Online magazines are quite the fad right now, especially those focussed on fly fishing.
Like Catch & This is Fly to name a couple. Rene Vaz put out a good old kiwi one which to the best of my knowledge is the first from UnZud. Then today a whole new vista of photographic magic was revealed, encompassing not just fly fishing, but also hunting and shooting. Ok ok its very commercially focussed, but then its probably a wee bit much to expect anyone to do it just for love I reckon. Hunter's Element / Riverworks is a kiwi brand, however I seriously doubt that they'd sell enough kit in this crowded marketplace to retire rich men.... so relying on the publication going viral is pretty good advertising. Sh*t, Dave Hern is looking old...... now Jack Kos, here's a guy living up his student freedom. My only complaint is that his stuff has been all over the fishing forums well prior to publishing this, so not too much new content there. Pretty solid effort all in all, I hope that they keep it up. Now I'm going to pick up my Fly Life and thumb through it, still prefer paper magazines, old bean!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Fruits of the PPPP
The off season's activities at the Piripiri Pheasant Pluckers Preserve have paid great dividends this time around, especially in that the cover crops 'took' this year (last year they failed) so the birds are in residence.
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_KxI3MCfZI
Really pleasing result, I'm stoked and i know the rest of the team will be too.
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_KxI3MCfZI
Really pleasing result, I'm stoked and i know the rest of the team will be too.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A Goose in hot water & an organisation sidelined
Following is the press release from office of minister of Conservation. Its a poor decision, based on invective from small group of Fed Farmers. For example, here in Auckland Waikato we receive more complaints about pukekos, than Canadas.
Press Release by New Zealand Government at 9:40 am, 17 Mar 2011
The protection status of Canada geese as a game bird will be changed to allow farmers, park owners and aviation managers to cull these birds themselves, Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson announced today.
Canada geese will be removed from Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act 1953 and listed on Schedule 5. This means that Fish and Game will no longer manage the geese as a hunting resource. A permit will not be required to shoot them.
"As the population of Canada geese continues to increase so does their risk to aviation safety and the damage they inflict to pasture and crops," Ms Wilkinson says.
"The current status where the geese populations are managed as a game bird is not working.
"Farmers have been getting increasingly frustrated with these birds fouling pasture and damaging crops.
"They also pose an aviation hazard due to their large size and this change will allow for the birds to be more effectively controlled where they pose a risk to aircraft safety."
Ms Wilkinson says there are tens of thousands of Canada geese across the country and recreational hunting opportunities will remain.
"I expect Fish and Game to continue to work with landowners to assist with managing populations around the country.
"The geese are well established and on top of that farmers will have an incentive to provide hunting access to reduce their goose control costs."
Background
• The Canada goose is an introduced game bird managed by fish and game councils for the benefit of recreational game licence holders.
• Species listed on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act are declared to be game. This means the populations are managed by local fish and game councils for recreational hunting purposes.
• Species on Schedule 5 are not protected.
• Farmers, urban park managers and those responsible for aviation safety advise that current Canada geese management is not adequately meeting their needs.
• In 1995 the South Island Canada Goose Management Plan was agreed that set the maximum population number at 20,350. The population has remained well above that level and in 2008 was estimated to be 35,000.
• Fish and game councils are independent. Under the current regime, farmers, park managers, the aviation sector, and the Government have no direct input to goose management.
• Individual landowners can suffer thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of damage to pasture and crops from geese in a single year.
• Four to five geese will consume the equivalent amount of grass that a sheep does and this impact is further compounded by associated fouling.
ENDS
"I expect Fish and Game to continue to work with landowners to assist with managing populations around the country.......
The woman's freaking insane if she believes that crap. She knows what she's doing. She has, in one stroke, marginalised F&G and driven another nail into the coffin of an organisation thyat already is being lowered into its final resting place.
Press Release by New Zealand Government at 9:40 am, 17 Mar 2011
The protection status of Canada geese as a game bird will be changed to allow farmers, park owners and aviation managers to cull these birds themselves, Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson announced today.
Canada geese will be removed from Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act 1953 and listed on Schedule 5. This means that Fish and Game will no longer manage the geese as a hunting resource. A permit will not be required to shoot them.
"As the population of Canada geese continues to increase so does their risk to aviation safety and the damage they inflict to pasture and crops," Ms Wilkinson says.
"The current status where the geese populations are managed as a game bird is not working.
"Farmers have been getting increasingly frustrated with these birds fouling pasture and damaging crops.
"They also pose an aviation hazard due to their large size and this change will allow for the birds to be more effectively controlled where they pose a risk to aircraft safety."
Ms Wilkinson says there are tens of thousands of Canada geese across the country and recreational hunting opportunities will remain.
"I expect Fish and Game to continue to work with landowners to assist with managing populations around the country.
"The geese are well established and on top of that farmers will have an incentive to provide hunting access to reduce their goose control costs."
Background
• The Canada goose is an introduced game bird managed by fish and game councils for the benefit of recreational game licence holders.
• Species listed on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Act are declared to be game. This means the populations are managed by local fish and game councils for recreational hunting purposes.
• Species on Schedule 5 are not protected.
