Hi,
This is mostly me testing image posting. Fingers crossed I got it right. Anyway, these are some rainbows (all released in good shape after the photo) I caught over Easter weekend. The largest, shown in the first picture, was about 2.25 lbs and was taken on a partridge and orange soft hackle, the other two were about 1.5 lbs. and one took a White Invicta, the other took a deer hair caddis dry.
Hey Jeff, great fish, I am going to head down to Lake Aniwhenua in a couple of weeks and I hope all the fish are that fat!
All the best.
Mike.
WOW !!, … What do 'Bow EAT down there !!
Christopher Chin, Jonquiere Quebec
[url=http://flyanglersonline.com/travel/quebec06fishin/:e39ee]2006 FishIn Ste-Marguerite River[/url:e39ee]
[url=http://pages.videotron.com/fcch/:e39ee]Fishing the Ste-Marguerite[/url:e39ee]
Hi Mike and FCCH,
Over Easter I landed about 17 rainbows in the Rangitaiki (and had over 30 additional strikes and hookups - I kept a diary of all action). Most were quite small, in the 10-15 cm range. At the time, the most productive fly was a size 14 deer hair caddis that they would just attack at mid-day. Wee wets and soft hackles were very productive (I spooked the 2.25 lbs one in the first photo twice with a dry, but after it finished doing the “everywhere dash” it settled back to the feeding lane. So, I drifted a size 12 pheasant and orange passed it and it immediately grabbed that!).
Had a lot of luck with an Invicta, and took one with a pattern of mine I call a “white Invicta” (it’s just an Invicta tied with grizzle hackle for tail and the palmered hackle; white body, silver wire rib, white wings, and then peacock hurl tied in as a throat).
I hooked into an estimated 3.0+ lbs brown with an Invicta, but it was able to get under some weed then spit the fly.
I even tried a Doc Spratly, tied in size 12, and that worked really well in the mornings. I think it was taken as a stone fly, or as some sort of emerging nymph.
The fish were all in great condition, and put up really good fights. I was surprised by some of them when I finally got a look at them. Based upon the fight, I thought some had to be at least half again their size.
I’ve not fished Lake Aniwhenua though. Do post how the trip goes. I know I’ve had a lot of luck in Rotorua area lakes with the standard olive wooly bugger (on a size 10 2x hook) and on a similar sized Cosseboom (an Atlantic Salmon fly). I think they are taken for bullies as they work best fished slow and near the bottom.
Anyway, this is getting long already, so I’ll just cut it off here.
Hi,
Here’s my personal best taken on a fly. This was a 7.25 lbs brown taken at the mouth of the Waiteti Stream in Rotorua about a year ago. What makes this extra special was how I had designed a fly to fish this spot, and this was the first time I had used it! Tied on a size 10, 2x shank hook, it’s a simple pattern: yellow tail, silver body, silver rib, red throat, pine squirrel tail, and small chesnut pheasant feathers for cheeks (should not extend beyond 1/3 body length). I’ve taken a couple of nice browns with this, and a decent rainbow too.
