Hi,
This past summer has had me working most weekends on yard work at my wife's god-parent's house. As such, my fishing has been limited to a few hours on random Saturday's when Vanessa is working at her parents' shop.

I had recently finished my fight with the agapantha's (a flower that gets out of hand if you don't watch it for more than two seconds it appears! I think I've dug out a ton of roots ... but I digress), so this weekend gone by she treated me to a surprise trip to Rotorura. It's not far, only about 2.5 hours drive from Auckland (provided you don't try and travel during rush hour of course).

So, we hit the road Friday after work, stuck in rush hour traffic. I didn't mind, just knowing we were going was enough. The holiday starts with the engine, not when you arrive (at least, I try and tell myself that; helps reduce driving stress). Anyway, it takes us an extra hour or so to get there, but that's fine. Once we were out of city limits the roads were free moving, though busier than we expected.

Saturday morning we both got up and fished the Waiteti (pronounced Why-te-tee) stream mouth. Lots of good sized fish sitting along weed beds and such, but not a lot of feeding going on. Eventually, Vanessa decided to just read her book, relax, nap, and enjoy a day with nothing that has to be done.

I decided to go up the road to the Ngongataha. Normally very busy, today, nobody. The stream not wide, maybe 12 to 15 feet. There are deep pools in places, lots of hidden snags and downed trees for trout to hid in, and return to in order to snap any inconvenient line attached to it's morsel. Above you is not much safer, the overhead branches feast upon the wayward cast. Combined, however, the shade keeps one cool, the chorus of the cicadas hums along with the riffles.

I set up, walk along the river to a section where i normally start. There's a nice bend with a good pool, and I often see a fish or two here. Today, there was a dozen! The water was clear, which usually means by the time I've eased myself into position the fish have eased themselves elsewhere. However, today, I slip into place and flip out my team of spiders to dance along the currents, waving their soft hackles to all those below. Unfortunately, the flow pushes my tiny beckoning offerings out of the way and into the shallower water. I'm sure I had a looker though.

After two more casts to try and tempt the waters to reveal the secrets of its currents, my next cast seems to find the drift that takes it over the holding water. I watch the flies in their dead drift, and sure enough, one fish turns, makes a dash at something near where my flies should be, and a flash of white indicates an open mouth, but was it a take? There must be some slack in the leader but I?m sure I see some twitch in the line, so I tighten up and to my surprise I'm on! It puts up a good fight, with some leaps, but does not make it under any of the downed logs and after our tussle I?m able to bring it to hand.

I?ve only caught small tiddlers in this river despite it being home to large numbers of double figure monsters. And, by those standards, my 2 lbs, 18.5 inch rainbow is not turning any heads. However, by my standards even the tiddlers are good enough to bring a smile. I check out which fly ?did the trick?, and realised it was my version of Betty?s snipe and blue in a size 12. I use a very dark hackle on it, so it could be called a ?blue and black?, but since I tied these after reading of Betty Hiner?s snipe and blue, I call them ?Betty Blues?.

And, although I will keep a fish for the table, this one is returned. I continue to fish through the afternoon. In all, I catch four fish, the other three all being around 12 inches, and all returned. Of the four taken, three were on the Betty Blues with one on an olive cahill wet fly. I tried some nymphs, and I tried a couple dries, but neither of those produced any interest.

The next day, we stopped at the Waihou (Why-how) and in 1.5 hours I picked up 4 by the parking lot. Vanessa came down to talk to me while I was casting away as it looked like a bit of rain was coming. The Waihou is as clear as it gets, and within the first few casts, we both saw this flash and could see the fish rise up out of the depths to grab the size 14 water cricket (yellow, black rib, starling soft hackle). Shortly after, another took the size 12 Betty Blue (which by now was missing most of the blue floss body and was just the hackle with a tuft of blue fuzz!). At the next pool up, another took the Betty Blue again! and finally, the last was on a size 18 hen pheasant and hare?s ear.

It was a great weekend. Thanks to my wife for the surprise fishing trip, and thanks to Betty for putting me onto a very productive fly. And, to those of you who have taken the time to read this, thanks for letting me share my adventures.

- Jeff