• Farmers, urban park managers and those responsible for aviation safety advise that current Canada geese management is not adequately meeting their needs.
• In 1995 the South Island Canada Goose Management Plan was agreed that set the maximum population number at 20,350. The population has remained well above that level and in 2008 was estimated to be 35,000.
• Fish and game councils are independent. Under the current regime, farmers, park managers, the aviation sector, and the Government have no direct input to goose management.
• Individual landowners can suffer thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of damage to pasture and crops from geese in a single year.
• Four to five geese will consume the equivalent amount of grass that a sheep does and this impact is further compounded by associated fouling.
ENDS
"I expect Fish and Game to continue to work with landowners to assist with managing populations around the country.......
The woman's freaking insane if she believes that crap. She knows what she's doing. She has, in one stroke, marginalised F&G and driven another nail into the coffin of an organisation thyat already is being lowered into its final resting place.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The duck boat project
Ok, so I can now disclose my duck boat project in a forum that perhaps swmbo (aka Justin Beiber Fan Club's mum) may stumble across it. Funny things about boats. When you need one, you never have one, when you have one there's usually something wrong with it, or a component of it, and owning one means that you're ready to sell one. I have some vivid memories of our duck boat hunts from when I was a kid. The thing I most remember were the huge bags that dad and grandpop used to get. They had it sussed. The boat was flat bottomed, enclosed, a bit of a barge, camo'd, could carry up to 4 guns, had a well stacked and stored complement of HUGE decoys (easy to see on the sea - you see?). A good single task machine, but you'd not want to fish out of it. Ok so, stuff that was important to me:
1. Sea worthiness. Some of the weather I envisage being out in, is what the met guys call "inclement". It needs to be able to take on water and not sink. Pontoon boat answers that one.
2. Stability. Standing to shoot means you want a platform that's not going to tilt sharply. Pontoon boat answers that one.
3. Horsepower. I want to be able to get up and go in rough water. So at least 30 horses are required.
4. I want to add a boat blind at some stage. High flat sides on the boat are needed.
5. I want to fish out of it in summer/winter.
6. I want to be able to single handed beach launch. Ak ramps are full of stupid people with no idea.
So I've ended up settling on a pontoon boat, with a few mods. The hull will be professionally painted in green and I've got the floor marine carpeted for noise and slip reduction. I think I'm barking up the right tree;
http://www.frewzaboats.co.nz/aluminium-dinghy-4-1m-high-sided/
I'll update as I go.
1. Sea worthiness. Some of the weather I envisage being out in, is what the met guys call "inclement". It needs to be able to take on water and not sink. Pontoon boat answers that one.
2. Stability. Standing to shoot means you want a platform that's not going to tilt sharply. Pontoon boat answers that one.
3. Horsepower. I want to be able to get up and go in rough water. So at least 30 horses are required.
4. I want to add a boat blind at some stage. High flat sides on the boat are needed.
5. I want to fish out of it in summer/winter.
6. I want to be able to single handed beach launch. Ak ramps are full of stupid people with no idea.
So I've ended up settling on a pontoon boat, with a few mods. The hull will be professionally painted in green and I've got the floor marine carpeted for noise and slip reduction. I think I'm barking up the right tree;
http://www.frewzaboats.co.nz/aluminium-dinghy-4-1m-high-sided/
I'll update as I go.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Coming to a restaurant near you: Preserve Provided Pheasant
I will start with a declaration of conflict of sorts: For the past 3 seasons I've shot on pheasant preserves. Some days you get good pegs on big drives, some days you draw a peg a little out of the way, but overall it evens out and you shoot birds. I think the most I shot in a day was in the mid 30's on a 5 drive day. Lets take that day. Did I take home all 'my' birds? Well, no. Did I take home some? Yes, I always do. The beaters take some, the dog handlers take some. I heard of a beater at one shoot taking something like 6 dozen home. There's an ethical question that needs to be answered about the use of shot game but I'm not going there today so will stick to the core laws - effectively until the birds are released they belong to someone, once released they belong to the state and once shot, ownership transfers to the person/s who harvested them. Its a paperless transaction and slightly care free in the case of the preserves - the rules are written but practicality dictates that they are mostly not observed. However, once you drive off the estate with birds it really pays to know where you stand legally. If a ranger pulls you over and asks you about why you have 72 pheasants in your possession .... Let's jump sideways a second. At this current point AW and other regions are having special Canada Goose seasons to assist in the dispersal of large populations which are able to devastate mainly grasslands through sheer weight of numbers. We're in the hottest period of the year. I can, from eyewitness statements and the grapevine get a back of a napkin account of over 1,100 birds harvested, and that's probably understated. 90 something percent of those will have gone in an offal pit... so, outside of the preserve arena there's a shed load of excellent lean game meat that is not being utilised. We're all responsible in some way. This isn't meant to be a moral commentary - I'd be filling my boots on goose hunts if my year had panned out differently. I'm just pointing out, as others have, that there is room to do things differently with the meat harvested.
