Striking Gold!
So far on this holiday season the fishing has been pretty average. The first mission to the coast with Guy and Jeff was okay, the second with Mark Adamson was a bit worse. The mouths didn’t fish well, but then, in truth, we did not really give them a serious run. One was too coloured, one was full of glacial silt but just fishable, and the tide was wrong when we had time to fish another. So if conditions were right they may have been epic, but my gut tells me otherwise.
Mark and I had 2 days on the coast. Day one we tried some mouths as I just mentioned, also a spring creek but it looked as though someone had been in there earlier that day with a chainsaw. Possibly to clear a run for a jetboat, or to get bulls out of a grazing area farther up the creek. A farmer told me that. Either way, It felt like a waste of fishing time being there. The water was spectacular though. We tried another spot with no joy, so we went to the pub for a steak and a pint.
Day 2 we fished a typical, large west coast river. It was high after rain but clear. I got one on a dry right away. Mark spotted the fish but as he was not set up, I took the shot and got the fish. It’s essential not to fuck around when an opportunity presents itself. Take the shot! Waiting for someone results in too many lost chances. I’ve learned this many times. We expected plenty more shots but unfortunately, they did not come. We got 2 each for the day, 3 on that river and one on a river during a quick stop on the drive home. So not many fish, but a truly great day in one of the nicest places I’ve seen.
My old friend Kevin Alexander, who you’ll know from many previous blogs, has just moved to Cromwell. We’ve been doing some gold dredging and some fishing as well as eating and some drinking. It’s great to have him and his family here and he’ll probably be popping up on this a lot more from now on. Soon we will fix Daltona! She’s been idle too long.
This has been a good Christmas so far for catching up with friends, especially Bob Toffler. Bob, I’m delighted that broken leg healed up and thank you for showing me your secret spots! I managed a 5 and a 6lber to finish off 2013..
Happy new year everyone from the thundery and rainy Otago night… I don’t know what’s in store but I expect I’ll stay in NZ, especially after reading about the Irish Budget. They’re squeezing every last drop out of those who remain..
Ronan..
- Christmas Day! Pissing rain and cold… The Simms paclite jacket didn’t let a drop in!
- We fished half a day, then within 15 minutes the river became unfishable and uncrossable!
- Back at the car a little early! We never even saw a fish..
- Christmas Day lunch in the comfort of the truck! Life is too short to drink shit beer.
- Back to the coast where the estuaries had gone off the boil.. Hooked and lost a few trout.
- Happy to be here none the less…
- Again, the rivers were high and coloured after rain but stream in the foreground was clear….
- …very clear!
- The lens on my camera is too small to make a good job at this type of shot, but I’ll try anyway!
- Nothing in the crystal clear creek.. there was some evidence of recent jetboat activity so we got out.. but nothing worked. Another blank!
- A new day begins.. I got permission to drive through private land to get to a new river for me..
- Second cast!
- A great start…
- Mark in action…
- A perfect little fish.. This and mine took a dry.
- I was perched on that tree to get a view up river.. It was getting hard to make ground up river. Lots of bush-bashing.
- Walking, watching…
- Blind fishing some bouldery water with a Mr Glister…
- West coast rivers hold a beauty that’s hard to describe..
- It’s hard to take a bad photo here!
- The river was very high but clear. We saw very few fish.
- Breandan! What’s this??? It’s about the size of a mandarin section.
- Lots of deer sign..
- This 4.5lber took a Mr Glister fished blind in a deep pocket.
- A tadpole…
- These rivers change and move all the time..
- The river flattens out here.. and there is the bull we were warned to stay away from..
- The bull just ate grass.. Another nice scenic shot!
- Mark into a fish from a river on the way home…
- In the low evening light, I took off my glasses then hit myself with a double tungsten nymph… so I put my glasses on again.
- Gold dredging with Kevin Alexander..
- It’s hard work using the suction dredge. In the water shifting rocks all day trying to get to bedrock where the gold might be lying. The dredge sucks up stuff 4″ and under, We move the rest by hand. Kevin’s waders leaked!
- Working the pan..
- Some “colour”..
- The result of about 5 hours work.
- My last fish of the year, Caught on the 31/12/2013…
- …and my first of 2014.
- In the net.. The 2014 account is open on the 1st!
- 3 for Kevin, 2 for me. Fun, challenging fishing on Dunstan to start the year.