New Zealand 2013

16th March 2013

Touch down for a very lucky score at work to attend a conference in Queenstown, NZ. How lucky am I!

Off the plane and into the planned hire car. I had a tramp fish planned and I executed as best I could.
I ended up walking 2.5hrs through some serious bush to arrive and find some actively feeding fish. Just as I was tying my fly on Kayaks paddled straight through my pool from the gorge!

Stunning Setting!

I then lost my patience and walked down to the main river and spotted a nice rainbow only to be disturbed after my second cast by a jet boat.

Dejected I attempted to get to the stream I initially set off to find only to be stopped in my tracks by some serious river crossings. After having a serious tangle with the current fully clothed and equipped I decided to make my way home. 6 river crossings & 3.5hours later i get back to the car with no fish caught.

17th March 2013

I woke up to some wet weather. I decided to try a local lake. No luck.
I had to make my way to pick up my boss to commence the work conference. Then dropped off the hire car.

18-24th March 2013
Work conference. No fishing.
Each lunchtime spent observing good sized trout feeding in the middle of Queenstown CBD. Man I love this place!
Had a good day with Duncan during the conference mountain biking around the lake. It was great fun and a perfect way to see the place.


25th March 2013
I woke to catch the taxi with my boss and was dropped off to the hire car.
I made a quick stop at the deli and my way to the head of the lake. I arrived to my special stream i had caught my first trout on fly 3 years previous. It was low but the sun was out and no one was around.

Look at this water!

I walked up slowly and spotted a few targets but none were playing ball. As I suspected most of the fish were hanging out in the pools near "the rock". The fish easy to see were spooky and none were keen. I spotted a well camouflaged rainbow on the far side bank. Due to the wind I flicked a backhand cast with my blow fly on the end. A textbook take flowed and a lovely wild rainbow of 3lb came to the net.

Magic cast, Magic fish

Unfortunately i had no other success that day. I tried a nearby tail water with no success and i tried the lake near a creek mouth. I had one take but none to the net.

26th March 2013
In such a great place with numerous options i decided to try a river with a very low profile reputation. The guide book said beautiful valley with very few fish . This proved to be correct. The fact a great deal of the fish i had fished for had been so spooky made me decide to look for water with less spooky fish. I tried various spots accessing off the road and came to a stand of tree sheltering the river. Soon after approaching the head of the pool i spotted a nice brown. After 3 fly changes I finally hooked him. It took off downstream immediately (what a powerful fish).

What a Fight!

I managed to capture the whole sequence on film. I netted the 3lb brown and it was time for me to pick up the other Meredith for the second leg of the trip!.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7Ga6ZnTsDE

We got Dad kitted up at the local tackle shop with some boots and headed for the Mataura. Saw plenty of fish , had one take, no hook up and headed for the Mossburn caravan park.

27th March 2013
Got up from our fishing digs at Mossburn and headed for the Mataura around Nokomai access.

Mazda Demio & The Fishing Cabin!

We had the whole stretch to ourselves. We fished all day without any fish to the bank. A few missed takes. Saw some great pools and back waters but very spooky fish overall.

28th March 2013
Woke up to overcast and persistent rain. We headed for Te-Anu. We hit the Elginton lower down and had very little success. One tiddler to the bank, a few takes and a broken rod.

Trophy NZ Trout.... Not :)

We aborted mission and tried the Waiu river below the control gates. Marginally better success with one 1/2lb fish caught on a dry and a hook up by Dad to a serious fish but tough going. We pulled the pin a headed back to our digs. There was a party of other anglers in the Caravan park who shared some info with us as to a successful rig they found worked for them and were kind enough to show us and donate some successful flies to our cause.

29th March 2013
Headed for Gore to get a replacement rod for the broken one the previous day.

Second cast on the Mataura lower down that rod broke. Luck was definitely out for us. Our spirits were high. We went back and kindly got a replacement, took a picture of us in front of the huge trout statue and headed for a middle section of the Mataura.
We arrived at our spot. Third cast on the riffle the indicator dipped and i was into our first trout of the day. Nice little brown. I yelled out for dad to come and give it a go meanwhile i had two more hookups and both got off. Dad had a shot a like clockwork the indicator dipped and Dad hooked and landed a fish just under 2lb.

On the Board!


We had a handful more fish for the day netted, one bust off, one fish take the foam indicator and a handful of fish hooked but lost.

Mataura Gorge in the background

We headed back in good time for a feed at a favourite spot of ours on the Lake. After a hearty feed we decided to flick some streamers as we had success in the past at this spot. I landed a 2lb rainbow and we called it a day.

30th March 2013
We got up early a were greeted with a nice sunny day. We headed for the Matura again in the middle section. We had a little bit of a disagreement with a Kiwi angler who queue jumped us to our access point. He was quite grumpy and then had the cheek to suggest Dad fish with him for the day and I fish alone. We did not have a bar of it and politely played by his rules and ended up walking a huge amount more than we wanted to as a result. However it ended up being a blessing because the spot we arrived at rewarded Dad and I with two fish each up to 3lb.

Dad's fish

My fish


The rest of the day was spent walking back to the car and luckily we did not bump into our freind for the rest of the day. As it happened Dad out fished me with 7 fish caught to my 6. With a late ditch effort at the last pool sealing the victory!. Dad also managed to land his biggest trout to date 4lbs from as it happens "Dad's pool". Perfect setting for a memorable capture!

Nice fish from Dad's Pool

31th March 2013
With confidence of the previous day's fish we tried some new water. We arrived at the Mararoa River. We walked a considerable distance and stopped at a series of riffles and pools in a small gorge section. There were some Big fish keeping us entertained without being caught. I landed two tiddlers (Fish not much bigger than the fly I was using). We then decided to make our way back and tried the fast water on the way back.
We had several hook ups and landed another 4 fish between us up to 2lb. They all fought extremely well for size.

Fit Fish

1st April 2013
Some advice had been given by other anglers that we best not try the Von due to the difficult access, needing a 4WD and likely tough fishing but we were keen to see new water and a challenge.
We had a long drive in and out but the scenery was amazing! We ended up walking into a gorge via the river due to the low levels.

No need for 4WD :)

Early afternoon arrived and Dad finally spotted a fish feeding in a pool. We insisted i try my dry. I threw a accurate first cast in the spot and bang a large Rainbow (est 6bl ish) was on and after his second acrobatic effort 2 foot from the bank threw the fly. Ouch!
I walked back to the bank licking my wounds. No sooner as i had sat down to reflect Dad let me know the fish was back feeding. Feeling sorry for me Dad insisted again I try. This time I had a few casts a fly change to the blow fly dry and a hook up followed, a good fight and lovely long wild rainbow was in the net.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7zxofuIBAM

The hours that followed we spotted, hooked up more but sadly no more to the net. Dad was especially unlucky hooking 3 fish but bust offs and fly spat prevented them being landed.

2nd April 2013
We decided to sleep in and head straight for the airport.

View From Plane Taking Off

We had a great late season trip. Plenty of lessons learned and some that will definitely hold us in better stead for future! Stay tuned...2014 is happening!