Jumping back again - at F&G National council level, the topic of the sale of pheasants from preserve shoots was discussed and then regional councils were asked to either support or not support the idea that if handled and processed properly, would we support the sale of preserve shot pheasants. A couple of councils supported, a couple didn't... we at AW ended up on a different route and supported the status quo. The status quo actually makes the giving of game illegal. So we supported a notion that is open to legal challenge. We stuck our head in the sand. The joys of democracy. I wonder how this will end.
I reckon the bit that was missing was if it comes to pass, what will the likely proceeds be, where will they go, who will benefit. Its fantastic that the public could potentially nibble on a bit of phesant with their garlic mash and cream spinach and hopefully gain an appreciation of the benefits of game meat but I think there's more that needs discussing. At what point does the game transfer from ownership of the shooter/gun back to the preserve? Does an agreement need to be signed? If the gun still owns the bird, should they receive proceeds from any subsequent sale? I'm no lawyer but damn, I can see this becoming fun for real lawyers down the track.There is always a twit out there who would challenge this sort of thing.....
Jumping back again - at F&G National council level, the topic of the sale of pheasants from preserve shoots was discussed and then regional councils were asked to either support or not support the idea that if handled and processed properly, would we support the sale of preserve shot pheasants. A couple of councils supported, a couple didn't... we at AW ended up on a different route and supported the status quo. The status quo actually makes the giving of game illegal. So we supported a notion that is open to legal challenge. We stuck our head in the sand. The joys of democracy. I wonder how this will end.
I reckon the bit that was missing was if it comes to pass, what will the likely proceeds be, where will they go, who will benefit. Its fantastic that the public could potentially nibble on a bit of phesant with their garlic mash and cream spinach and hopefully gain an appreciation of the benefits of game meat but I think there's more that needs discussing. At what point does the game transfer from ownership of the shooter/gun back to the preserve? Does an agreement need to be signed? If the gun still owns the bird, should they receive proceeds from any subsequent sale? I'm no lawyer but damn, I can see this becoming fun for real lawyers down the track.There is always a twit out there who would challenge this sort of thing.....
Friday, February 18, 2011
No posts
Work & stuff is a bit crazy at the moment. Nothing too much to report. AWF&G meeting tomorrow followed by Tim's Stag Do... you'll have to wait for photos of that one..... ;)
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Flood scars on the creek
TT wanted to go for a fish and the sort of loose plan was to get to toots for a marlin, but being sort of loose it went the way of many a loose plan and ended up a trout trip. We decided to go on a creek that's a bit over 2 hours drive from home, and no sooner had we arrived than Milo pulled up with a client onboard. We decided to all head downstream, dropping Milo and client off on the way while TT and me went further downstream into heavier country. Well!!! Last weekend's flood had absolutely devastated the big corner pools but created new holes also. At first we were nervous about finding fish, even some of the normal spots looked a bit barren.
A couple of pools up we found our first fish and TT snagged it on a dry. From there we began to find trout here and there, including in some new water created by the flooding.
Some pools held good numbers and we managed a few fish in each
We caught up with Milo later in the day, just as he nailed a good brown with a trick cast from a difficult spot...
And got a bit of video of fish taking dries...
A couple of pools up we found our first fish and TT snagged it on a dry. From there we began to find trout here and there, including in some new water created by the flooding.
Some pools held good numbers and we managed a few fish in each
We caught up with Milo later in the day, just as he nailed a good brown with a trick cast from a difficult spot...
And got a bit of video of fish taking dries...
Yup, TT loses another.... tee hee.
The humidity was heavy. It was sweatier than a camel's armpit out there, so Subway Smoothies gave us both the hell icecream headaches... man it was hot. Good to see the little water and its fish survived the flood.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Helpless in the face of hoardes of pigeons
Hoardes of pigeons... absolute hoardes of them. The cockie sounded sort of desperate. Friday's big rain event had put his paddocks under water, leaving the pigeons with not too many options to find food and dry land so they descended on his moozlie. He called Milo. Milo called me. We only had a day to organise ourselves and get there. What greeted us was several thousand birds, all over the cattle feed and sitting in the surrounding paddocks.
I dragged out the layout blind and got it set up in a paddock, then we set to work on some of the moozlie munchers. The shooting was steady and it was different - all decoying birds. The layout blind worked a treat, each of us got some pretty fine shooting.
How many birds? Well a shitwack really. Check out urbandictionary.com and you'll see that a shitwhack is less than a fuckton. Maybe there was actually a fuckton of pigeons there. All that i know is that somewhere is some footage of a zillion birds approaching and me not shooting, claiming "stagefright" and giggling like a fiend.
