September, the lay month, is on us again. In fact we're well progressed, and there are plenty of diversions this year like the RWC, the family holiday we've returned from and a chokka work schedule. I spent a couple of days in Timaru this week just gone. An interesting place, too big to ignore, not big enough to be cosmopolitan. It was closed on Wednesday night. On the north side of town is an interesting lagoon (closed for hunting of course) that plays a role as a breeding ground for whitebait. It also hosts a good head of geese and ducks. (Anyway I'd like a lagoon like that).
Today Tim and me are going to work some more on The Booger. We'll drill the holes for the blind and by the time we're done the frame should be up for the boat blind. Photos later.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday morning fish
Met Tim at Okahu Bay just after 8. Weather was primo, about as flat as it could possibly get. We set off for Waiheke to look at some foul... semed that others had the same plan so we left them in peace and wandered over to David Rocks to chuck some bait and plastic. Nothing home so over to Takapu Rock... nope, nothing at all there. At 12 we picked up and headed off, really nothing showing on the sounder. Seemed that Ahaahas was place to be, there would have been 15 boats anchored all over them.... one thing about that place is that if you have it to yourself it can be magic, but as soon as the next boat turns up, she's normally all over as the fish escape back out into the depths. Beaut day but everyone reported the same thing - hard fishing or no fish at all.
55.1 Km round trip... almost used a tank. Had the tote aboard so thats another 40 odd km. Now, where can I go with 90kms worth of gas in a smallish boat......................?
55.1 Km round trip... almost used a tank. Had the tote aboard so thats another 40 odd km. Now, where can I go with 90kms worth of gas in a smallish boat......................?
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Secret subtle message
Not sure what Andy H is trying to say.
Cryptic, hmmmm, may have to go and see what those big signs mean.
Cryptic, hmmmm, may have to go and see what those big signs mean.
A Good bastard
On Friday night I went and met a good bastard. A bloke from an internet forum, who graciously offerred to show me his estuary duck boat set up. He ran me through his rig and it all makes sense... everything set up according to his needs. We talked everything from boats to deer hunting - which he happens to be very good at, and which I happen to suck at - and then when I was leaving he gave me a whole bunch of not quite export quality but expensive none the less orchids for me to give to swmbo.
I've met lots of good bastards through the internet, add another to the list.
I've met lots of good bastards through the internet, add another to the list.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Booger at Sea
Me and TT took The Booger out today for a sea trial to the Noises. We ran all the way to his spot at full noise and got pretty wet. Fishing was hard and we only boated some smallish snaps. Coming home took a while longer as the breeze had got up. Nice to be out. Some things I still have to shake down - rod holders and a bait board. Fish finder worked fine.
Round trip is about 42 Km and she used about 18 litres of fuel. Not too bad. I think I can trim her a little better too.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Addressing the Nth Shore Fly Fishers Club
Did a speaking gig last night at North Shore Fly Fishers Club with Darryl Reardon, another of the AW F&G councillors. 30 members came on a freezing night. Rather a good turn out under the circumstances.
I don’t view myself as a political animal at all; but somehow my discussion topic about the arrangement of F&G became an impassioned discussion. I suppose that I’m not surprised really, but the disconnect between ‘shareholders and their company’ (anglers and F&G) was certainly highlighted.
Hopefully some good came out of it, I expect that the club will become a F&G User Group and begin to ask for and share more information. In return I expect to become slightly financially lighter as a result of joining the club!
Monday, August 15, 2011
Phooooaaarrrrr - what a cast
Check this out, Rene Vaz is a STANIC and FFF certified casting instructor. Check out this shot for a good wee biff.
Sweeeeeeeet
Sweeeeeeeet
Sunday, August 14, 2011
More work on The Booger
Got the transducer for the fish finder installed today. Drilling holes in your baby is pretty nerve wracking, but anyway it all came together fine. Not much to do now, just the blind to finish up and some rod holders to go in.
Tangahoe
Ok ok so I promised an epic, but if you're expecting piles of venison and hog ribs then its time to put that one to bed!
Tangahoe is a station west of Retaruke, run by a wild eyed ex horse trainer bloke, and pokes its bald head up out of a magnificent surrounding of heavy native bush. Its eastern edge is bordered by the Wanganui (no farkin H there) River. Given that grass actually "grows" there its no surprise that deer find the place quite appealing. Even though its a working farm (sheep & beef), I'd rate it as a pretty hard farming venture.
