A day in a gorge without a net… or food..
I forgot my weigh-net and my lunch. After climbing into the steep sided gorge I broke my glasses. What a start! The prospect of not being able to verify a double, should I catch one, worried me more than the difficulty of landing a fish in a gorge without a net. A day without food I can live with. I tied my glasses back together and took on the day.
I fished to a decent number of fish over the course of the day. They were off, not feeding, dogo. Some were incredibly spooky, some allowed me to get a second shot in but then bolted. I took various measures to beat the situation; long leader, extra long leader, fine leader, small flies, streamers, single fly etc but it didn’t matter. I could see from the manner of the fish that they were not playing. They were sitting very still, tail barely moving in the glassy tails of the pools. I pushed on, I decided that on a day like this, my only chance was to cover lots of river and therefore more fish.
At around midday after an early start, I found a small brown happily feeding in a slightly riffled tail of a pool. I put on a dry and he ate it first cast. The bigger fish, seatrout, were still dogo. Try as I might, I could not get a hint of a positive response. Nevertheless, I was happy in my surroundings and still confident that I’d find a decent fish on the fin. Time flew by and before I knew it I was approaching the last pool of the day. I spotted a big fish at the tail. I quickly took my shot. Nothing. Five more shots, still nothing. Streamer… the fish sidestepped the fly and then bolted for cover. I took a few more steps to look up into the pool before climbing out of the gorge and walking out. There was a decent fish on the fin. Ha! I got into a good casting position but could no longer see the fish through the glare. I went back out of the glare to see the fish and mark his position off an overhanging rock. Back into position and I took the shot.. the fly landed where I wanted it to. I watched as the tippet sank beneath the glare.. The tippet was being pulled under at a constant rate by the single weighted nymph. Suddenly, the sink rate increased, just by a little. This was evidence enough to strike. The fat hen fish jumped repeatedly then charged up the pool, while trying to get under every rock and ledge on the way. I landed the fish, took a quick photo and then happily climbed out of the gorge. I had a secret farm dam in mind for the next day…
This weekend? Coast?? Not sure yet!
Ronan..
-
- Easy morning on the Waiau in Te Anau..
-
- Guy drives into the morning mist!
-
- We pulled up on a gravel bar. The fishing was terrible!
-
- Iza’s first casting lesson!
-
- The fishing was very bad on the lake so I collected some firewood instead.
-
- I wore out 30 out of the 36 studs. Time for a new set! Worth the money for the grip!
-
- Ready!
-
- A stunning 3lber from a wilderness gorge.
-
- This was my last cast of the day! The fish were incredibly spooky and difficult all day.
-
- A quick look back after the climb out!
-
- Hooked him, broke in him. Lost sight of him as he swam off.. I cast again in the murky water after retying an identical fly on. Suddenly, a solid take from the murk. I got my fly back!
-
- The murk where he lived!
-
- I think these are tiny snails. they were in the surface film. They collected on my hand as I retrieved..
-
- These inquisitive calves were brave.. the ring leader kept bringing them closer to me!
-
- Some superb fish swim in the secret dam.. Lots of little ones too, great promise for the future.
