| |
|
|
| |
Cool down.
Sat 19th November, 2011
|
|
|
|
According to some of the weather pundits we are in a slight El Nino trend at present. I'm inclined to believe them if the wind this week is anything to go by. During summer in El Nino years New Zealand experiences a more westerly wind flow. This usually delivers more rainfall to the west, while the east can suffer drought conditions. Winter winds tend to be from the south bringing colder weather across the country and in spring and autumn we see more south westerlies.
The gusty southwester that picked up again from mid-week on defeated a lot of anglers. But if you were prepared to stick it out there was the odd good fish around after the heavy showers put a little bit of color into the river. Most days it stifled any worthwhile hatches and the fan-tails didn't even bother to show up for brunch. As expected the bulk of fish have been kelts but now and again I got into some fresh fish that seemed intent on spending more time out of the water than in it. Their determined efforts to throw the fly usually paid off and I ended up losing more than half of them. 
A couple of times after losing fish I forgot to check the hooks, only remembering when the takes suddenly dried up. The reason became obvious...trout know that the nymphs they eat don't normally swim around with fish scales attached to their bums! I should have known better because this has happened heaps of times over the years...I must be getting old.
 Fortunately the best day weather-wise was when I had father and daughter team Vern and Victoria {Torz } Hines booked. The day was all about Torz because Dad has been a regular on the Tongariro since the eighties. We started in Judges and she soon hooked up in the head of the pool. Vern nymphed the middle and took a couple on small globugs. After an hour we headed over to an empty Braids where Torz caught a small jack from the shallows in front of the lodge. Dad scored another in Spot X and this fish put up quite a fight, shooting off on a couple of good runs before he landed it. Victoria hooked what eventually turned out to be the best fish of the day in Vera's. A very nice silver rainbow sucked in one of the nymphs under the indicator dry and it's spectacular leaps had us running downriver trying to stay in touch. As it headed towards the bend above the Honeypot it all turned to custard. Her mobile phone bounced out of her vest pocket then as we scrambled to retrieve it from the drink Torz and her trout parted company. After lunch we concentrated our efforts above Red Hut which in the past was Vern's favorite part of the Tongariro. Even though he realizes its nowhere near as consistent as it used to be he's pretty philosophical about it and still enjoys fishing this stretch of the Upper river. The day had really warmed up and his daughter had discovered that the breathable waders and boots I had rigged her out in were a much more pleasant option than the heavy neoprenes Dad had bought her. He "thanked" me a couple of times as we walked towards Boulder Reach because she now wants a pair before her next trip out.
Father and daughter both caught fish during the afternoon all kelts and mainly jacks. Its obvious that Torz shares her fathers love of fly-fishing and I'm sure we'll see more of her on the river. Only in the very last half hour did she begin to flag a little but by then we had covered a lot of water...well done Torz.
This week we catch up with Paul on the final leg of his trip as he lands in America's largest state.
"I've always wanted to visit Alaska not just to go fishing but to see a Grizzly bear and have a look around the place. I stayed at the Kenai Outfitters Lodge in Soldotna which is a city of around six thousand. Because of its position on the Kenai Peninsular its main income is derived from sport fishing and tourism. I'm not sure if I should mention the rate but it was a pretty awesome deal... ah! bugger it... it was $80 bucks a night. That was for a three bedroom lodge with, gas stove, microwave, dishwasher, fridge-freezer, ice machine, washing machine, clothes dryer, cable TV.
I also booked a couple of days out on the Kenai river again at very special rates. On day one
I was picked up by Rubin and Justin and we had a blast. They were really funny guys, Justin is training to be a guide and we were smashing some great Coho. We even caught a few Dolly Varden as well and on that first outing I reckon we ended up with well over forty fish for the day. 
The next morning I went out exploring with Lee Young who runs Kenai Outfitters. It wasn't long before we came across a paw print from a small grizzly cub and then I saw an adult...woohoo!!!
This bear had just caught a fish which reminded me I had kept three the day before. That night
I cooked them up for tea, they were so delicious
I ate the lot! Unfortunately this trip I couldn't spend too much time in Alaska and only had four days basically to look around. But its a place I would love to revisit one day and do some more exploring. Time was running out and I had to get going because I was finally on the return leg.
I headed back to Los Angeles to board a flight home to Australia but couldn't resist a three day stop over in Hawaii...to chill down for a few days.
 While there I thought I may as well have a crack at trying to catch one of those things called a Bone-fish. I hired Ed from the Nervous Water Fly Shop in Honolulu... great guy. One fish I hooked into took the fly so fast that as the line was ripped through the rod guides the knot that joined the backing to the fly line caught up momentarily and busted the rod ring clean off. 
It was one of Ed's brand new G.Loomis NRX's but luckily he gets them for free, so it was cool.
All too soon it was my last day in Hawaii so that evening I went for a relaxing swim at Waikiki Beach. As the day ended with a stunning sunset
I reflected on what an awesome trip this had been...great people...great fishing...a great adventure and I can't wait for the next one...there's always a country somewhere".
Earlier Paul mentioned the Dolly Varden, its an intriguing name for a fish and years ago while still in the UK Google came to the rescue and explained how it got its name. Its often wrongly called the "Dolly Varden trout" but the fish it refers to nowadays is actually a char. The indigenous people where Paul spent most of his time know it as a "Giigaq". Most sources attribute the first recorded use of the name to a fish now called a Bull Trout which inhabited the McCloud River in 19th century Northern California. Peter Moyle who wrote a book called Inland Fishes of California {which I haven't read } published a letter from a Valerie Masson Gomez dated March 24th 1974:
" My grandmother's family operated a summer resort at Upper Soda Springs on the Sacramento River just north of the present town of Dunsmuir, California.
She lived there all her life and related to us in her later years her story about the naming of the Dolly Varden trout. She said that some fishermen were standing on the lawn at Upper Soda Springs looking at a catch of the large trout from the McCloud River that were called "Calico trout" because of their spotted, colorful markings. They were saying that the trout should have a better name.
My grandmother, then a young girl of 15 or 16, had been reading Charles Dickens' Barnaby Rudge in which there appears a character named Dolly Varden; also the vogue in fashion for women at that time (middle 1870s) was called "Dolly Varden", a dress of sheer figured muslin worn over a bright-colored petticoat. My grandmother had just gotten a new dress in that style and the red-spotted trout reminded her of her printed dress. She suggested to the men looking down at the trout, "Why not call them "Dolly Varden"? They thought it a very appropriate name and the guests that summer returned to their homes (many in the San Francisco Bay area) calling the trout by this new name."
So now you know what one of the great Victorian novelists, a fifteen year old girl and a brightly colored dress have in common!
Looks like more wind forecast so at least we'll all have plenty of practice undoing knots. There may also be some more heavy showers but that's always like trying to predict the Lotto results.
Still plenty of sightings of browns making their way up and there are some big shapes moving around the Lonely Pool. No particular fly has stood out this week. When you find some fish small PT's, Hare and Copper or Caddis should do the trick especially if the wind is blowing and you can't use the dry. I've seen some very bright green caddis larvae around so they'll be worth a shot as well. There's been a bit of a cooling down in the temperatures and the fishing this week. Without doubt the weather hasn't helped matters and once things settle down it will be all on again.
Have a great week guys
Mike |
|
|
| Back to Top |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