My adventure started at Whenuapai air base where I handed over my driver license in return for a pass to enter the base. I met Chris, my flying buddy (lucky he's a pilot huh?) and we packed our stuff into his plane and took off.
We took off and headed up to Nth Shore aerodrome to refuel.
After gassing up we headed south via Manukau Heads. Being quite a good wing shot, I felt qualified to hold the steering wheel and make brrmmm brrrmmm noises. I did quite a bit of that, from Port Waikato to past Te Kuiti. We arrived at Taumarunui and Chris brought us in. (can't embed the video - too big).
We unloaded Chris's plane, put the covers on and 10 minutes later our bush pilot arrived. We packed our gear into his Cessna 206 and were on our way. The flight was over some stunning countryside, and 18 minutes later we approached the station.
And we landed just like that on a strip more akin to a goat track on a 20 degree slope. Hairy, but not so bad on a fine day.
This is the sight that greeted us - taken from front deck of the homestead:
We got settled and went down to sight in the rifles. I put 3 bullets through the same hole at 80m - just one problem, I was aiming at a black target top right of the patterning sheet and the bullets were going through the top left! Right in the middle mind you...
We all set off for an afternoon hunt, Luke and Chris going down a big valley from the lip of which we'd seen 3 fallow grazing. Me and Si headed to a set of clearings, where Si put me onto the "Hinau Flat". Only a nanny and a mini goat were at home, so I got back up to Si and we moved slowly around some more clearings. Finally we spotted a fallow but he winded us immediately and was gone. We made our way back under a setting sun for a meal of some devilish concoction that Simon had made earlier. A blind beer tasting session and an introduction to Mexicali Dice (or something like that), a fantastic game. The beer tasting session went well. I recognised Lion red and scored it 100/100 - those long gone days as Shadows, the Ak Uni bar have stayed with me.
Friday dawned fine but foggy. Si and I hunted together for the morning, spending a heap of time covering the ground slowly in the fog. After a few hours and on the flat that we'd spotted our deer on the day before, I spied a fallow in the fog. I crawled closer and closer but even though I could see it with my bare eyes, I simply couldn't scope it. (Later I was shown that the scope was wound up to 12x... a bit of an amateur error). I decided to sidle round but spooked a mob of goats that I'd not seen earlier and the deer was gone.... We carried on and then a shot rolled out of the fog, then another. Si radioed up the boys and Chris had scored a nice spiker.
Si and me parted ways and I headed back to Hinau for a look. A good billy was holding a mob. My shot hit him in the mind, quite nifty from 80m I thought! Given that wild-eyed Dave had said not to shoot goats, I dragged him way way back in the bush. Not sure why no goats allowed, since we'd seen at least 2 dozen dead ones around the place over the past couple of days. Luke helped Dave pump out a bunch of venison salamis in the afternoon, into the smoker they went.
We had a wee nana nap in the afternoon before Luke spotted 3 deer through the spotting scope, on a clearing that Si and I had hunted the day before. Me and Chris packed our stuff and headed down for a stalk. We had everything in our favour but the deer had fed on in the 40 minutes it took to get there. We decided to sit and wait at the clearing where I'd had my stalk interrupted by goats, but nothing showed. We got back to base on dusk. Another few games of Mexi Dice and then Dave took Chris spotlighting for a pig. Within 5 minutes we heard the boom of a rifle and a nice hog was in the bag. They continued on their way but despite spotting numerous pigs they only took the one.
Saturday dawned clear and fine. I got up and me and Luke headed down to check out some flats. We soon spotted a nice red hind grazing, and planned our stalk. 30 minutes later we were within 100m. The deer had fed towards cover but I could see her clearly enough. Luke wanted to stalk in closer so we did. We got wayyy closer but I couldn't see her at all when suddenly our wind hit her nose. She upped and ran and Luke told me to shoot. I got her in the scope, swung through and fired and a cloud of hair blew out. We moved down into her escape gully where Luke asked me if I'd seen the other deer with her.... umm nope. We searched for about 60 minutes but no blood at all, just that cloud of hair... so we came to the conclusion that I'd undercooked the shot and taken a patch off her bum. I genuinely wish that I'd not fired, but given the lack of blood I'm convinced that she's not wounded. Convinced maybe isn't the right word because there's a nagging doubt...