Oh yeah, there was definitely a fuckton of pigeons. We got 115 in hand and maybe another 15-20 that came down in the distance.... but we made very little difference to numbersof birds around.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Benny Hill style videos
When your camera is set to take time-lapse video the results are quite funny - even if not quite what you're expecting... Reminds me of Benny Hill footage, now if i could just load a sound-track.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
A flyrod kingi virgin deflowered
During the week TT texted me that we should go for a fish Saturday.... the weather on Friday afternoon had me thinking because it was shocking. Saturday dawned chilly, moving frontal system has sucked some cooler air from the south and we had a sub 20 degree day for the first time in a while. Southerlies don't normally float my fishing boat, so I checked in with TT because the weather was supposed to be worsening.... his reply was ..."hell yeah lookn mint". It was calming down, but somewhere out to the south was a bunch of weather just waiting to pounce. Met up at TT's and met our third musketeer, Lucas, a mate of TT's. We had the boat in by 3 and headed out to the channel markers for a fly rod session on the kings before looking for snapper on soft baits. I rigged up a couple of rods, the 10 for Lucas and the 8 for me. I wasn't sure about Lucas's fly fishing pedigree and didn't want a broken rod so gave him a few tips about how to cast, strike and not raise the tip and point load my rod. First marker I fired the fly in to the buoy, 2 maybe three strips and it was on. The rat gave a good account of itself on the 8, and with TT motoring us off the buoy steadily we led him out into clear water where he played a straight up and down game and was in the net after a good fight. I hit a fish at each the first 3 buoys we rocked up to, the final being my best of the day.
 |
| Grunting into it |
Don't want to jinx myself but for once I landed 100% which is unlikley to happen again, normally the buggers seek out structure like the buoy chains and ping off, so that was neat. Lucas meanwhile struggled away - getting the hang of hiffing a chunk of T-14 (tungsten impregnated line) is not easy. We pulled up to another buoy, I got tail nipped and then tangled my running line when suddenly he was taken. He played the fish like a pro, not high sticking, handling it gently and not freaking the fish out. Now the rain had started.
 |
| A happy man |
The fish led Lucas around the boat until finally it was in the net... by now the rain had started. The kingis were really on the chew, and TT had the next fish on.. and the next. And the next. His luck was out, pinging off 2 larger fish and landing perhaps the second smallest kingi I've ever seen.
We left to head down to Motuihe Channel to look for a snapper, and boy did we look. We each boated reasonable fish on plastics but it wasn't a hot bite... and by now the wind was not quite howling but we were getting wet and cold out there. We stopped and fished in a few spots before deciding to soak some pillies on local reefs. The tides were huge, so when we anchored at our final destination the current flow was something else again. Little did we know that within 12 hours much of low lying Auckland would be in flood. Er struggled for a few more small snaps before heading back to Okahu to pull the boat. I couldn't believe the time, and at about 9.30 we were in KFC looking and feeling like cold drowned rats.
Saltie fly at its best, 5 landed, 2 lost (broken) and a few missed takes. Snapper fishing at almost its hardest. A mixed bag.
Friday, January 21, 2011
A triumph for commonsense
After the last (Nov) AWF&G council meeting, a Councillor stalked off muttering because no one (not staff, not council, not the hunters) supported the premature closing of the AWF&G owned blocks, per last year's abbreviated block season. As such, it was not particularly surprising that he looked to have rallied some of the 'not newly elected' AWF&G councillors to support a motion for a special meeting to discuss the goose season length, and to overturn the council's decision to leave the blocks open for the duration of the waterfowl season.
There are some pretty important principles at stake here; those blocks were purchased with YOUR money, and MY money. As license holders, we are effectively the landlords of these blocks. Our license fees are actively spent in the blocks, yet we were being asked to deny the licenseholder the opportunity to benefit from the use of the facilities they own. This IS NOT what F&G is about. An additional detail was that in the previous council meeting, Councillor Carey asked the council to consider zoning the region into management areas, a remit that was roundly dismissed as "being unmanageable". So there we were, being asked to consider denying license holders their right of access to their own land asset; and by doing so set in place a separate management zone.
The meeting, which was not particularly well advertised, was surprisingly well attended. And the attendees, rather than relying on a proxy who was perhaps not representing their wishes faithfully, had their say. And the things they had to say were enlightening. They wanted their blocks open. They wanted a say in voting about issues affecting their blocks rather than having minority will imposed on them; they felt sideswiped by last year's block closures and they certainly had no inkling of it before the regulations were passed last year.
I think that last night the AWF&G council made a quantum leap - the paid staff's advice was adhered to (almost faithfully). The fact that we spend far too much time endlessly debating regulations WHICH HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IMPACT ON GAMEBIRD POPULATIONS and then do the same next year, and the year after ad nauseum... the fact that this cacophony stops us from discussing and supporting real research... well as Guy pointed out quite rightly we just need to put this behind us forever and do some REAL work. And I think that shifting the powerbase in the council back onto a proper management course was a vital step-change in this particular council. The effect of the license-holders input and feedback was dramatic; from a position of what looked to be a split small majority of the council voting in favour of closing the blocks, the decision to keep them open was a landslide.
The license-holders saw that they do have a voice, and hopefully from this point onwards they will use that voice.
A triumph for commonsense and democracy and a massive vote of support for the paid staff.
There are some pretty important principles at stake here; those blocks were purchased with YOUR money, and MY money. As license holders, we are effectively the landlords of these blocks. Our license fees are actively spent in the blocks, yet we were being asked to deny the licenseholder the opportunity to benefit from the use of the facilities they own. This IS NOT what F&G is about. An additional detail was that in the previous council meeting, Councillor Carey asked the council to consider zoning the region into management areas, a remit that was roundly dismissed as "being unmanageable". So there we were, being asked to consider denying license holders their right of access to their own land asset; and by doing so set in place a separate management zone.
