First trip season 2017/18

I'd been waiting a while for this trip and when it finally arrived I found the river to be at 1.50m running clear and fast. It took me a while to get used to the high and fast water. It created too many drifts which were dragging in the current. Line mending was much more important and casting directly above me helped a lot. Caught some nice fish for the week, many about 30cm ,but nothing of any size above that. Got em on nymphs which were heavy, some took the large stimmy I used as  an indicator and I also got a few on a range of dry flies later in the week. The highlight of this trip was searching for and finding a nice open part of the West Branch. Only about 5km from Harrietville, 3.5 km on the dirt road. A great walk, some nice trout, but really only an option when the main river is flowing quickly. The first section of Tumblegum was also a great section of water at this level , but the second section was running quickly and hard to fish. Took about 45 trout for the four days. Temp was about 15-18 degrees with some sun, a few showers one morning and a couple of overcast days. This was also our last trip to Alpine Arnica No. 2 as its all been sold. Hopefully, next trip is back to Number 1 unit.

Harrietville with Glenn, Tony and Denis.

Getting all the blokes available was difficult enough but having them all fit was too much to expect and alas, it was the maestro, with a crook achilles, who couldn't fish with us. Anzac day fell on a Tuesday and this gave us a chance to get together for 4 days at Harrietville. Leading up to our trip, we'd had about 30 mm of rain which freshened up the river. On the Sunday morning the sun was out and the men were keen. First trip was to Frosty corner where another angler had already entered the river, bastard, that never happens in Harrietville. Drove down to Tumblegum where we fished for the morning. We worked away with dries and nymphs and although the fish were a bit difficult to find we managed to get amongst a few smaller ones. Both blokes enjoyed the river and its little pockets full of fish, the runs and riffles that all carry rainbows and the soft little pockets that sometimes hold browns and occasionally produce a surprise for the angler. In the afternoon we returned to Frosty Corner and managed to find a few more fish, nothing spectacular, but enough to keep us all interested. A few beers around the campfire and we hatched a plan for day 2. Weather was stable and we began the day at Granny's Pantry.We wandered up the river and tripped up a few more trout. Took the fellas up past Archies Pool and shared a few stories of Denis and the massive escapee he caught a few years ago. The afternoon was a trip to Bon Accord track. The river was beautiful up there. Plenty of fish and magnificent scenery, just perfect for a finale. We kept a running total of trout numbers and we managed 45 between us for the journey. Glenn and Tony returned to Melbourne on Tuesday morning because the rain began the previous night. Michele and I stayed the day and watched the rain tumble. 100mm of rain  at Mt Hotham that night. We returned to Melbourne with plans to do it again next season.

Harrietville March 2017

The weather was warm and stable for the 4 days, the river was at Summer height of 1.24 and I was keen to fish. I took a lot of trout over the  four days, 66 in total. Many of these were juvenile and keen to have a slash at anything that looked like food. The larger trout were very careful and much more selective and it took a while to work out what would constantly take a fish. I used a Glenn Innes hopper , elk hair caddis, yellow and red humpy and a couple of different Wulffs. Finally I started to get better fish on a green Humpy # 14 . that was a nice change because I tied it years ago but never sent it down the river. When I found some deeper water near Smoko I began with a larger red and yellow stimmy. My thoughts were that the larger fly might dissuade the little fish from having a crack. In a particularly nice gutter which ran at the rivers edge for 40 metres I took a beautiful brown trout of 43 cm. Great fish who'd been sitting at the food conveyer belt gobbling anything that came its way. I took some photos, put the tape measure on him and released him back to his home. Over the next few sessions i fished that water 3 more times and on one afternoon found a few more nice browns which were all over 35cm. The trailing Copper John worked well on those trout. We had a great trip to the North East and have another planned for April 22-25 with Denis, Glenn and Tony.

A trip to the KP

Weather had been fine, the river was holding a moderate flow and Summer was coming. Before the Parrot gets too low and heats up, we thought a trip over for a look was warranted. Glenn and I drove over in cloud and cool conditions and as we arrived at Kinglake the rain started and the weather was cool. We drove into Pheasant Creek and had a coffee while the weather cleared. We fished the Golden Mile and Glenn took a couple early, both on a dry. River looked beautiful and we were hopeful of more trout. The sun was trying to shine and we changed flies often trying to unlock todays secret fly. I managed a small trout with a nymph and also lost another small fish on a dry. A great day on the Parrot but I fear it might be the last for a while until we have a bit of cooler weather in March /April.

Season 2016-17 A trip to Owen River Lodge

If you have the best wife and family in the world, you'll know what this means. My surprise 60th birthday present was a trip to Owen River Lodge, the best large wild brown fishing lodge in the world. We made a two week trip out of this excursion but the fishing is what this blog is about.
I was told by my guide Pete, that modest returns of large fish was what I could expect. Modest, means 3-5 fish about 6lb is considered a good days fishing. I had three guided fishing days and was very excited. We fished the Wairou river on day 1. We lucked out with the weather and had the first sunny , windless day of the season. Pete tells me to go down and cast to the fish that he's spotted. I can't see it and ask for an exact position. He explains its lying behind the large rock about 2 metres out from the bank. I look closely and ask him where it is in relation to the large rock at the end of the shaley sand. He looks again and says to me " that's the bloody fish you donkey, cast at it" i cast a small fly, size 14 Para adams, the fish rises and I strike. What happens next was unbelievable. The fish rips up the river and takes about 30 metres of line. I can hardly hang on and after a long 10 minute fight i manage to get him in. A couple of quick snaps and I'm on the board with my first fish and plenty of photos. That fish was a modest 6 lb. We fish all day and managed 10 trout , a remarkable effort, for day 1. I missed plenty due to poor casting but over the next 2 days managed to land 18 trout. The two largest were 7lb and the remainder ranged between 3-6 lb. A combination of dry and wet flies were used . Lots of fly changes, thanks to Pete and Adam. They must have changed flies about 100 times each day. No more than 2 casts over any fish before a change of fly. The windy conditions were challenging on the morning of day 2 and I was only average to say the least. Need more practice at home before I fish in the wind again. It was an amazing experience, I'll never forget nearly being spooled by a fish. That big brown trout took my dry fly, charged upstream 50 metres, came charging back downstream with me following as fast as I could. Once the fish got below me, I had to run across the rocks and get below him. After a few leaps from the water, a couple of rapids and many attempts to bust me off I finally landed him 110 metres from where he was hooked, what a fish.
Sight fishing in NZ is fantastic but you need a guide to ensure success. Pete was sensational and found fish each day. I couldn't see them but he was great. Fishing a nymph blindly along those rivers could mean you might get a couple but the guides are worth their money and should be used if possible.