28 December 2009
The first of many big adventures for the Meredith boys started with the father and son team embarking on a trip to Kiwi land. Bound for the land of the long white cloud we set off from Perth airport. After changing planes at Sydney we reached Christchurch airport - from the air it looked like we had just landed in big paddock on some farm!
After a some heated discussions with airline staff regarding our missing baggage we piled in into a ripping Toyota Starlet - What a beauty!
So off we went in the red rocket destination Omarama.
We drove over many rivers which all were described in our handbook and recited by the co-pilot at the time to the driver. With the big Q - Should we stop have a quick flick ?
We resisted the temptation and drove non stop to Omarama.We stayed overnight in motel minus our fly rods thanks to our great friends at Jetstar!
29 December 2009
We awoke the next day to bright sunshine with great anticipation. Again we piled into the red rocket and drove to the local tackle shop to purchase a pair of cheap fly rods as we were unsure if and when out lost rods would actually reach us. Kitted out we made our way to the Ahuriri river. We stopped up somewhere in the middle reaches and rigged up. Although it was sunny the wind was creating a little obstacle to the very green fly fisherman.
We walked upstream slowly spotted a fish but it was unfortunately out of reach.
The Ahuriri, what a nice river.
Walked up a little further and found this pond of water away from the main river that provided our first trout for the trip. We then each caught a couple of the willing tiddlers in this small Burn on dry flies before deciding we would like a bigger bend in the rod.
Look at this for stalking technique by Dad!
Yes that's me and possibly the smallest trout you have seen. Nice coloured fish.
So with little time to smell the roses we got back on the road and made our way to Glenorchy via Queenstown.
View onto Lake Wakatipu
We arrived late in the arvo checked into our motel and rigged up and made our way to one of the tributries of the Dart river. Spotted a few fish and Dad hooked into a small feisty brown before it threw the nymph.
Hook up.
30 December 2009
Being very green to the fly fishing game we thought it wise to employ the services of local fishing guide Gordy. We were not dissappointed as he picked us up and drove us to a river nearby for some classical backcountry fly fishing.
Me with the old boy half way up the river valley.
We spotted fish, caught fish and soaked up the world class fly fishing and natural beauty that is New Zealand.
Hook up big boy - thanks to an unbelievable cast across the river by Gordy!
This fish fought hard! I have never seen a trout this size jump! Well played Dad and Gordy.
Spot the fish
Gordy and Dad stalking another wild rainbow.
Soon after the stalk came another beautiful conditioned rainbow to the bank.
Team work. Son on the Rod - Dad with the net.
A very enjoyable day indeed landed 6 fish between 2lbs and 5lbs and hooked a few more that did not make it to the bank. Highlight of the day for me was being in charge of the landing net whilst dad played a large rainbow. This fish would not give up and I was finding it hard to scoop the fish much to the frustration of dad and the guide.
Another interesting situation we found ourselves with was at one stage we had hooked a large brown estimate being 8lbs and this fish fought hard! It took itself down a set of rapids into the next terraced pool of water down from where we hooked him. The fish found the only log in this pool and proceeded to wrap itself around the structure. With this in mind I drew the short straw and wet waded into this chilly river up to my belly button. The word fresh ! comes to mind when I relive the dip. Upon staggering into the river next to the log I saw a large tail fin swaying in the current. I approached slowly, moved my hand into position and grabbed the fish above the tail section only to have the fish slip out of my hands like a bar of luke warm butter.
With plenty of walking to do to get back to the car and the light beginning to fade we started our walk back to the car. An hour and a half later we were in the local pub having a well deserved meal. We ended our day content and extremely exhausted so had an early night!
31 December 2009
The last day of the year was upon us and Dad and I were due to return to Omarama for the final leg of our Kiwi adventure. We thought seeing as though we enjoyed the Otago rivers so much we would have another go before travelling back.
We walked roughly 30 mins up the river from the road without spotting a single fish. Then we spotted in a deep turquiose pool 4 very large rainbows down deep. We threw everything at these fish but they weren't having a bar of it. We came to the conclusion that we just didn't have the gear to get a fly down deep quick enough. Not to waste time on unwilling targets we moved on.