We covered quite a bit of ground before getting back to base where the cloud was rapidly closing in. We knew that we were not going to be able to fly out any time soon. Chris the bush pilot confirmed that Taupo was blanketed and he wasn't going to be able to get off the ground. Dave gave us a bit of news - if we got our gear together and ourselves down to the river, one of his rellies would give us a jet boat ride out. Si arranged a mini van to get us back to his car in Taupo. We quickly got our crap together and headed off down a precipitous track down to the river. It was quite a neat walk. Somehow Dave had years ago got a bulldozer up the track - with which he had created the "air strip" among other scrapings & tracks. We arrived at the bank in a gorge down the river.
It was cool down there. Cold more like it so we got extra layers of clothes on and waited for a jet boat. And waited. Set up eeling line. Waited some more. Luckily Luke was there to entertain us.
Finally our ride arrived. We had what I would rate as a "Must Do" ride down river to Pipiriki, stopping for a River Burger and milkshake before our hosts piled us into the mini van for a drive encompassing Raetihi, National Park, Turangi and then finally to Si's car in Taupo. Getting 4 bods and all our gear in was fun - especially since Luke's 10 pointer from a previous trip dominated the back seat. But manage we did. It was 6pm now. Now as Si's wife is Russian and given her taste in music, we had 90 minutes of sheer musical terror before finally, the rugby started. At about 9.50 we arrived at Simon's for a coffee, then Luke drove me to Whenuapi to get my car. I finally got home by 11.
Now that was what I call an adventure. I can't express enough thanks to Simon (Aunty), Luke (Cowboy) and Chris Patterson. May the hunting gods smile on their smelly socks forever.
Some video and photos are courtesy of Luke Robertson.
Tangahoe is a station west of Retaruke, run by a wild eyed ex horse trainer bloke, and pokes its bald head up out of a magnificent surrounding of heavy native bush. Its eastern edge is bordered by the Wanganui (no farkin H there) River. Given that grass actually "grows" there its no surprise that deer find the place quite appealing. Even though its a working farm (sheep & beef), I'd rate it as a pretty hard farming venture.
My adventure started at Whenuapai air base where I handed over my driver license in return for a pass to enter the base. I met Chris, my flying buddy (lucky he's a pilot huh?) and we packed our stuff into his plane and took off.
We took off and headed up to Nth Shore aerodrome to refuel.
After gassing up we headed south via Manukau Heads. Being quite a good wing shot, I felt qualified to hold the steering wheel and make brrmmm brrrmmm noises. I did quite a bit of that, from Port Waikato to past Te Kuiti. We arrived at Taumarunui and Chris brought us in. (can't embed the video - too big).
We unloaded Chris's plane, put the covers on and 10 minutes later our bush pilot arrived. We packed our gear into his Cessna 206 and were on our way. The flight was over some stunning countryside, and 18 minutes later we approached the station.
And we landed just like that on a strip more akin to a goat track on a 20 degree slope. Hairy, but not so bad on a fine day.
This is the sight that greeted us - taken from front deck of the homestead:
We got settled and went down to sight in the rifles. I put 3 bullets through the same hole at 80m - just one problem, I was aiming at a black target top right of the patterning sheet and the bullets were going through the top left! Right in the middle mind you...
We all set off for an afternoon hunt, Luke and Chris going down a big valley from the lip of which we'd seen 3 fallow grazing. Me and Si headed to a set of clearings, where Si put me onto the "Hinau Flat". Only a nanny and a mini goat were at home, so I got back up to Si and we moved slowly around some more clearings. Finally we spotted a fallow but he winded us immediately and was gone. We made our way back under a setting sun for a meal of some devilish concoction that Simon had made earlier. A blind beer tasting session and an introduction to Mexicali Dice (or something like that), a fantastic game. The beer tasting session went well. I recognised Lion red and scored it 100/100 - those long gone days as Shadows, the Ak Uni bar have stayed with me.
