At last

... there's a flock of geese that have been chomping away at a chicory crop and driving the farmer to distraction. He'd been asking us to come and deal to them but with the roost very close to the crop we've been waiting for a strong wind in order to cover our shooting noise.

Finally we got the wind and were able to get setup before sparrows fart. The hunting site would be slightly challenging as we were near a ridge in a large paddock, and there was no clear X as goose kak was layered everywhere. Not a square foot was free of goose doo.

Then the wait started. As it got light, the breeze began to stiffen and then a pair came in but set down behind us. Matt released his dog which flushed them out and then they swung downwind and came back to us on set wings!

After that the long wait was on us. With our binos we watched the birds, maybe 300, drift out as the tide in the harbour receded and then as it turned, they began to drift back in. The wind grew and grew and soon white caps were thumping in. We moved our blinds to cover where we thought the birds may land - as we'd set up earlier in the dark we'd not quite nailed it.

Finally after a wee nap, I was in my blind when Tony yelled "geese, geese!" and a small mob arrived, swung wide and set to come in. At the last second they drifted to our right and set down just below a hump.. but with another mob lining up we were able to let them go.

The next 10 minutes were mayhem as we got stuck in, and dropped a heap of birds. The departing birds headed down to land in a river but with a volley of shots they departed back out into the harbour, which was in turmoil.

I had to leave mid afternoon and they didn't fly again before I left, but later on I got a couple of messages saying the final total was 54 birds. Happy farmer we hope.

Rain & wind. Photo courtesy Matt McCondach

 

 

Goose pile [Tony Dobbs]

Packing up

 

Walking with the ghosts of time

To borrow a lyric from Icehouse's Great Southern Land...

I've talked before about the old buggers who were past their prime even when I began hunting ducks, old Fred Davey with his Browning 5, my grand pop [who seemed the youngest], his brother in law, my "Uncle Dave" Dudding and Dave's brother Brian who never spoke much. I was young and stupid and pressed Brian to tell me about the war. He said he'd "killed some japs" and then went quiet... quiet enough for me to get the hint that the subject was thereafter off limits.

They drank whisky. They [apart from Fred] shot with old double guns and knew how to use them. I once watched Uncle Dave kill 3 doubles of mallards in a few minutes, and my granddad was a mean shot. I don't recall hunting with Brian, and my only memory of shooting with Fred was as a junior bystander while he and granddad got all crossed up on a mob of mallards and then spent the next 15 minutes abusing each other about who shot the other guys ducks... stuff like we do today, although at the time [must have been mid 70's] I thought they were going to get stuck into each other!

When we pulled down our old maimai a few weeks ago, we uncovered an absolute trove of memorabilia. Claim tags from the 60's, early and then late 70's. I took some home to clean up and its brought back a flood of memories.

The old guys are still there with us in spirit, and may the gods of duck hunting rest their souls because around about now they'll be getting all fidgety... the day bigger than any other approaches and they know it.

Prep time

The duck season is just around the corner, and yesterday was the official mark up day where stakeholders are able to claim their spot by "pegging"/"marking"/"tagging", which involves nailing your stand claim to your spot by 10am on the given day. This in turn allows you to have first dibs on the spot on any given day, even if someone who is not the holder turns up prior to 7.30am, the legally tagged up hunter has first rights. After 07.30, any licensed holder is able to set up.

The previous year's stakeholder is able to tag his pond earlier than the allotted day and time, just as long as it is done on time.

Dad and I got down to the ponds early on Good Friday and found what we'd been told about; a crew has blocked our main dam with sand [mud] bags in the belief that the water flowing over the weir affects their water levels. As someone once said "... you're a special kind of stupid aint you?" but if they believe water flows uphill, then so be it. Blocking the weir wont affect the water levels 5kms away. Just another job to extract the bags and refill the hole they made.

We pushed ducks off the ponds as we travelled, clearing fallen willows and arriving at our recently constructed new maimai, which we painted and then wired up for dressing next weekend.

Having a good season or trip is all about the preparation, which is half the fun anyway. The Christmas Island trip is drawing closer, and between Coch and I we've tied over 400 flies. As a guy I know said to me "don't listen to people who fish Aitutaki when they scoff at how many flies you take, they don't know anything. You'll get dozens of shots a day and will lose flies hand over fist".