What a backdrop for the adventuring Meredith boys!
Spotted a target but no cigar.
The saying time flies when you're having fun is so true when you are fishing! Dad and I would have spent 7 hours on a section of this lovely river and we were surprised at how quickly our time was running out (we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us). We spotted plenty of fish throughout the day however they all seemed spooked and were disintersted. I recall one pool where there would have been roughly 5 fish both Dad and myself presented a variety of flys to these fish with very little interest. I decided to wade in and have a cast from a rock in the middle of the river. Again I cast a few times and the fish were disinterested. I was in the process of dressing my fly when i noticed a rainbow I had not spotted previously entering the pool. I quickly changed my fly to a nymph as I could see it was feeding deep. I wielded my wand and punched out a cast in the direction of this new target. The fish followed my fly - ground breaking .... none of the other fish in this pool had done so. Next cast I managed to get my cast in a better zone and sure enough the fish followed and a small white flash of the fish's mouth opening indicated I should strike... fish on! Repaying my favour from the previous day Dad grabbed the net and proceeded to net our only fish for the day - a magnificent 4lb rainbow. Well played Sir.
Dad was a very able netman I must say!
This time I was in luck!
Me with the fish.
With the new year approaching and a good day's fishing behind us we hopped into the red rocket and drove off for the McKenzie country. We were to stay at the lodge on Lake Ohau. We were struggling to navigate our way there with a minor detour adding an hour to our trip. Night fell and the ferral rabbits began adding another hazard to consider on the way home. We made it 5mins to the new year and crashed soon after arrival at the lodge.
1 January 2010
Staying at the lodge turned out to a welcomed treat in that we had two meals a day catered for as part of the deal. After some questionable cuisine up until this point our stomachs were grateful. Breakfast time turned out to be productive as by chance we sat next to a gent who was also a keen fly angler and gave us some much needed information about a pretty river nearby.
Nice view from the breakfast table!
Full of tucker and excited about the new information we walked back to our cabin with a spring in our step. Off we went in the red rocket.
Parked the car and we were off up the valley.
After walking 20 mins up the river valley we realised we were in for a great day - the sun was out, wind was down and the river was crystal clear.
Me on the river our breakfast buddy told us about. Can you see me or is my camo far to good?
The terrain took a turn for the worse and we decided the only way to navigate our way through the valley/gorge at river level with a number of fords along the way. So we climbed down the bank and began to flick a few flies around the fast water. Sure enough there were fish and we caught a couple...but the fly was nearly as big as them. We had a few more casts in the fast water before I managed to hook a tree behind me and snap the tip off my rod. Down to one rod bewteen the two of us. It actually worked really well. Taking turns in casting at fish that we spotted as we made our way up gorge.We walked further upstream and at one point were walking through a passage of rock with the river water being knee deep through this section. At the end of the rock passage was a pool and we spotted our first reasonably sized fish of the day. It was feeding off the surface and seemed not to have spotted us. I passed Dad the rod (It was his turn) and he got into position. His first cast was perfect. The little elk hair caddis drifted by the feeding fish and he grabbed it. Dad struck but hook did not set! Dayum!
A little further up another pool, another fish feeding and it was my turn. I cast upstream but the cast was a little offline. The fish chased it but pulled out. Next cast was better and the fish grabbed the fly. I struck only to wrap my rod tip and line around the branch above me. I watched agonisingly as the fish still on my line swam within a metre of me. The line would not come off the branch and the fish bolted upstream and SNAP! No sizeable fish for the day but plenty of lessons learnt and done so in a beautiful setting.
Our day after this point took a turn for the worse when we realised we had to be back in time for our evening meal at the lodge. It was suggested by my bushman like Dad that it would be a good move to make for higher ground and navigate our way back to the car rather than walk back the way we came. Apparently it would be a "shortcut". What then followed was a survival situation with both of us climbing up the prickly vegetated steep hillside. There were only tracks of sheep to guide us through the Briar rose bushes and Matagouri shrubbs. We then bush bashed our way back to the car and after some hairy climbing up the steep hill and prickly encounters we arrived back at the car 2 hours later. To this day Dad still recounts this situation and how it could have gone horribly wrong for us!