Friday dawned fine but foggy. Si and I hunted together for the morning, spending a heap of time covering the ground slowly in the fog. After a few hours and on the flat that we'd spotted our deer on the day before, I spied a fallow in the fog. I crawled closer and closer but even though I could see it with my bare eyes, I simply couldn't scope it. (Later I was shown that the scope was wound up to 12x... a bit of an amateur error). I decided to sidle round but spooked a mob of goats that I'd not seen earlier and the deer was gone.... We carried on and then a shot rolled out of the fog, then another. Si radioed up the boys and Chris had scored a nice spiker.
The boys made it into a back pack and lugged it back to base
We had a wee nana nap in the afternoon before Luke spotted 3 deer through the spotting scope, on a clearing that Si and I had hunted the day before. Me and Chris packed our stuff and headed down for a stalk. We had everything in our favour but the deer had fed on in the 40 minutes it took to get there. We decided to sit and wait at the clearing where I'd had my stalk interrupted by goats, but nothing showed. We got back to base on dusk. Another few games of Mexi Dice and then Dave took Chris spotlighting for a pig. Within 5 minutes we heard the boom of a rifle and a nice hog was in the bag. They continued on their way but despite spotting numerous pigs they only took the one.
Saturday dawned clear and fine. I got up and me and Luke headed down to check out some flats. We soon spotted a nice red hind grazing, and planned our stalk. 30 minutes later we were within 100m. The deer had fed towards cover but I could see her clearly enough. Luke wanted to stalk in closer so we did. We got wayyy closer but I couldn't see her at all when suddenly our wind hit her nose. She upped and ran and Luke told me to shoot. I got her in the scope, swung through and fired and a cloud of hair blew out. We moved down into her escape gully where Luke asked me if I'd seen the other deer with her.... umm nope. We searched for about 60 minutes but no blood at all, just that cloud of hair... so we came to the conclusion that I'd undercooked the shot and taken a patch off her bum. I genuinely wish that I'd not fired, but given the lack of blood I'm convinced that she's not wounded. Convinced maybe isn't the right word because there's a nagging doubt...
We covered quite a bit of ground before getting back to base where the cloud was rapidly closing in. We knew that we were not going to be able to fly out any time soon. Chris the bush pilot confirmed that Taupo was blanketed and he wasn't going to be able to get off the ground. Dave gave us a bit of news - if we got our gear together and ourselves down to the river, one of his rellies would give us a jet boat ride out. Si arranged a mini van to get us back to his car in Taupo. We quickly got our crap together and headed off down a precipitous track down to the river. It was quite a neat walk. Somehow Dave had years ago got a bulldozer up the track - with which he had created the "air strip" among other scrapings & tracks. We arrived at the bank in a gorge down the river.
It was cool down there. Cold more like it so we got extra layers of clothes on and waited for a jet boat. And waited. Set up eeling line. Waited some more. Luckily Luke was there to entertain us.
Finally our ride arrived. We had what I would rate as a "Must Do" ride down river to Pipiriki, stopping for a River Burger and milkshake before our hosts piled us into the mini van for a drive encompassing Raetihi, National Park, Turangi and then finally to Si's car in Taupo. Getting 4 bods and all our gear in was fun - especially since Luke's 10 pointer from a previous trip dominated the back seat. But manage we did. It was 6pm now. Now as Si's wife is Russian and given her taste in music, we had 90 minutes of sheer musical terror before finally, the rugby started. At about 9.50 we arrived at Simon's for a coffee, then Luke drove me to Whenuapi to get my car. I finally got home by 11.
Now that was what I call an adventure. I can't express enough thanks to Simon (Aunty), Luke (Cowboy) and Chris Patterson. May the hunting gods smile on their smelly socks forever.
Some video and photos are courtesy of Luke Robertson.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Flymage magazine
I do have a pretty solid epic story to come, about the trip to Tangahoe Station that Aunty took me on. But it takes time to post and I don't have much time.
Anyhow, check this out: Flymage magazine who are celebrating 1 year on online publishing. There's some magic work in this one.
Anyhow, check this out: Flymage magazine who are celebrating 1 year on online publishing. There's some magic work in this one.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Trout blamed for damaging water quality
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/79188/trout-blamed-for-waterway-damage
More dredging of the bottom of the barrel by Lachlan McKenzie of Fed Farmers. Ok so the article is 3 weeks old, making me slow on the uptake. It is plain that Mr. McKenzie is barking mad, or evilly cunning. This sort of obfuscation must be the highlight of his year in that he has tried to draw attention away from what he obviously knew was coming - NPS
More later.
