Hi,
Made it out for a few hours today (yes, Christmas Eve; Vanessa was helping at her parents shop for the rush, and I'm useless there!). The Wairoa is a small stream just outside of Auckland. Everyone knows of it, but it's not fished much. The rainbows are generally small, with the one I got today a decent sized one for this water (25 cm, or about 10 inches). Picked it up on a size 12 dark Cahill. It's generally muddy or cloudy, but it was pretty clear today (although the bottom makes it look muddy in the photos, the water itself was quite clear).
I had been fishing for quite some time and hadn't had any luck, until I made it to "hidden pool" where I saw this fellow jump and take a large reddish brown mayfly. I drifted the dark Cahill down and through and shortly after picked this one up. Water was still pretty low, but we've had some rain. That seems to have cooled it down a bit.
- Jeff