The meeting, which was not particularly well advertised, was surprisingly well attended. And the attendees, rather than relying on a proxy who was perhaps not representing their wishes faithfully, had their say. And the things they had to say were enlightening. They wanted their blocks open. They wanted a say in voting about issues affecting their blocks rather than having minority will imposed on them; they felt sideswiped by last year's block closures and they certainly had no inkling of it before the regulations were passed last year.
I think that last night the AWF&G council made a quantum leap - the paid staff's advice was adhered to (almost faithfully). The fact that we spend far too much time endlessly debating regulations WHICH HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IMPACT ON GAMEBIRD POPULATIONS and then do the same next year, and the year after ad nauseum... the fact that this cacophony stops us from discussing and supporting real research... well as Guy pointed out quite rightly we just need to put this behind us forever and do some REAL work. And I think that shifting the powerbase in the council back onto a proper management course was a vital step-change in this particular council. The effect of the license-holders input and feedback was dramatic; from a position of what looked to be a split small majority of the council voting in favour of closing the blocks, the decision to keep them open was a landslide.
The license-holders saw that they do have a voice, and hopefully from this point onwards they will use that voice.
A triumph for commonsense and democracy and a massive vote of support for the paid staff.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
A 23 day break
Happy New Year! Stuffing about is fun. I decided to have an extra long Xmas break, starting Dec 24 and returning to work Jan 17. 23 days off in a row, the longest break I’ve taken since 2001. And it’s been a good break too – nice weather, beach days with the family, not too much work drama (you never really escape). Some really good fishing too and some new experiences. I took Marce’s nephew Josh down to Shank’s to do some work on the pheasant rearing pen, which we cleaned up relatively fast which gave me and Josh some time on the river prior to an evening pig hunt.
Our little charges - looking good!
Check out the camo
The river was discoloured (which it is 90% of the time) but we extracted a fat brown and hooked and lost dinner, a medium sized (couple pounds) rainbow. That evening we drove up to the airstrip which was planted in crops – the pigs had nailed it. As soon as we stopped the car there were pigs everywhere, but as we stalked in they disappeared – who knows where? Later on Shank’s neighbour came over and we had a hunting party of kids, dogs and spotlights. The dogs caught a couple of piglets and that was that for hunting. Next trip was a fly stripping day on the hydro lakes, fishing over the weed beds. Quite a big fish number day, I lost count after 20. Fish were mostly rainbows but I stalked a couple of browns in 50cm of water and nailed them, all in all quite satisfying but not what I’d call a challenging fishery. I put the yak into the harbour a number of times, but everyone was struggling to hit fish. Tons of anchovies in the channels but the fish were reticent, not really helped by the southerly. A trip to the Waikato spring creeks soothed my non-snapper conundrum, with sun beating down and insects buzzing the fish were looking up for food, another 20+ fish day but I didn’t net a brown, losing the 4 I put a hook into. Not good form really, but so nice to have such an array of rises from slow sips to splashy grabs – I missed a few on the rise but who cares? Dad and I snuck out real early one morning to fish the mussel farm at Waikawau Bay
Kingis were about and I briefly had a couple chase my lure cast hard against one of the buoys; and then later in the day a couple chased a yellow tail mack that I hooked up on a Clouser. I kept the fish down there and fished a livie for an hour or so but nope, the kings just weren’t in the mood. We took home seven reasonable snaps between us. A trip to the ponds to lay more bait in the stations, clear some willows and lay new carpet in the hut showed the ponds to be in superb order, still plenty of water although lower than it could be but good for high summer. Lowlight of the day involved smashing the prop on the same stump that dad hit 25 years ago, despite his warnings to “turn around, there’s a big stump in here…” yow, expensive… But yesterday was the crowning highlight of the break. Nik and I had arranged a trip on the harbour flats for kingis, chasing them on 8 weights with floating lines. The deal is that the kingis follow the big black rays and feed off the fish that the rays disturb. OH MY GOD.
This seriously will be hard to beat as the fishing highlight of 2011, running around after rays with kingis sitting atop…. Yellow tails sticking out of the water… well we were both hooting. So there’s the holiday wrap up. Hopefully my brownie points jar is slightly fuller than it has been as well J.
Mussel Barge on the move
Kingis were about and I briefly had a couple chase my lure cast hard against one of the buoys; and then later in the day a couple chased a yellow tail mack that I hooked up on a Clouser. I kept the fish down there and fished a livie for an hour or so but nope, the kings just weren’t in the mood. We took home seven reasonable snaps between us. A trip to the ponds to lay more bait in the stations, clear some willows and lay new carpet in the hut showed the ponds to be in superb order, still plenty of water although lower than it could be but good for high summer. Lowlight of the day involved smashing the prop on the same stump that dad hit 25 years ago, despite his warnings to “turn around, there’s a big stump in here…” yow, expensive… But yesterday was the crowning highlight of the break. Nik and I had arranged a trip on the harbour flats for kingis, chasing them on 8 weights with floating lines. The deal is that the kingis follow the big black rays and feed off the fish that the rays disturb. OH MY GOD.
Act like a fool Al, and you'll be published (...punished)
Kingi Fodder - Piper imitations
Spot the kingis - there are 2 there!