We've found the Tacky fly boxes to be excellent, tough and with silicone slots they have better holding grip than foam slots like C&F's.

Still a few slots to fill but the pressure's off with the backbone of the tying broken.

Things that still need doing:

1. Brush up the maimais
2. String up the nets for the boat
3. Get flylines, flats boots and drybag sorted for CXI

...... all this prep never ends.

Not too far to go

Richard called Tony, Tony called Travis & me; geese were on the menu in the Clevedon district just east of Auckland and the farmer was at his wits end. A full paddock of whatever the geese had been feeding had been destroyed, mowed down to the point where the farmer had sprayed it off…

Richard had eyeballed the geese and pushed them off their preferred paddock the previous day and reported that we’d need a bit of a carry to get the gear in… I had visions of the 600m+ bog ridden treks of the past but it was actually a bit of a doddle to get the gear over a fence and drain and across a nice hard paddock. The boys left to move their cars while I got the decoys together and began to lay the spread. They got back and soon we had the blinds sorted, and were pretty much ready.

The location was spectacular, we were tucked in a paddock with a high hill behind us, an estuary in front of us and a peninsula stretched away to our left. To our right the coastal road stretched away and early fishermen trundled past with their boats. Out from the estuary, the gulf islands loomed as the sun began to rise and the darkness lifted. We waited in anticipation of hunting unpressured geese…

… a week earlier Matt, the manager of the farm we were on and I lay in our blinds on a still morning. In front of us the giant Kaipara Harbour stretched to the distance, even so, the harbour’s South Head seemed to be in touching distance such was the calm. We’d found the “x” where geese had been by grid searching the chicory paddock we were in until the farm manager located fresh goose kak. We saw geese alright, the massed overhead, but with no wind to set the birds we were in a losing position and pulled the pin with 9 birds down and the threat of sunburn looming… a meal of fresh snapper and cold beer finished off what had been a tough hunt on wise birds.

Back to the here and now. The sun had risen and birds were beginning to move. In the estuary in front of us geese called, but these guys wouldn’t be our targets – they’d seen our headlamps as we set up so wouldn’t come near us. Finally the first flight of geese rounded the peninsular to our left. Despite the flagging and calling effort they were set on a location elsewhere and carried on…. Straight away a shadow of doubt crept over me, but that was quickly dispelled as the next flight rounded the corner and saw and heard us, turned, and came in on set wings. As pretty a sight as any in water fowling, their necks stretched forward as landing gear went down and Richard called the shot.

The next 20 minutes was a flurry of action as birds arrived in workable groups but with fickle wind [Again! Alas!] , they often didn’t quite setup straight. Travis at this point said that his gun wasn’t cycling more than a shot or 2, so decided to strip the mag extension – ZWIINNGGG – the mag spring went flying… as did the stopper. We spent the next hours or so under a cloud darkened sky, searching for the missing parts. Finally Travis found the stopper and after an eternity Tony stumbled over the spring… by now the rain had started and southerly squalls [forecast was north westerly] came in.

Luckily geese are waterproof :)

 

The temperature dropped and rain fell steadily. No birds flew. After a soggy hour the clouds cleared and the sun burned through with fierce intensity, and that signalled the end to our hunt. With gear retrieved and packed into the vehicles we made our way to Richard’s house for a barbecue of venison patties and veni sausages. I could get used to these post hunt cook-ups…

The idiot anti-hero shot

when 4 guys go hunting...

 

Change of season

It’s still very warm at night, but the rains are beginning to become more regular…. Autumn is upon us. The ponds were looking great when we arrived on Saturday, although regrowth of pest weeds was evident here and there. Of our ponds, McLennan’s is the newest reformed [some 25 years ago], reclaimed from an old pond that had overgrown. It is kidney shaped and on the NW side has over-hanging willows that ducks love to loaf under – a great pond with a ton of duck appeal and very much a top producer.We were there to build a new maimai to replace the one that had been built over the top of the pre-existing [probably 1950’s era] structure. Rick, Jason, Andy and I would do the construction part, working from a pre-fab’d kitset and plan that Larry had put together. 

We got stuck in and got the posts and bearers up, everything relatively square and then began construction of the structure. With a good day’s work we were pretty much set with a roof and dog ramp up to the elevated hide. Next task is painting and camo’ing up. 

