
spots that are off the beaten track. We are sworn to secrecy as to the
location of these sites, so don't even try to pry any information out
of us. The only hint I'll give you is that you probably cant get there
from where you are g. In exchange, Roger has promised to meet Clark
in the White Northlands of Sweden sometime, and reciprocate. For my
part, if Clark ever makes it to Maine, I'll introduce him to someone
who can show him some fish. g

I know the cottages have internet access, as our reservations were made
on-line, but I don't know if it extends to the guests, or if its in our
cottages. We'll keep an updated trip log, and post a TR when feasible.

Meanwhile, wish us luck catching our trophy fish, and tight lines!

--riverman

riverman wrote:

Meanwhile, wish us luck catching our trophy fish, and tight lines!

--riverman


Sounds kickass. Take lots of photos. Hopefully you'll get Clark to take
you to a couple of the small mountain streams that hold those big Browns.

Willi

On 26 Jan 2006 18:43:45 -0800, "riverman" wrote:

Meanwhile, wish us luck catching our trophy fish, and tight lines!

Good luck and have a great trip.
--
Charlie...
http://www.chocphoto.com

Have a great time in the kiwi land! An illustrated TR - that is, with
photos - would be much appreciated.

--
Jarmo Hurri

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

riverman wrote:
A pretrip TR for those of you cabin-bound and ornery.

Hi all,

In Auckland right now, waiting to see if riverman can find his way to
the hotel. No Playboy channel, but I did, yesterday, enjoy the company
of a very lovely, and young, Danish woman g

Sun is shining and it is warm outside. The beer was descent yesterday
and I got a good nights rest. Something tells me I might end up
driving.

It is a loooong journey to get here and for me it is the furthest I can
go and still stay on earth, as NZ is more or less on the exact opposite
side of the planet.

More later.

/Roger

Guys,

First day of real fishing here in NZ. Spent the morning on a creek less
than 10 yards wide. Caught one and spotted five. True to form the one I
caught was the smallest. The fish in this creek average 4lb (2kg) with
some up to 9lb (8kg) and are mostly browns. The creek is in what I
would describe, more or less, as a rainforest. The bottom of the stream
is fine gravel and sand. Fish are shy and easily spooked, but there are
plenty of them. Surprisingly NZ is, on my part, living up to
expectations gathered over ten or more years. We have been upstream
nymphing so far, but tonight will mean some dry fly fishing and after
that some streamer fishing. Yesterday we spent the evening on the rip
of one of the rivers floating into Lake Taupo (streamer fishing). The
fish there are rainbows and browns averaging around lb6 (2.7 kg). We
have as you understand just started fishing, but with the fish spotted
so far, this trip holds promises of new personal records. No fishing
is done, during daytime, without polaroids and a stealthy approach.
The locals are using 8 weight rods in this little stream, that if
nothing else should give you an idea of what can be caught in the NZ
small clear and very beautiful streams.

BR/ Roger

angler wrote:
Guys,

First day of real fishing here in NZ. Spent the morning on a creek less
than 10 yards wide. Caught one and spotted five. True to form the one I
caught was the smallest. The fish in this creek average 4lb (2kg) with
some up to 9lb (8kg) and are mostly browns. The creek is in what I
would describe, more or less, as a rainforest. The bottom of the stream
is fine gravel and sand. Fish are shy and easily spooked, but there are
plenty of them. Surprisingly NZ is, on my part, living up to
expectations gathered over ten or more years. We have been upstream
nymphing so far, but tonight will mean some dry fly fishing and after
that some streamer fishing. Yesterday we spent the evening on the rip
of one of the rivers floating into Lake Taupo (streamer fishing). The
fish there are rainbows and browns averaging around lb6 (2.7 kg). We
have as you understand just started fishing, but with the fish spotted
so far, this trip holds promises of new personal records. No fishing
is done, during daytime, without polaroids and a stealthy approach.
The locals are using 8 weight rods in this little stream, that if
nothing else should give you an idea of what can be caught in the NZ
small clear and very beautiful streams.

BR/ Roger



Take lots of photos.

Willi

"angler" wrote in message
oups.com...

Guys,

First day of real fishing here in NZ. .
The locals are using 8 weight rods in this little stream, that if
nothing else should give you an idea of what can be caught in the NZ
small clear and very beautiful streams.

BR/ Roger

McIntosh comments --visited NZ a couple of years ago
and only used a 6 wt. My problem was spotting the fish before they spotted
me.Would move to Nelson on south island tomorrow if wife said OK and NZ
would let me. She thinks I am to old and the country knows I don"t have
enough money. When you see Clark hold on if he is driving.

Hej Roger,

Great, we feel almost there by reading your report. Most of us have the
polaroids, rods, reels, lines, flies, just miss one key element: the being
in NZ bit!!!

Nevermind, if you can spare some non-fishing day time everyday we will
"drink" your words of exploits with delight. (promise: no sorrow!)

Catch some for us.

Jerome


"angler" wrote in message
oups.com...

Guys,

First day of real fishing here in NZ. Spent the morning on a creek less
than 10 yards wide. Caught one and spotted five. True to form the one I
caught was the smallest. The fish in this creek average 4lb (2kg) with
some up to 9lb (8kg) and are mostly browns. The creek is in what I
would describe, more or less, as a rainforest. The bottom of the stream
is fine gravel and sand. Fish are shy and easily spooked, but there are
plenty of them. Surprisingly NZ is, on my part, living up to
expectations gathered over ten or more years. We have been upstream
nymphing so far, but tonight will mean some dry fly fishing and after
that some streamer fishing. Yesterday we spent the evening on the rip
of one of the rivers floating into Lake Taupo (streamer fishing). The
fish there are rainbows and browns averaging around lb6 (2.7 kg). We
have as you understand just started fishing, but with the fish spotted
so far, this trip holds promises of new personal records. No fishing
is done, during daytime, without polaroids and a stealthy approach.
The locals are using 8 weight rods in this little stream, that if
nothing else should give you an idea of what can be caught in the NZ
small clear and very beautiful streams.

BR/ Roger

Hi again,

Will, of course, take loads of pictures.
Today, after speaking to Sean Andrews, we went fishing in the Waipanu
river. Extremely hard to access and only way to travel along the river
is to wade upstream. Caught two rainbows at or just above lb2 (1kg) by
the way of upstream nymphing. Nothing much, but Myron lost one that
must have weighed in between lb4 - lb6.
Beautiful stream though, so tomorrow we fish the upper reaches of this
stream where the average fish is said to hold a weight of lb6 - lb7.
Just made contact with Clark Reid (we got an email), this might change
our plans a bit, we'll see tomorrow.
So, fish are increasing in size and we're getting the hang of how
things are done down under.
More later.

/Roger