Steeeee-RIKE!!!!
This seriously will be hard to beat as the fishing highlight of 2011, running around after rays with kingis sitting atop…. Yellow tails sticking out of the water… well we were both hooting. So there’s the holiday wrap up. Hopefully my brownie points jar is slightly fuller than it has been as well J.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Users Pays - Why don't the commies understand this model?
In "our" swamp, we've suffered little in the way of interference by govt forces over the years. I say little because our user group governance body (Upper Piako Wetland Management Assn) have a pretty solid governance strategy, policy and a management plan that is approved by DOC. So when I got an email from dad that DOC were upset with our most recent spraying effort, I was a little less than amused. Need approval to spray poa aquatica (Glyceria aquatica)? God almighty, these idiots straight out of uni need to get a grip. Who asked us before mass chopper boom-spraying the willows that protected bird-life and created habitat? DOC? No way. Neat crop of blackberry and other wandering herbal pests that created for US, the USERS to fix up. Stupid hippies, living off the public purse. So dad gave them a barrel and they came creeping back all apologetic like, guv. Stupid slimey belly-creeping hippies with their dumb apologies. Next we'll need RMA approval to slash a blackberry. This is Helen Clark's legacy you see. We all need to be saved from ourselves and closeted in little pigeon holes. God help free thought.
We use, we pay, we manage. And somehow due to years of doing that we know what we're doing. I really hate Johnny-come-lately slimeballs that come with a "we know it all" attitude.
Merry Xmas.
We use, we pay, we manage. And somehow due to years of doing that we know what we're doing. I really hate Johnny-come-lately slimeballs that come with a "we know it all" attitude.
Merry Xmas.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Hopeful signs
Paul Stenning, noted waterfowler and Southland F&G Councilor is a worried man. His worry stems from the lack of research into NZ's Greylard/Mallard population, and how little we know of the population dynamics. His immediate concern (refreshingly) is not for his region's birds right now; but should the population markedly decline as is inferred it has done in other regions - what would an adequate management response be? How would we know what to do - is there an emergency plan? Here's where I digress....(again! Yay!) In our business we plan for a range of business outages from widespread mass interuptions (earthquake, acts of God) to global events such as break out of various strains of influenza derivatives to localised events such as power blackouts. Techinically everyone in the business (yeah there's always a dumbass) knows what the appropriate response should be in order to allow business continuity depending on the scale and severity of the event or outage. We know how to do this because in our knowledge banks we have the information gathered from when we've suffered power blackouts, had staff down in droves with various illnesses and even had terrorist threats on our building (given we're housed in one of Auckland's transport hubs, that's not too surprising). The point is that we know what to do. And it sort of works. A bit closer to home, that whole PSA gig in the kiwifruit industry exposed a clear lack of continuity planning... ok so resources were brought to bear but it took so long, and was so disjointed...
So, back to waterfowl, what happens if in Eastern there's a mass botulism outbreak in say Tauranga Harbour (unlikely example), or if some egg denaturing disease takes hold in Northern and wipes out all the nesting effort; or.. the list could go on. How would we know what's happening? How do we know our breeding success rates? Or the effect of crippling? Or whether our birds are nesting more than once? Or where?
Paul is worried, so he's pushing for a nationalised approach to researching our waterfowl populations. Its not a new idea, but its one that has merit. It needs to be nationalised and coordinated and run scientifically in order that planning can be put in place to allow for population management that has a fact base. Paul's taliking with councilors from various reagions, as it is expected that Southland F&G will put forward a remit to national; and if it isn't to die an agonising death it will need support from all regions. It will need buy-in, funding, coordination, but we have the staff power and appropriate job titles to do this! I can't see a single negative to be found. Someone may of course, that's the nature of committees.
Paul's been on the phone to a few people, Tim Allen, Guy, Craig, me.. to name a few shady dudes. Or leading lights. Naturally he wants our support, which will be granted and the support of our managers, which will take some work.
Watch this space.
So, back to waterfowl, what happens if in Eastern there's a mass botulism outbreak in say Tauranga Harbour (unlikely example), or if some egg denaturing disease takes hold in Northern and wipes out all the nesting effort; or.. the list could go on. How would we know what's happening? How do we know our breeding success rates? Or the effect of crippling? Or whether our birds are nesting more than once? Or where?
Paul is worried, so he's pushing for a nationalised approach to researching our waterfowl populations. Its not a new idea, but its one that has merit. It needs to be nationalised and coordinated and run scientifically in order that planning can be put in place to allow for population management that has a fact base. Paul's taliking with councilors from various reagions, as it is expected that Southland F&G will put forward a remit to national; and if it isn't to die an agonising death it will need support from all regions. It will need buy-in, funding, coordination, but we have the staff power and appropriate job titles to do this! I can't see a single negative to be found. Someone may of course, that's the nature of committees.
Paul's been on the phone to a few people, Tim Allen, Guy, Craig, me.. to name a few shady dudes. Or leading lights. Naturally he wants our support, which will be granted and the support of our managers, which will take some work.
Watch this space.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
"Obsessive..."~!