On the drive home Tony and I got on the blower, with weather brewing, so was a goose hunt… a stiff westerly would be just what the doctor ordered to get birds up off the harbour and carry away the sound of our shots. This would be the weather we were waiting for if all played out… Tony and Chewie were out setting dekes when we spoke. I’d have no chance to cut grass for the blind when I got home [family duties], so my only option would be to cut grass, grass the blind, and set my dekes in the morning.

The alarm went at 04.00 and I switched it off with the thought that I’d lay there and gather my thoughts before rising. When my eyes next opened – near disaster! I’d slept for another 20 minutes. Boom, into action. Dressed, fed, half a coffee and out the door. I drove a bit faster than I ought to have, especially as it had rained. At the farm gate I jumped out with a rubbish bag and long handled sheers and mowed down a pile of grass. Then into the holding paddock while I waited for the farmer to bring the cows up to the shed for milking. I waited, cursing Tony and Chewie for being able to set up the evening before, bstds!!! The cows passed and I set off to the paddock, stopping in the darkness with headlamp on to scan for the right paddock. I drove over to the spread – it was windy, awesome - and moved my gear out. Layout, bag of grass, ammo, gun, dekes. I got the layout set up and began to grass up as another vehicle approached. Adam jumped out and pulled 2 blinds out of the back of his truck. I got my dekes sorted and in the appeared and then headed back to park. Tony, Chewie and Travis were waiting as I arrived and we had a quick catch-up. Adam’s matt Azar turned up and then we were off to the setup. A quick safety briefing and we were almost ready when out of nowhere 2 geese cruised past in the near darkness. The following bird came in from behind with the stiff wind, curled, set and dropped into the dekes to be dropped by 2 loads of #2 lead.

The next period was frustrating as birds lifted off the harbour and screamed over the mangroves to land in paddocks other than where we were set! In normal goose fashion this immediately attracted following birds in. Adam took to rubbish bags and fence standards and pegged the bags out in distant paddocks, pushing out the competition as he did so. That proved to work just fine as we began to be visited more or less regularly until mid-morning. Then, chaos ensued. Azar had to leave and began to pack up when a bunch of geese zoomed into view. He got back under cover and we dealt to them. As we cleared up the geese, Azar got ready to leave again – but the geese were having none of it, banking up in waves. This is pretty typical of birds I’d hunted in the Waikato, but the first time I’d seen them behave like this on the Kaipara. The wind and tide must have combined enough to push groups of birds air-ward. The action slowed again at midday, so we were able to move dead birds out of the spread and get the empty shells tidied away. Azar got away at last, late home to his lady who had expected him home at 9am….

Then came the wait. 90 minutes of inactivity and sky watching.

The next group that came were memorable. They circled warily, using the wind to hover tantalisingly just out of range before sidling away, circling several hundred metres away and then coming back sliding across the wind before committing. At the call every bird dropped. It was just beautiful.

The afternoon wore away and we pulled the pin at 3, after the farmer had taken the herd back for milking. With cars in the paddock, the inevitable happened, wave after wave of geese lifted off the harbour …. with geese flying as a backdrop to a great day we cleared the gear and got packed up. A quick beer and the lads got on the road. 

Another awesome hunt, and hopefully a happier farmer with the equivalent of 18 stock units removed from the equation. 

A tale of 2 goose hunts

Scouting is where it’s at for goose hunting. There is no doubt that the golden rule is to be setup where the geese are or have been going. Saturday’s hunt was ostensibly for the Auckland Waikato region’s Special Paradise Duck season so we’d got permits sorted. But we’d only be setting decoys for geese, and after a lean year last year we hoped to see a few birds. Matt and Tony had scouted the area and reports began to come through of 50 birds here, 100 birds there…. I nipped out of work early on Friday to grab my decoys, layout and head up to the farm to get setup. I met Tony at the farmer’s house and we stood overlooking the vista of harbour flats. 

I simply couldn’t believe what I was seeing; there were geese as far as the eye could see. Small mobs, large groups, mobs, flocks, congregations… you name it and it was there. And between the geese, paradise ducks were in plague proportions. The only good news for the farmer was that he was feeding fresh cut maize – competing with that mass of birds would be a losing battle. Our next challenge was where to setup, but Tony had that in hand as he’d spent time in the morning watching where the birds had landed before dispersing. We headed off to set up after the farmer had jumped on his bike to push the birds off. We setup for the predicted morning breeze with small clusters of decoys to mimic family groups. Matt arrived soon after; he’d be shooting elsewhere with his regular parrie hunting mates in the morning so our party would be Chewie, Tony and I. 

