Lake Wanaka, Lake Dunstan and the West Coast in September…
About a year ago I noticed some good looking water on Lake Wanaka from the top of Rocky Mountain. The weekend before last I went to check it out. The day was perfect, little or no wind with bright sunshine. I spotted the edges and saw very few cruisers. The few I cast to were extremely spooky and just fecked off from even the most delicate presentation. I was there for about 2 hours without catching before I started putting it together. I noticed some fish rising well out, some in range, all sporadic. I saw a few chironomid on the top. I thought it would be worth putting on a team of two buzzers on a long 4lb tippet and fishing it blind. After about an hour I got one. Once I found a reasonable concentration of fish I got a few more. It went to plan! I found a few fish and figured out what they were at and got some. When fish are difficult to catch it makes it all the more rewarding when you do catch! It’s worth mentioning that as I get older I’m getting more disciplined in this type of fishing. In the past I needed to be doing more. Stripping I guess! Now I can stay focussed while just staying in touch with my flies for as long as it takes. Like my father! Alhough it will be many more years before I come close to his skill level with a team of buzzers.
The following day I went to Dunstan, my home water. It never fails! I know it well at this stage. After my buzzer fishing on Lake Wanaka the day before it seemed like the right choice for Dunstan too. I battled the silt and blind fished the water in front of me as I steadily walked to keep covering new water. Critical when blind fishing. The more water you cover the more fish you cover, it’s as simple as that. I had about 10 fighting fit browns and a rainbow, mostly on the buzzer. In the afternoon I tried out some new water on the lower Kawarau. I had a couple on the woolly bugger. Another great day, Its always a bonus to successfully try out some new water.. Great to catch up with Mike Wilkinson, Kevin and Alan Mc Intire on the lake too!
The weekend just passed was a mission to the coast. The forecast was for sun and light winds. Ideal conditions. It turned out we had very strong wind for most of Saturday. That coupled with big surf made the going difficult. I heaved out the flies all day long to no avail. I might have had one touch but probably not. Iza, on the other hand, did well. Her soft plastic fish imitation fooled 2 trout and a Kahawai. One of her trout was the fattest seatrout I’ve seen on the coast. Stuffed to the gills with something, whitebait or toheroa most likely. One of the Wakitipu Anglers Club members had a trout stuffed with toheroa! On Sunday the winds were light and there were very few people around, not even whitebaiters. With the place to ourselves we still couldn’t get a fish. Not even on Iza’s spin gear. I hooked and lost a good trout in the morning which was the highlight of my fishing for the weekend. The Wakitipu Anglers club, with which I’m a member, also had a gathering there at the weekend. I haven’t heard many results but I don’t think many were caught from the river mouths. This is usually a great time of year over there so I don ‘t know why the fishing was so bad. The whitebaiters are saying that the bait has not turned up yet so maybe its all about to happen…
I’m taking bookings for the season ahead, so if you’d like me to guide you on your NZ trout adventure contact me here! You know you’ll be in good hands.. October is only a week away! (ronan@sexyloops.com)
Tight lines, another weekend is almost upon us!
Ronan..
ps.. If your in this area the Wakitipu Anglers Club is a great club to be a part of!
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- I decided to try out some new water on Lake Wanaka..
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- Buzzer fishing in the flat calm accounted for 4 good trout…
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- A feisty rainbow!
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- The best fish of the day..
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- The following day, Lake Dunstan. My home water!
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- The buzzer cleaned up on Dunstan. I had about a dozen. Same little black buzzer from the last blog.
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- Another healthy brown goes back..
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- I also had some decent sport on the lower Kawarau on the same day.
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- A hedgehog..
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- All curled up in his spiky sleeping bag!
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- Back to the West Coast!
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- The fishing was extremely slow for me on the fly but Iza did well with soft plastics..
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- Then this! The fattest seatrout I’ve seen on the coast..
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- In the thick of it!
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- This is all I landed for the weekend.
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- This is like a scene from Lord of the Rings, I asked Iza to move forward a little!
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- Allister and Iza.. Allister is also in the Wakitipu Anglers Club. We all had a west coast meet last weekend.
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- Whitebaiters!
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- A west coast river..
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- A coastal beach..
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- There was thumping surf all weekend..
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- Iza’s first Kahawai! Thanks for the jacket, Irene!!!
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- Back he goes, like a rocket!
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- The sunset reminded me of a Salvadore Dali painting..
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- The evening was stunning so we fished into darkness….
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- Campfire cooking.. No need for a gas stove!
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- You can pick up the over grills from a Waste Busters for sweet feck all.. They have revolutionised my bush tucker!
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- Loads of Toheroa (I think.. Breandan??) They were washed up, damaged and broken. The gulls were feasting on them. I assume its a natural occurrence, but it seemed odd to me.
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- My whitebait fly tied with white possum. Iza likened it to a character from Ice Age..
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- The white patches are the washed up shellfish. I’ve never seen them like this before on the coast. One of the club members, Daniel Holik, Got a trout stuffed with them!
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- The back country grill..
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- Bacon and left over spuds for lunch.. and a couple of eggs which I put on afterwards!
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- A nice view of the Haast River. I was checking out some water on the way home. I saw a couple of trout too!!!