Later at dinner we bumped into our breakfast buddy who said that there were some lakes on private land a 5min drive away and they had fish in them. He gave us the telephone number of the farmer whose property they were on and he gave us a fly he had tied that he said worked well from him there.
2 January 2010
We awoke the next morning to find it had rained heavily whilst we had slept. We had our breaky at the lodge, packed up and checked out. We drove off to the head of the lake. After an enjoyable day up the small stream valley from the day prior we went to have another go only to find it considerably coloured and in fact did not clear for the remainder of our trip (We checked it a few times en route to other spots). With no time to waste we went to have a closer look at the lake edge. We rigged up and walked down. There didnt seem much action on the lake. We were looking for some indication of fish activity and it seemed to be dead. There were a few people pottering around in a campervan which was next to a small pond of water 10 metres from the lake (it didnt look very fishy). Being curious I asked the people who had fishing rods next to their camper if the pond had fish in it. They said no. I took their opinion of the pond and went for a closer look at the lake edge while Dad had a closer a look at the pond. Sure enough dad spotted a sizeable brown and called me across. We threw a number of presentations at the fish only to be rejected.
Hard to take a bad landscape picture in NZ!
We moved our base into a small motel in Omarama which would service us until we had to head back to Christchurch and then home. We unpacked , got some tucker and rigged up for a flick in the lower reaches of the Ahuriri. The evening session was not productive and we pulled up stumps and called it a day.
3 January 2010
Today turned out to be a dud! Too much rain and wind! We braved the foul weather and headed up the Ahuriri. Not a touch!
If your thinking this looks uninviting you're right!
We pulled up stumps after enduring 3 hours of wind and heavy rain. We gave it a good go. We tested the red rocket out on a 4WD only track which was entertaining. Upon reflection probably not something we should mention to our hire car company.
After a break from the fishing and a change of clothes we were out again. We tried the small lakes near Lake Ohau that our breakfast buddy at the lodge put us onto. No luck but it was good weather and nice to be flicking a few casts out.
Dad rigging up at the small lakes near Lake Ohau.
We went home empty handed for the second day in a row!
4 January 2010
The day started with inclement weather. We did a bit of shopping and braved the rain and headed up to check if our small stream had cleared only to be dissapointed. We decided to flick some wet flies at the head of Lake Ohau. Dad managed to hook and land 2 small rainbows. I struck out.
Dad with one of the 2 fish he landed.
Dad casting into the wind.
Rugged up taking a break from the wind Eskimo style.
We pulled up stumps and headed into town for lunch. We then rigged up again and headed into Twizel. We fished a small lake in the canals. Plenty of browns spotted in this small lake but they were difficult to fool. We moved on to a section of the Ohau river that turned out to be a little disappointing. Again we pulled out and decided to return to Lake Ohau. The wind dropped and there was a hatch when we arrived. We saw a few surface swirls and tried our luck with some wet flies. We had a productive session. We landed 7 fish, we had a few fish break us off and a few more spit the hook. The fish were still taking flies right up until we left when it was dark!
Me with a hard fighting rainbow.
Another nice rainbow landed.
6 January 2010
Last day before we were due to leave for Christchurch. The rivers were still quite coloured but we decided to try out the Twizel River. Quite a good river we thought although no fish hooked. We spotted a handful but they were incredibly spooky.
The boys having a break.
Nice wild purple thistle flower.
Yellow wildflower.
Dad mid river nymphing on the Twizel.
Dad stalking on the Twizel.
We then moved on for an evening session at the head of Lake Ohau. We hooked and lost a couple.
We pulled up stumps an hour after dark.
7 January 2010
We had an early morning flick on the Ahuriri with no luck.
Dad braving the weather again on the Ahuriri.
We pulled our lines in and made our way in the red rocket for Christchurch. Hopped on the plane back to OZ. We farewelled NZ and vowed to return!
Stay tuned for the 2012 NZ blog.
