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Marks Kaimanawa adventure.
Wed 5th November, 2014
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You might recognize Mark Tomsett from previous reports. We first fished together in 2011 and at that time he'd only been fly fishing a few months although you wouldn't have thought so, because even then he was a pretty impressive caster.
I remember Mark landed his first ever brown that day ... something he's been hooked on ever since.
He often teams up with long time mate Coozer and he sent me this report of their latest trip.
For more info on DOC huts in the Taupo/Turangi area visit www.doc.govt.nz
Hey Mike,
How you doin ?
Coozer and I spent last weekend in the Kaimanawas. Well ... actually there were four of us altogether. Me, Coozer, Tim and Tim's son Ryan. Three hunters and one lone fly fisherman.
We had arranged to chopper in with Heli-Sika www.helisika.co.nz but had a slight issue with weight on loading the helicopter.
Ryan deferred to age and beauty and decided to walk the 4 hours in.
But unfortunately even that wasn't enough and we had to jettison something far more important ... our bags of ice ... much to our regret when drinks were poured later that night.
 
On this trip the hunting sucked ... but the fishing was superb and over the weekend I caught equal numbers of browns and rainbows.
Beautiful water in lovely surroundings... sight fishing to well conditioned fish in the four to five pound bracket ... it was huge fun and I lost count.
The only guy that bagged a deer anywhere near us was a hunter that got lost further up the valley.
He spent two nights out in the bush before search and rescue found him. The dogs tracked him to his campfire where he was cooking up a feed of venison !
By the way I kept that brown you see me holding mainly because the three "hunters" with me didn't provide a feed of anything. Pan fried it in bacon fat ... superb !
The photo was taken in the river below us. I'd spotted it patrolling the pool from the deck 150 meters away from our hut up on the hill ... true !
It took a big terrestrial dry off the top .... dream stuff.
In fact most of the fish over the weekend were taken on the stone fly pictured at the start, hung under Stu's Hi-Viz Cicada fly ... something I could see ... especially after that first night sans ice !
 
One thing I must mention is the huge admiration I have for the work of the search and rescue crews.
We had several visits from searching helicopters and walking teams. And as we were being lifted out were very relieved to hear they had found their man. Lesson for all of us ... carry an EPIRB into the high country ... they are cheap to hire and can save everyone a great amount of time and angst.www.rescuebeconhire.co.nz
I keep one in my fishing pack at all times ... some comfort when slipping and sliding on rocks up lonely river stretches.
I also picked up some new studs for my wading boots today ... after going for a skate over the weekend !
Looking forward to catching up on the Tongariro again.
Cheers
Mark |
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