More dredging of the bottom of the barrel by Lachlan McKenzie of Fed Farmers. Ok so the article is 3 weeks old, making me slow on the uptake. It is plain that Mr. McKenzie is barking mad, or evilly cunning. This sort of obfuscation must be the highlight of his year in that he has tried to draw attention away from what he obviously knew was coming - NPS
More later.
Monday, July 25, 2011
A day with Dickie
Last couple of weeks have been a bit silly work wise, so not much posting. Besides which, if you have nothing to say, why bother saying anything at all? That’s where the pollies fall down I reckon, so much yap, so little content. Anyway stepped off a plane from Sydney some stupid time Thursday morning. Barely seemed to have got to sleep when the alarm was buzzing. Some time in the past couple of days I’d arranged to pay Dickie back for his generous donation of turf from his business Rolawn, for our pheasant rearing pen. Had a chat with Mick, he’d had a good day the previous weekend, having taken his first pheasant limit, nice work! Wasn’t sure what the weather would be doing, so arranged with Craig to get there on Saturday morning gentleman’s hours for a walk. Arranged with Helen to pick up Dickie at an arranged time, and before I knew it, it was Friday evening. I packed up the gear and chucked in all the rain gear as well, as forecasters were predicting steady rain.
Rocked up to Dickie’s a tad earlier than the “6.30 to 7am” that I’d promised Helen, and helped Dickie load his gear into the wagon. He had a few brace of nice birds hanging, as he’d been beating at Matangerahi Station the day earlier. We set off and made good time on the trip down, arriving to find Shanks’s house spick and span, him clean shaven, and the whole deal looking a bit more civilised than usual! The Aussie farm stay girls had certainly stamped their mark on the place! We grabbed the gear, waited for the girls and then headed out. The day was fine and relatively warm, got a bit of a sweat going on the first couple of hills. The first gulley saw a couple of birds get up and way out of gun range and that’s how the hunt progressed. It was one of those days where I couldn’t put any birds in harm’s way. Craig scored first after he and Dickie had missed a chance or two. We walked the release pen bush and Max the dog busted out a good bird, again away from the guns. At least I was seeing a few! We split and covered some good looking ground, but for not much. Down through the cavern tunnel, up and around some nice gulley area, over the top and down to the water wheel where I saw a couple of birds run up the hill. Caught up with Dickie and Craig, Dickie had knocked down a good long bird and was quite chuffed. Told them about the birds that had run uphill and we set up a pincer move. Craig busted a good cock that almost beat him and then Max made a strong downhill retrieve, quite pleasing dog work. Down one gulley a cock bird got off and I fired and folded him, quickly realising that Craig had fired at the same time. Even though we spent 30 minutes looking around some rocky outcrops we just never found him. Lots of hidey holes up there, so we knocked it off and continued on our way. We walked the farm boundary past the old release pen, then crossed the river. By now we’d covered quite a bit of territory – the birds were just not home so we crossed the river to work some relatively new ground, but nothing home. So we wandered back to the car and headed back to the house for a coffee then we hit the road – but not before Max tore the bird I was taking home to bits! (Sorry Craig, had to tell the tale). 2 tired boys arrived at Dickie’s house, and after a coffee I got home in time to make dinner.
Didn’t take the camera along so no piccies - sorry. Tally from PPPP around 65 birds now, well up on the 45 odd from last year.
