Hi,

Had a weekend away trip to Rotorua. On the way down Vanessa and I stopped for 20 minutes at the Waihou where I had one rise to an olive dun dry fly on my 2nd cast. Refused at the last second, and that was the last fish we spotted before continuing on.

I was showing Winston (my brother in law) and Vincent (my sister in law's boyfriend) how to fly fish. Unfortunately, the weather was overcast and rain most of the time, so it wasn't a pleasant introduction. We fished a few hours on the Ngongataha, which was very low; so yes, the rain is needed. Spotted a few small fish, and Winston hooked up briefly on a Bloody Butcher but it busted him off. On the Waiteti I spotted one fish in the 3 lbs range holding up in a pool, and I could get him to chase a Leslie's Lure but not take. Wouldn't even look at it if I pulled it slowly, had to strip fairly quick it to get a follow. Perhaps faster would have induced a take? Since the fish got tired of chasing after a few tries, I didn't get a chance to experiment further. Later in the day, I noticed the fish was back, and it was willing to chase a Bluenose Squirrel Tail but again no take and the fish got tired of chasing after one try, and so left again.

So, no fish to report, but Winston and Vincent both had some fun despite the poor conditions, so in the end, a big success.

- Jeff