Its always interesting reading visiting anglers impressions of New Zealand. For the last few years Tazzie angler Paul Anderson has been coming here for his summer fly fishing fix. This year he brought along a couple of mates, Brendan Turiff ... aka Beevor and Shaun Scarfe ... aka Scarfey. Brendan { above right }was tasked with writing about their trip and over the next couple of weeks you can read all about it.
Thanks guys.
For those of you who don't like using indicators tied on snap links this first part also has a video demonstrating a great alternative from Barry Dombro at www.strikeindicator.com ... I love gadgets !
When the clip has finished you will also be able to choose others from the menu. Including some on casting and fishing. Plus somewhere amongst them there's a radio interview with the legendary Stu Tripney, who tells a tale about the fortunes of some Tongariro anglers when they visited his neck of the woods. At the end of each video a slightly different selection will appear ... now for part one:
Choice As Bro – New Zealand
Part One
Leave passes – Every angler with a better half needs them. Sometimes the passes are abused, sometimes the passes are few and far between and other times they are saved up and banked into a special account titled “HELL YES MOTHER-FLIPPING NEW ZEALAND”. Well that's what mine was called anyway…
More than six months in the making and I had a dose of the-day-before-I-leave jitters. Not in the sense that I was nervous or scared or anything, I was just amped to be heading into the unknown, where stories of giant trout have taunted my dreams and crystal clear water had adorned hundreds of pages of literature I’ve read over the years, firmly embedded into my cranium.
I was at my workplace and I received a call from my manager that I will never forget. “We need to see you at 3:30pm….”. Had I done something wrong? No. Had I shagged the bosses wife? Hell no. Did they make me redundant on the spot? Yes they did. Times are tough, money is hard, here’s your bloody farewell card.
With the support of my amazing wife Ami and her persistent encouragement to plough on with the journey, I did indeed commit to the mission and flew to NZ that next day. On the plane, I sat next to a lass from the UK who was embarking on some sort of population forecasting role with NZ Government, consisting of employment rates and the economy and then the whole conversation morphed into a blur of contrast between our lives, our direction and our passion for completely different elements of life. Pretty sure she farted at some stage too.
After a quick overnight stay in Auckland I ran into a couple of dodgy looking Aussies at the domestic airport – It was my travelling companions Paul and Shaun. Seems they had taken a ‘long cut’ and instead of flying from Nelson-Wellington-Taupo they had to fly to Auckland as some crazy guy on helium tried to blow himself up. Actually that story is incorrect, I just thought that whole helium scenario sounded cool. They took me by surprise as I wasn’t meant to be seeing them for a few hours in Taupo. This gave us time to have a yarn and they easily whet my appetite with stories of rewarding fishing on their few days on the South Island with Mike Kirkpatrick from Latitude Guiding.
The boys stuffed their faces and we all boarded the 12 seat crop-duster bound for Taupo. I think this is where you are supposed to have already organised your hire car. At this point we stood around waiting to bargain with someone over some old beast that could lug our sorry arses around for a couple of weeks but there was no-one to talk to! A quick taxi ride into Taupo saw us sneaking around hire-car yards eyeing off potential candidates but being a Sunday, hardly anything was open. We had to settle for a more expensive but reliable option and set off in our jam-packed Corolla.
*Tip: Book beforehand. Around 40 minutes later we arrived at what would be our base camp – The Turangi Bridge Motel. Situated in the township of Turangi and right on the door-step of the world famous Tongariro River. (Highly recommended – Great service, great meals!). After Paul introduced us to the friendly Kent that runs the place, we quickly rigged up to explore some water a short drive downstream. Paul had been here a few times before so was quite familiar with a few pools but it seems flooding had changed the river dramatically, turning braided runs into channels and where machinery had shaped the river too. Still, Shaun and myself were wide-eyed and soaking up as much of this waterway as possible.
We spotted a few fish but mostly under the cover of thick willows. Shaun and myself sighted two fish on a snaggy bend and one fish in particular was sitting high in the water column, just hanging for a dagwood. With the sound of cicadas filling the air, my line was already attached to a small commercially tied pattern so that's what I threw. After covering the fish a few times, it was clear that my offering wasn't sufficient. So I clipped it off and tried a small black spinner as we had seen a few earlier – This also drew no response. I went smaller again and tried a CDC caddis but… nothing.
Oh well instead of going smaller I’ll go bigger! I tied on a gnarly size 8-ish black foam cicada pattern that I tied back at home – It was far from pretty but it was big and buggy looking and had legs. The first cast with this thing a meter in front of the fish and he spotted it (how could it not!), that’s when I realised that this fish was deeper than the clear water made me think, and that the fish was probably over 5lb. It rose from a couple of feet to wrap its big buck jaws around my fly.