Rocked up to Dickie’s a tad earlier than the “6.30 to 7am” that I’d promised Helen, and helped Dickie load his gear into the wagon. He had a few brace of nice birds hanging, as he’d been beating at Matangerahi Station the day earlier. We set off and made good time on the trip down, arriving to find Shanks’s house spick and span, him clean shaven, and the whole deal looking a bit more civilised than usual! The Aussie farm stay girls had certainly stamped their mark on the place! We grabbed the gear, waited for the girls and then headed out. The day was fine and relatively warm, got a bit of a sweat going on the first couple of hills. The first gulley saw a couple of birds get up and way out of gun range and that’s how the hunt progressed. It was one of those days where I couldn’t put any birds in harm’s way. Craig scored first after he and Dickie had missed a chance or two. We walked the release pen bush and Max the dog busted out a good bird, again away from the guns. At least I was seeing a few! We split and covered some good looking ground, but for not much. Down through the cavern tunnel, up and around some nice gulley area, over the top and down to the water wheel where I saw a couple of birds run up the hill. Caught up with Dickie and Craig, Dickie had knocked down a good long bird and was quite chuffed. Told them about the birds that had run uphill and we set up a pincer move. Craig busted a good cock that almost beat him and then Max made a strong downhill retrieve, quite pleasing dog work. Down one gulley a cock bird got off and I fired and folded him, quickly realising that Craig had fired at the same time. Even though we spent 30 minutes looking around some rocky outcrops we just never found him. Lots of hidey holes up there, so we knocked it off and continued on our way. We walked the farm boundary past the old release pen, then crossed the river. By now we’d covered quite a bit of territory – the birds were just not home so we crossed the river to work some relatively new ground, but nothing home. So we wandered back to the car and headed back to the house for a coffee then we hit the road – but not before Max tore the bird I was taking home to bits! (Sorry Craig, had to tell the tale). 2 tired boys arrived at Dickie’s house, and after a coffee I got home in time to make dinner.
Didn’t take the camera along so no piccies - sorry. Tally from PPPP around 65 birds now, well up on the 45 odd from last year.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Boy's trip report
Well I got to Hinehopu at about lunch time on Friday. Strolled down to the pipe where Milo was sitting and had a quick catchup before unloading the gear. The wind was strengthening from steady to stiff and coming onshore at the pipe... so we said hi to Pete the Coro farmer who roves the district at this time of year, and set off for Ruato which seemed the only sheltered spot. We set up with arm chairs around the stream mouth and watched, waited and cast.
Some fish moved close in, which gave us confidence. The boys arrived after dark at about 6, and we fished for a while fruitlessly. Milo, Bri and Al then went around to the hut to get the late arrivals settled in, while me and Andre kept up the vigil. The good news is that the wind wasn't directly from the south.. the bad news was that my waders had a leak... but we weren't wading so no big drama. The boys arrived back and we fished without so much as a touch. Then anglers began to wade out. This spells death to the fishing as the fish move out because of the disturbance and is just plain rude behaviour. So we packed up and headed back... 6 hours for me, no bites... Milo and me got up early on Saturday and claimed our spots near the pipe. Me, Milo & Pete. We fished from 5 to 9 with no bites.... running total 10 hours, no bites. Milo saw 2 fish move. We did witness an amazing sight though, some piece of space junk hit the atmosphere in the west and tore across the sky spraying burning debris... the sky lit up in a green display easily as light as daylight. Fantastic, probably scared the fish though!!! Andre wandered down with some bacon sandwiches for our brekkie. We returned to the hut, the weather getting worse by the minute. We all sat around and decided on a game plan. Bri, Al & Andrew headed off to Tarawera, while Milo and me decided on Okataina. It was a damn sight calmer than we expected, but now the ran was falling steadily. We set up glo bug rigs on shooting heads and waded out to fire our longest casts out... then 45 minutes later Pete arrived and ambled down. He then fired his longest casts out... lets just say that his longest casts made our longest casts look pretty amateur by comparison. It was actually quite a lovely morning, beautiful lake scene, rain, bush bird noises, not many tourists. I got my longest cast of the day out - I knew this because the whole integrated line was outside the tip by the time I has waded back to the deck chair. And then...n ibble nibble... after 3 hours of casting... but i seemed to have missed the fish. I quickly retrieved to get tight to the fly and the rod bucked - fish on! We were both glad to hook and land a fish, but this fellah would've been lucky to be more than 2lb, even though it was fat as a horse. We fished until 1.30 then headed back for a nana nap - no sign of the other lads. They turned up at 4, having fished Kaituna exit, The Orchard at Tarawera and a bit of Okataina. We sat around and had a feed, gave the change of light a miss, then headed off. We didn't fancy a long drive so it was back to Okataina. We lined up along the beach and then Milo gave us a lesson in fishing... I didn't even hear a splash all night, and while me, Andre, Bri & All caught zilch , Milo took 3 nice fish from 4lb to about 6lb. We were quite chuffed to have scored fish. We got back and watched the rugby until about 2am, then I packed my stuff and got ready for an early trip home. I slept in! Said bye to Brian, drove down to the pipe where Milo and Pete were putting in the hours. Wished them luck and drove home.