Well well lookie here. This batch augments the number of full body goose field dekes that have been hidden under my desk at work, or snuck out to the wood shed. These dekes look primo, can't wait to line them up against the GHG pro grades and see which look best.... hahhaahaaaaa, let the sledging begin!
People at work save I'm obsessive, so does SWMBO but to my absolute rapture, Justin Bieber Fan Club told me "I want to drive your dirty 4 wheel drive and kill geese". All this without prompting. The old heart is gladdened, warmed even by this. What a fine obsession to have!
Now, for that boat......
Monday, December 6, 2010
Oh Rats!!!
Waitemata Harbour is a great fishery, cheap, accesible and close to home. The harbour is filling up with spawning snapper at the moment, but yesterday's mission was about kingfish and fly rods. We wanted to at least get out and about after the aborted Waikaremoana trip, so the loose plan was to meet up at TT's, load the boat and get down to Okahu Bay and meet with Garth Planck who would join us. Garth's a well known competition angler who is trying to make the NZ team for the world champs. He reckons its his lake fishing that he needs to touch up on. I have my own thoughts about fishing competitions. Somehow sitting on the bank of a stream, smoking a ciggie and watching a fish feed seems to me to be a bit more 'in tune' than covering every mm of water with methodical no second wasted time bound precision of the top guys. Each to their own. One thing I do know about fishing around obstacles for kings is that presentation of the fly has to be accurate - it doesn't really matter how you get the fly just deep enough just upstream of the obstacle - only that you get it there. Waitemata is known for afternoon breezes, which tend to be steady and make casting tricky, so any manipulation of back-hand, over head, or roll cast to drop the fly in the zone will do. It will have to do. T-14 isn't exactly designed for pretty casting anyhow. Its designed to sink like a half brick. We headed out to a well known rock between 2 islands, got in postition which was tricky and after a couple of casts I was on. With the current and wind TT was having a hell of a job keeping the boat in place and we drifted across the buoy chain... fish 1 angler nil. After a few minutes we decided to anchor and dropped the pick. The position wasn't great but it was manageable and a few minutes and a couple of pack attacks later I was on again. But as I was standing on the line that fight didn't last long.... Garth meantime didn't have any action.
After a few more minutes TT wanted to reposition, but in doing so we hooked the pick on the buoy chain and had to jettison it after a bit of toing and froing. Bye bye $200. We decided to move back into Rangi Channel and check out the action there. First up the marker pole. Nothing doing. So we began to buoy hop and began to find fish. At almost every buoy at least one and sometimes up to half a dozen rats would chase the fly out. The Megamushy got eaten a few times and it was nice to get on the board; Garth meantime began to suffer from the dreaded mal de mer and his efforts flagged. I gave him a fly that would get bitten; his flies were a bit too bulky. The fish were all rats, nothing I saw would have exceeded 4 kilos or so.
After a few more minutes TT wanted to reposition, but in doing so we hooked the pick on the buoy chain and had to jettison it after a bit of toing and froing. Bye bye $200. We decided to move back into Rangi Channel and check out the action there. First up the marker pole. Nothing doing. So we began to buoy hop and began to find fish. At almost every buoy at least one and sometimes up to half a dozen rats would chase the fly out. The Megamushy got eaten a few times and it was nice to get on the board; Garth meantime began to suffer from the dreaded mal de mer and his efforts flagged. I gave him a fly that would get bitten; his flies were a bit too bulky. The fish were all rats, nothing I saw would have exceeded 4 kilos or so.
We ended the day at Rough Rock - a new buoy is attached there and its pretty 'clean' -no barnacles or weed growth on it yet. One small king came out and made a half arsed pass at the fly. Then we wound in. Inumerable casts, 4 hookups, 2 landed, heaps seen. Sweet.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Late spring
Well the trip didn't eventuate due to sickness in the household. TT's dad is near the end of his innings so TT was looking forward to some solitude, but the never-ending bug in our household just keeps taking its toll. JB Fan Club still up every hour on the hour coughing all night; I'll not miss this bug when it passes. TT and me are going to hit the harbour buoys for kingis tomorrow, so better make sure the gear is all ready.
Anyway, Shanks made a video of our little charges, this morning he let them out on the grass in the pen extension: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0q9eLLHerE
Our little charges are looking great!
Shane from Taupo took this photo the other day on a back country stream:
So the geese are getting around as well. Late spring and bird life is looking good. The looming problem appears to be drought, already Northland is in a perilous state. The daily clouds are just rolling over and not dumping, yet dada told me that the tanks at our duck hut are full, something like 200+ lites of water have been collected. Good news for the swamp, because at my place we'd have been lucky to get any rain in the past 3 weeks - significant rain, that is. So we're facing another Waikato drought summer. How long can the central Waikato duck shooters weather this before they start to give the game away? Its almost predictable now that their ponds are dry from Jan - mid June. License sales are actually up year on year which is some good news, so maybe just maybe folks will hang in there. As for the ducks, they may struggle for food all too soon.
Anyway, Shanks made a video of our little charges, this morning he let them out on the grass in the pen extension: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0q9eLLHerE
Our little charges are looking great!
