Hi,
Over the last weekend the Auckland Freshwater Anglers club had a club trip to Tirau. We were met up by some fellows from the nearby Matamata club who had arranged for access over some private lands so we could fish parts of the rivers not easily accessed otherwise.
A friend of mine (Uwe, pronounced “Oo-vah”) had only been fly fishing once before, and he had blanked that trip. I brought him along in the hopes that he would catch a trout before he moves from New Zealand to Denmark (later this year).
On Saturday I fished the Waihou, but Uwe was put in another group and so he fished a different stream. The usual approach on the Waihou is to use a huge nymph (size 6, heavily weighted) and then tie a small nymph to the hook bend. This gets the flies down deep in the surprisingly fast flows. Having generally had luck with spider patterns on a different stretch of the Waihou, I figured I would continue fishing near the surface. I could see the odd mayfly hatch, and there were midges about, and something small and caddis like was occasionally dancing on the surface. I didn’t have any really heavy nymphs either, so it was a floating line and 3 spiders. I recieved a few looks and glances, since this was pretty much the complete opposite of what we were told to try.
Things started slow, but after a wee bit I had a take on one of the spiders, landed and released a 28 cm trout (an ok size for this river).
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ … stFish.jpg
I was fishing over a hill and round the bend, so my success went unwitnessed.
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ … aihou1.jpg
I was picturing eveyone else into their 4th or 5th by now, and would have liked for them to see that I was not completely wrong to try near the surface. The guide for our section came to check on me, and then I was into my 2nd, and then my 3rd! I showed him what I was using, and then he told me that nobody else was having any luck. So, he switched to a wet fly and floating line, and then he was into a fish. Nice.
I met up with another club member, and he had only landed one. After fishing the next section up,
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ … aihou2.jpg
I headed back to our starting area, fished that section of water, and quickly got into my 4th.
Talking with my group, it turned out that I had the most landed for the morning. On the next river (the Waimakariri), I switched to some winged wets and quickly was into some on the Parmachene Belle. I tie a lot of wee wets, so I gave a bunch to the fellows in my group, and that after noon I ended up with 6 more, for 10 that day. Collin, who had one in the morning on a deep nymph ended up with 9 more in the afternoon on wee wets, and so on. Our group landed about 25 fish that afternoon, almost all on wee wets as nothing else was working. We found that the group who fished the Waimakariri in the morning had all blanked, and that they were all nymphing.
Indeed, there are times when wee wets are just exactly the right style of fly to use. And, this day was one of them.
Unfortunatley, at the end of the day I found out that Uwe had hooked, but lost, one fish. So, on the next day I took Uwe to the Waihou, set him up with a team of 3 spiders, and he ends up with his first fish :
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/ … hiteRd.jpg
Not only that, a few minutes later, he’s into his 2nd and 3rd fish! A double! Then his 4th, and later his 5th!
That’s what I call a good trip.
- Jeff
, I wish I had, maybe next time. Those Flathead sure look like a fun fish to catch on a softbait. 8)
