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Posts Tagged ‘Big brown trout’

Opening Weekend…

October 14th, 2014 No comments

Another season is well under way. For opening weekend I decided to try some newish water. I had fished it once before about 11 or 12 years ago but only a pool or two and my approach was not great. My memories were of a stream being so willow lined that casting was impossible but thankfully it wasn’t all that bad. It was tough, but far from impossible. I put in a couple of very big days on it to kick off the river season. I covered about 40kms on foot over the 2 days. By the time I got to the truck at the end of day 2 my legs had nearly ceased up. They were burning. I don’t believe they’ve ever burned that much. Over the winter months on the lakes, my legs didn’t get the training the rivers give them and I felt it. It was well and truly worth the pain and effort though; I had some great, challenging fishing and some magnificent fish. That’s why I’m here.

Ronan…

At lunch time on day 1, I thought of Oliver Kite and his “generous libation” as I opened my beer. I gave a libation too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptV1OORfvlI

The Secret Dam.

November 11th, 2012 1 comment

Dad and I used to joke about how trout in NZ would live in a puddle. The truth is that this is only a slight exaggeration. Farm irrigation dams, duck ponds, oxbow lakes, ditches, gold diggings, and every other imaginable body of water can and do support thriving trout populations in NZ. What’s in the water over here that makes this possible? Fish & Game introduce fish to some of these small waters but trout often find their own way in either through times of flood or little rivulets and streams. Either way, once they’re in they live there for years and have no problem surviving the winter months. In Ireland stocked lakes have to restocked at least once a year because so few fish survive the winter in their new, unfamiliar home.

Kevin was working on a farm last year which had 2 small dams on the property. The location was kept secret but finally he brought me to fish them this weekend. I’m forbidden from bringing anyone else there and I can only fish there with Kevin. This is fine by me! One could walk around each of the dams in 5 minutes. There is a small water race connecting the dams to a nearby creek and the ever opportunist trout have made their way into these waters. Over Kevins 2 weeks working there he picked up over 30 trout on lunch breaks and evenings with only 4 under 7lbs. This is an exceptional average even for NZ.

We had beautiful blue sky days during the working week but Saturday brought heavy cloud cover making spotting very tough. Thankfully the morning on the dam was dead calm and we managed to spot a few even in the low light. We did well with our chances. As the wind picked up we went to the creek which feeds the dams. We hooked a fish each. A 6lber for me and one about 8lbs for Kevin which he lost around a snag after taking my advise on where to beach the fish. We know where he lives!

Tight lines all.. Ronan..