Milo later got another 2 at Okataina during daylight hours... looks like the place to be!
A good lad's weekend. Roll on next time.
 |
| Milo at Ruato |
Some fish moved close in, which gave us confidence. The boys arrived after dark at about 6, and we fished for a while fruitlessly. Milo, Bri and Al then went around to the hut to get the late arrivals settled in, while me and Andre kept up the vigil. The good news is that the wind wasn't directly from the south.. the bad news was that my waders had a leak... but we weren't wading so no big drama. The boys arrived back and we fished without so much as a touch. Then anglers began to wade out. This spells death to the fishing as the fish move out because of the disturbance and is just plain rude behaviour. So we packed up and headed back... 6 hours for me, no bites... Milo and me got up early on Saturday and claimed our spots near the pipe. Me, Milo & Pete. We fished from 5 to 9 with no bites.... running total 10 hours, no bites. Milo saw 2 fish move. We did witness an amazing sight though, some piece of space junk hit the atmosphere in the west and tore across the sky spraying burning debris... the sky lit up in a green display easily as light as daylight. Fantastic, probably scared the fish though!!! Andre wandered down with some bacon sandwiches for our brekkie. We returned to the hut, the weather getting worse by the minute. We all sat around and decided on a game plan. Bri, Al & Andrew headed off to Tarawera, while Milo and me decided on Okataina. It was a damn sight calmer than we expected, but now the ran was falling steadily. We set up glo bug rigs on shooting heads and waded out to fire our longest casts out... then 45 minutes later Pete arrived and ambled down. He then fired his longest casts out... lets just say that his longest casts made our longest casts look pretty amateur by comparison. It was actually quite a lovely morning, beautiful lake scene, rain, bush bird noises, not many tourists. I got my longest cast of the day out - I knew this because the whole integrated line was outside the tip by the time I has waded back to the deck chair. And then...n ibble nibble... after 3 hours of casting... but i seemed to have missed the fish. I quickly retrieved to get tight to the fly and the rod bucked - fish on! We were both glad to hook and land a fish, but this fellah would've been lucky to be more than 2lb, even though it was fat as a horse. We fished until 1.30 then headed back for a nana nap - no sign of the other lads. They turned up at 4, having fished Kaituna exit, The Orchard at Tarawera and a bit of Okataina. We sat around and had a feed, gave the change of light a miss, then headed off. We didn't fancy a long drive so it was back to Okataina. We lined up along the beach and then Milo gave us a lesson in fishing... I didn't even hear a splash all night, and while me, Andre, Bri & All caught zilch , Milo took 3 nice fish from 4lb to about 6lb. We were quite chuffed to have scored fish. We got back and watched the rugby until about 2am, then I packed my stuff and got ready for an early trip home. I slept in! Said bye to Brian, drove down to the pipe where Milo and Pete were putting in the hours. Wished them luck and drove home.
Milo later got another 2 at Okataina during daylight hours... looks like the place to be!
A good lad's weekend. Roll on next time.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Winter lake fishing
this weekend has a boy's road/fishin trip penned in. Me, Al, Brian, Andre and Milo are going to dominate the winter spawning lake trout at Rotorua... which normally means:
1. Turn up feeling full of expectation about what's going to unfold this evening
2. Ignore biting wind, bitter frost and the fact that you're wrapped up like the Michelin man
3. Carefully tie knots while you still have feeling in your fingers
4. Cast gently into the inky blackness while marvelling at (a) the beautiful stars (means frost is gonna be super-heavy), or (b) adjusting your angles to ensure that the wind doesn't whip a hook into your back/side/waders/head/other angler
5. Cast again and again and again
6. Change fly - you never know, it may help! Surely the hoards of fish can see your fly, so why aren't they gobbling it down?