After seeing numerous films on New Zealand fly fishing and the emphasis on waiting, not to mention my striking-too-early spell, I did just that, waited. Probably enough time for me to mutter to myself “He took my manky home-made” and then I lifted. Not only was there nothing-ness but I actually saw my fly slide out of the gap in this fish’s jaws!! Missed it!! As you do when you miss a fish I instinctively threw my fly back out so as not to get hooked up behind me and subsequently spooked the fish. I was disappointed but far from gutted – It was awesome to see that take and this spurred me on for more. Just around the bend Pauly hooked onto a little one and by this stage we had to pack up shop and leg it back to our car.
We finally unpacked our gear and made a bee-line directly for the lodge for a beer or twelve. Who should we see plonked up at the bar but one Mike Hughes (Tongariro Fishing Guide). Paul had experienced some amazing fishing with Mike in the past and as the area was generally fishing tough due to the lack of rain, Mike was only too happy to share some info about spots and flies. If that wasn’t generous enough, Mike escorted us the next day to a productive stretch on the Tongariro and told us the best spot to cross. What a nice bloke! Keen to get something on the board we carefully crossed a dicey section to access the sweet spot. It was a nice open section that gave Shaun and myself a good chance to flip a few bombs around. Before long, Shauno hooked his first North Island fish – A nice little rainbow. I followed suit soon after further up!
By now the drizzle had turned into heavy pelting rain – It wasn’t really what I had dreamt of but with the amazing clarity in the rivers over here, you could still polaroid quite effectively. Pauly eyed off a couple of fish in a tasty looking run and basically threw the whole box at them. I tried my luck and was rejected too.
When times are tough, you have no option but to either throw the old rock fly or a stinkin’ old glow bug. The fish finally spotted the glowing yarn of doom and accepted!
We encountered a few tough fish along the way, some appeared to be feeding and others were not doing a thing. Pauly was doing a marvellous job at hooking random items in the water, including stocks and logs. In a run further up we were just about to pack up shop but I spotted a small fish slashing on the edge. I cast in the vicinity and had a very small fish attempt to take my chunky foam fly three or four times before it gave up. I continued to search the area while perched up on a big rock and eventually launched out a long cast straight into the honey hole. A nice fish grabbed the dry and I’m onto my first NZ fish on dry!
Getting fish to eat the dry in the Tongariro region seemed to be the exception rather than the norm, so most of the time we persisted with indicator nymphing. I’d never done it this heavy and on this scale but one tool that simplified the process was the Strike Indicator Tool. It was a no-brainer for tying on new yarn or changing the depth of your nymphs. Anyone thinking of fishing heavy bombs in NZ or indeed anywhere in the world should invest in this sweet little innovation. Click the video for more!
After a bite to eat we headed to the Bridge Pool and some runs not far away to see out the day before settling into some NZ brews. Well, that was the plan for me and Shaun – Paul isn’t really into beer. What a weirdo. Our staple beer for the trip seemed to be Macs Gold – It was easy to drink, tasty and refreshing and we could buy it from the local supermarket. Kent sold it at the lodge for a bargain rate too! Most mornings were spent grabbing a choice-as brew from a coffee van that pulls up in the lodge car park each day. She was a top bird and handled a good stir from us Aussie yobbos at regular intervals.
We would then Polaroid a few fish from the highway bridge before trying to catch them.
This was to be my curse. Despite my best efforts over the trip, I couldn’t seem to hook a fish at the bridge pool.
Pauly was smacking them, Shauno was molesting them and I could barely flirt with them. The more I became frustrated, the more my casting action fell from mediocre to abysmal.
The more crap my casting became, the more I thought… shit, I have to find a job when I get back home. Funny how negativity spawns more negativity.
It was awesome to see the boys towel a few up here though, especially Shauno who quickly named a small shallow run after himself and cursed anyone who dared to set foot in the place. In a desperate time of need I snuck into Shauno’s run while he slept in one morning and whimpered away with my tail between my legs. Pretty sure Shauno caught one after I’d been there. Bastard!
Next time the guys take a heli-trip for some back - country action and take the video camera with them.
Around 40 minutes later we arrived at what would be our base camp – The Turangi Bridge Motel. Situated in the township of Turangi and right on the door-step of the world famous Tongariro River. (Highly recommended – Great service, great meals!). After Paul introduced us to the friendly Kent that runs the place, we quickly rigged up to explore some water a short drive downstream. Paul had been here a few times before so was quite familiar with a few pools but it seems flooding had changed the river dramatically, turning braided runs into channels and where machinery had shaped the river too. Still, Shaun and myself were wide-eyed and soaking up as much of this waterway as possible. 
Keen to get something on the board we carefully crossed a dicey section to access the sweet spot. It was a nice open section that gave Shaun and myself a good chance to flip a few bombs around. Before long, Shauno hooked his first North Island fish – A nice little rainbow. I followed suit soon after further up!