Funnily enough I couldn’t sleep at all that night. The alarm didn’t need to go off – so after a few coffees and toast I was off to meet the boys. We got setup in the dark, having to spin the blinds and reset the dekes as our NE predicted breeze was coming from the south…

Sunrise was awesome, a burning orange/red orb smoking through a cloud-base and with that the sky filled with paradise ducks in swirling masses. We had guys set up in layout blinds with parrie spreads in paddocks around us and soon the sounds of shotguns popping filled the air. The occasional bird came our way but nothing really set, so we took passing shots now and again. Over on one of the wet areas, a steady stream of shots indicated that a heavy toll of birds was being taken, but for us the patience game was just beginning. 

Sunrise

50 shades of Tony

The first ragged group of geese that appeared came from an unexpected direction and flew well beyond us surveying the area before finally turning and heading back towards us. As the neared the old familiar excitement took over, nothing in hunting compares to canadas approaching and setting. With almost zero wind they stayed high before dropping in on an awkward angle and on the call we opened our account. As we were shooting under the duck regulations, guns were pinned to 3 shots so we’d have to be precise with our placement. 

As the morning wore on, the sky cleared of parries as they found un-hunted spots to setup and rest on, and the geese flights off the harbour became more regular. And as the morning progressed, the wind changed constantly, forcing us to frantically move our blinds around and change the spread. On the occasion that we didn’t, a mob of geese descended into the decoy spread on our left so we couldn’t maximise the opportunity…  soon one of the other guys came over to join us, watching the big birds crumple from the sky had been too much for him to resist. The tally continued to grow until midday when the other guy had to leave to be at another appointment.  Chewy and I hitched a ride with him to bring our vehicles in closer and as we did had to watch as Tony single-handedly smashed a mob of geese that descended, taking the full toll with every shot. Great stuff!

one down, one up...

2 down

By late afternoon we had nearly 70 birds down, plus a few parries that made the mistake of getting too close. Matt and his crew were heading back to HQ to clean up, so we’d head up to clean our bag. As we gort started a heavy shower put in an appearance and a smile spread over Matt’s face – “good for the farm” he said. The clean-up flew by with the usual banter and then I hit the road; tomorrow we would be heading for our second hunt in The Waikato.

Old yella guts

Day II

Tony had hooked up with one of his contacts who had been invited to a hunt on a primo Waikato farm, who had in turn extended the invitation. We knew that we were being tested when new filtered through that the farmer didn’t want any shooting until after 10am; but all you can do is go anyway and persevere. We’ve all spent plenty of time in paddocks looking at the sky, plus with a good hunt under our belts the day before weren’t concerned about taking a big bag. We met our contacts at the farm gate and soon set off to look at the paddocks we’d be hunting. There was a whole heap of goose kak and feathers lying around - but none of it was really fresh and even more interesting were the wads lying around, clearly the story we’d heard that a local who hunts the property often had had a decent bomb up recently was true. 

Still, we got set up in good time, showing Travis and Manny the general patterns and reasoning behind our decoy spreads. We were on the edge of the largest Waikato Lake, Waikare and had plenty of time to take a look at her. Years of sewage dumping, koi carp infestation and nutrient runoff had turned the lake water “oranger than Fanta” to use Tony’s phrase. What a $hithole of a lake, simply unbelievable that in this day and age town authorities can dump sewage into a waterway of significance. Soon a lone honker appeared and answered Tony’s call, circled and came in. Then came the long long wait.

Early in the afternoon some lake hunters disturbed a huge flock of geese which turned the air blue with their calling.. they all simply crossed the lake ad landed on a shallow bar. By 4pm birds began to get active, but they simply weren’t using the paddock we were in and flew past us on their way to greener pastures. At that point many said he’d not seen birds on this paddock since Thursday, and the truth dawned in us that we’d not briefed him well enough on the scouting aspect that is the key to goose hunting success.  At 5pm the wind kicked up and soon birds took to the air and our most promising moment came when 15 or so birds came off the lake directly at our spread with wind in their faces…. Some began to put their feet down when the all suddenly lifted in alarm. Chance gone, who knows what put them off? After that a torrential downpour arrived and for the second time in 2 days we witnessed a farmer’s happiness at seeing rain drench the ground. That seemed an appropriate signal to call it. It rained hard almost the whole way home… maybe the dry has broken.

