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Chris and I had started off just upstream from the Tauranga
Taupo road bridge and we had caught a few fish before we
split up and I moved a bit further upstream. The river was in
perfect nick, the weather was good and the breeze was light
so the fishing should be good - and it was.
I moved into a small riffle with a depth of no more than 12 inches
and flicked my Adams dry and small Bead head hares ear nymph
upstream and across, it was hard to see even at a distance of only
20 feet as the sun sparkled beautifully of the rippling water but the
takes on the dry were savage and unmissable even though none of
the trout were more than 12 inches long. They just kept on hitting
the fly - almost every cast had a take and the fish just seemed to be
"un-spookable," fish after fish, all lovely colourful Rainbows, slashed
at the fly and leapt clean out of the water before heading down from
the riffle into the head of the pool proper. I drew them in to the edge
for a quick unhooking, no net required and no need to lift them out of
the water, just a quick twist on the hook and they were off into the
deeper, darker water of the pool for a sulk.
It was a truly magical day, as I moved farther upstream to another
lovely pool, a Kingfisher flashed past and a Grey Heron fished a
back eddy, all picked out by the late summer sun, a camera could
not have done justice to the light.
I decided to sit and watch the pool for a while before starting to fish,
and I could clearly see two good trout, both around the 4lb mark and
both feeding on drifting insects in the surface film. The water was clear
enough to see every grain of the golden gravel bottom and every ripple
of the sandy edges and those two trout were a sight to behold.
The water ran in at the head in a short joggle before flattening out
into a glide with a bubble line running under the overhanging impossibly
green ferns on the far bank. As I sat looking at the pool my view became
misty and tears began to stream down my cheeks, it took me a couple
of minutes to pull myself together as I sat there wondering what had
caused such a reaction to a scene of such beauty.
I slowly realised that when my sister in law had died suddenly a couple
of months previously I had been the one to be strong, I had to of course
for my wife. Without realising it I had not grieved for her, I had in fact
been angry with her for leaving her sister and her parents so suddenly
and hurting them so much. I thought how stupid of me to be angry
with her for daring to die suddenly!
I stood up, moved past the pool and left those two perfect trout
still feeding; it was just too perfect a place to disturb so I moved on.
I fished the next riffle and hooked a lovely Rainbow on the first cast,
as I drew her towards me to release her I realised that I may be
getting growled at by the "black dog" but it was impossible not to
smile and enjoy the splash of cold water in my face that she left
me as a parting gift.
I sat again and admired the view upstream in the sunshine and
realised that Life just doesn't get any better than sitting by a river
watching a couple of trout lazily feeding and then choosing to fish,
or not.
My anger at my Sister in law was gone and I was glad to see the
back of it and partake of the Joys of fly-fishing.
All the best. ~ Mike.
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