Shane from Taupo took this photo the other day on a back country stream:
So the geese are getting around as well. Late spring and bird life is looking good. The looming problem appears to be drought, already Northland is in a perilous state. The daily clouds are just rolling over and not dumping, yet dada told me that the tanks at our duck hut are full, something like 200+ lites of water have been collected. Good news for the swamp, because at my place we'd have been lucky to get any rain in the past 3 weeks - significant rain, that is. So we're facing another Waikato drought summer. How long can the central Waikato duck shooters weather this before they start to give the game away? Its almost predictable now that their ponds are dry from Jan - mid June. License sales are actually up year on year which is some good news, so maybe just maybe folks will hang in there. As for the ducks, they may struggle for food all too soon.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Free Saturdays
First free Saturday for ages today, which is good because I'm coming off a week of man 'flu, broken sleep and 2 weeks of work hell. Justin Beiber Fan Club has had a wracking cough and conjunctivitis for 10 days and is finally coming right. Talk about a hive of disease in my house. So, stuff that happened in past 2 weeks. I hit the tying vice a couple of times, but my ambitions weren't matched by output, somehow stuff just fell flat. Still have most of a box to fill. Am noticing that my visual acuity is getting shot too, I need lots of light while tying so my eyes are getting tired by night tying efforts. Last Saturday's AWF&G council meeting was just as the bug was kicking in; my head was pounding for most of it. Cocks got pi$$ed with not having shortened season on F&G blocks; put forward a motion that the goose season be of same length as that of duck season, was seconded, voted and hey presto we have a 7 week goose season instead of 16 weeks. We got a special goose season in late summer but that is subject to game bird trend counts. Subsequently paper is flying; we will have a special meeting in Jan to rethink the goose season.
With the exchange rate it is possible to partake in international sales and land stuff at prices that are about as 'reasonable' as you're likely to see. Half dozen Final Approach full body "Starter Pack" dekes can be got for NZ$241 from Cabelas, add in freight and you're still under the magical $65 dollar per dekes mark that seems to seperate the good dekes from the not so good.
Next Saturday is free as well; free in the sense that TT, me and maybe Tim will be in Ureweras chasing fish and maybe we can knock over a deer as well. We'll take off Thursday fish/hunt Friday & Saturday and come back Monday. Should be a goodie.
With the exchange rate it is possible to partake in international sales and land stuff at prices that are about as 'reasonable' as you're likely to see. Half dozen Final Approach full body "Starter Pack" dekes can be got for NZ$241 from Cabelas, add in freight and you're still under the magical $65 dollar per dekes mark that seems to seperate the good dekes from the not so good.
Next Saturday is free as well; free in the sense that TT, me and maybe Tim will be in Ureweras chasing fish and maybe we can knock over a deer as well. We'll take off Thursday fish/hunt Friday & Saturday and come back Monday. Should be a goodie.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Swamp working bee
9 am roll call.... well more like 9.20 because we all sort of arrived at different times at the boat ramp. Tom, Paul, Tim, Quinn and me travelled down with Tom's boat, Rick and Jason arrived just before us; Andrew, Aaron and 2 of his kids were already there. A few trips up and down the river (tide was out) and we had everything up at the hut. Scope of work was quite large:
Repair the roof (Tom & Andrew) - include installation of new chimney
Install the new window - Tim & Aaron
Spray the ponds - me, Paul, Rick & Jase.
The day was hot but there was a decent breeze, but still Tom and Andy fried up on the roof. Rick and Jase powered through their work and me and Paul focussed on the heavy poa infestation especially between Park & Willow track and the Western edge of Bollocks. We trampled transverse lines through the crap and laid the spray on. Hopefully it has the desired effect. Lunch was called at 1 pm, Rick putting on a feed of venison sausages.
After a good day's work, all was completed. The new chimney looks brilliant, the new window is pretty good, and the Poa hopefully will wither under the intense spray program we applied. Paul and I saw a clutch of grey ducklings as well, a bit of a treat that you don't see everyday.
At 3 we pulled the pin at the ponds, tidying up and travelling to the landing took another hour. A big day's work out of the road, and really good to knock over some niggly problems that needed fixing.
Repair the roof (Tom & Andrew) - include installation of new chimney
Install the new window - Tim & Aaron
Spray the ponds - me, Paul, Rick & Jase.
 |
| New Chimney & Window |
The day was hot but there was a decent breeze, but still Tom and Andy fried up on the roof. Rick and Jase powered through their work and me and Paul focussed on the heavy poa infestation especially between Park & Willow track and the Western edge of Bollocks. We trampled transverse lines through the crap and laid the spray on. Hopefully it has the desired effect. Lunch was called at 1 pm, Rick putting on a feed of venison sausages.
 |
| Venision Sausage in bread - on way up to men on roof |
After a good day's work, all was completed. The new chimney looks brilliant, the new window is pretty good, and the Poa hopefully will wither under the intense spray program we applied. Paul and I saw a clutch of grey ducklings as well, a bit of a treat that you don't see everyday.
At 3 we pulled the pin at the ponds, tidying up and travelling to the landing took another hour. A big day's work out of the road, and really good to knock over some niggly problems that needed fixing.
 |
| Tom and Andy & the new chimney |
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