Flats fishing for trout

My mate Nik and I managed something a bit rare yesterday; having a day off to go fishing! You'd think that as a producer of NZ's top rated fishing show, Big Angry Fish, that he'd have lots of fishing time. Not so - in order to put on a programme there approx. 300 hours of editing and stuff that goes on outside of actually getting the footage.

We grabbed the show's 5m ctr console - Apple Core and headed away from our previous days' commitments (getting footage for an upcoming episode), arriving in bright sunshine at the lake we were to fish. Apple Core is fitted with a Minn Kota electric motor, perfect for getting around quietly.

Apple Core

As we got ready to launch cloud suddenly blew in - even though it stayed warm the spotting would be difficult and without sun on the water, less damselfly nymphs would move.

We put the boat in and got underway, soon arriving at the spot. Nik lowered the Minn Kota and I rigged up. We silently cruised over weed beds and as we did I put a few cats out and soon hit the first fish of the day, a neat little brownie in the 3lb class which took me straight into the weeds before I could extract him.

The next couple of hours passed with constant fish action; this style of fishing is very visual and having the silent motor made all the difference as we could approach fishy spots carefully and mostly undetected - although we still spooked a few.

Early afternoon soon came and it was time to get away home. As always it was great catching up with Nik.



A few holes in the fly box, always a sign of a good session

We're hatching a plan to get away again as soon as we can....

Glorious Waitemata

This summer, Auckland Harbour has thrown us the best salt water fly fishing in living memory. Waitemata is the harbour’s name, translating from 'water like obsidian glass' in the Maori tongue [Wai te Mataa]. As the summer unfolds, zillions of anchovies arrive in tight balls to do their anchovy thing, which in turn attracts predators. Chief target for us fly-flingers amongst the predators is the yellow tailed hood himself, the kingfish.

Despite it being the afternoon of the Justin Bieber Fan Club’s first day back at school for the year, Coch and I hatched a plan to get out and start testing our bonefish gear on some hard running fish. He had his new kit along and I chucked in a few bits n pieces but ultimately settled on the #8 as the breeze was stronger than forecast – and it was the breeze that set the scene for us. As I lay at rest on anchor at Okahu bay waiting for Coch to arrive, the wind chop in the marina was enough to make me consider options, and given the massive work-up I’d seen while crossing the harbour bridge a couple of days ago I thought that staying in the lee of the north edge of the harbour would tick the box. With Coch aboard we chugged across the channel – the chop from ferry wakes combined with the NW breeze threw the occasional gnarly steep wave – then we saw terns darting and diving. Coch got set up with an intermediate sinking head and a gurgler while I positioned us upwind. His first cast drew the attention of a pack of predators before the fly disappeared in a swirl – fish on!

The fish turned into a kahawai rather than a kingi, but by now packs of kingfish were showing on the surface – time for me to set up. We drifted close in to the navy docks with the wind against incoming tide holding us nicely in the slowest of drifts, and first cast I was in.

 

On the #8 the fish fought doggedly, repeatedly heading for the bottom, not a drama in the clean harbour although the wharf piles nearby looked threatening. Coch was soon hooked up and we danced around each other as our fish charged all over the place. Soon we were casting, hooking, losing or landing, photographing and laughing - what an awesome session. As we drifted, ferries zoomed past throwing wakes which with the falling sun behind them silhouetted masses of kingfish in the waves. Kingis crusied around us in waves or single fish, and at times anchovies sprayed across the surface.

After a couple of hours the action died as the tide neared its peak and the lack of current gave the prey fish a chance to hide, so we made a call to visit Shoal Bay on the evening high and fish the mangroves for snapper. Cruising in to sub 1 m water we switched off and began to cast ahead into the mangrove edges with small clousers. Mullet occasionally leapt – so it felt pretty fishy. It was a neat situation to be in, casting flies within 50m of NZ’s busiest highway. Be it the full moon or some other influence, we didn’t manage a single strike on the target species so as the sun dropped away we cruised back to Okahu to drop off Coch, then I made the final run to Torpedo Bay – and in the setting sun the full glory of the Waitemata was exposed. 

I can put up with this hard life, that's for sure!