7. Cast/retrieve/cast/retrieve... tie on new leader, somehow wind knots have got in the old one
8. Strike at slight nibble, all the while knowing it was a koura
9. cast/retrieve
10. stamp feet to get some feeling back
11. Look at loose line you've just stamped on. Got any nicks?
12. New leader. and man, it's only 9pm. 3 hours to endure
13. Ignore whooping from lucky asshole next to you, hope his 11lb'er escapes. He can't fish, its all luck.
14. Torch running low
15. Change fly.
16. Hook swan.
17. Play swan
18. gently release swan in flurry of activity. Consider getting them on the fish schedule, man can they fight
19. It's 9.15, man that last 15 minutes flew by!
20. Stop saying 'just one more cast'
21. Some random jingle is stuck in your head
22. -- unfortunately it's a chick song from the early '90s
23. Hook freshwater mussel. Man they can't fight
24. ....
The most I ever caught in an evening lake shore fishing was 3, and they were comparative tiddlers at 3-6lb. Plenty of times I caught zilch, its just not a style of angling that I came close to mastering. I well remember casting for 9 hours in a biting southerly and finally landing a slab - to me it was a trophy, showing that perseverance can pay off! That fishing memory is forever burned into my psyche. It hurt bad.
Anyway, I rolled a few booby flies off the vice last night, Milo says they are what's needed....
![]()
![]()
![]()
Juicy morsels, hope the fish like them.
1. Turn up feeling full of expectation about what's going to unfold this evening
2. Ignore biting wind, bitter frost and the fact that you're wrapped up like the Michelin man
3. Carefully tie knots while you still have feeling in your fingers
4. Cast gently into the inky blackness while marvelling at (a) the beautiful stars (means frost is gonna be super-heavy), or (b) adjusting your angles to ensure that the wind doesn't whip a hook into your back/side/waders/head/other angler
5. Cast again and again and again
6. Change fly - you never know, it may help! Surely the hoards of fish can see your fly, so why aren't they gobbling it down?
7. Cast/retrieve/cast/retrieve... tie on new leader, somehow wind knots have got in the old one
8. Strike at slight nibble, all the while knowing it was a koura
9. cast/retrieve
10. stamp feet to get some feeling back
11. Look at loose line you've just stamped on. Got any nicks?
12. New leader. and man, it's only 9pm. 3 hours to endure
13. Ignore whooping from lucky asshole next to you, hope his 11lb'er escapes. He can't fish, its all luck.
14. Torch running low
15. Change fly.
16. Hook swan.
17. Play swan
18. gently release swan in flurry of activity. Consider getting them on the fish schedule, man can they fight
19. It's 9.15, man that last 15 minutes flew by!
20. Stop saying 'just one more cast'
21. Some random jingle is stuck in your head
22. -- unfortunately it's a chick song from the early '90s
23. Hook freshwater mussel. Man they can't fight
24. ....
The most I ever caught in an evening lake shore fishing was 3, and they were comparative tiddlers at 3-6lb. Plenty of times I caught zilch, its just not a style of angling that I came close to mastering. I well remember casting for 9 hours in a biting southerly and finally landing a slab - to me it was a trophy, showing that perseverance can pay off! That fishing memory is forever burned into my psyche. It hurt bad.
Anyway, I rolled a few booby flies off the vice last night, Milo says they are what's needed....
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Mick's photos
Mick got away for a shoot on the PPPP on the weekend - some nice birds were harvested.
![]()
 |
| Photo credits: Mick Hutchinson |
Another great hunt at PPPP by the sounds of it. Will catch up with Craig later to get the rundown. Harvest is definitely up on last year's.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Boat blind
Tim and I started work on the boat blind yesterday. We were on a short time allotment so didn't quite get finished, however its looking pretty good so far. Frame is all but complete, just need to install top doors and drill into the boat.... we could have started that yesterday but it would have been rushed which wouldn't have been a good idea. I'll stick up some photos later. Here's a schematic.
Doesn't look too hard huh? But The Booger is actually a lot beamier in the bum than at the pointy end, so a bit of pipe bending, cutting & what not was required.
Anyway, part 2 of the install promises to be more exciting...
Doesn't look too hard huh? But The Booger is actually a lot beamier in the bum than at the pointy end, so a bit of pipe bending, cutting & what not was required.
Anyway, part 2 of the install promises to be more exciting...
Friday, July 1, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)