|
Click Here to Read the 2009 Newsletter
|
Fishing Report Southern Hemisphere - November 2008 to March 2009 swer: #1 Back to the diary to remind myself just how good the last fishing season was. It cannot have been that good as I spend the opening weekend of the high country rivers hunting Fallow Deer. Strong NW and heavy rain is the entry for 1 November 2008. My first days guiding for the season was on the 6 November. The weather was still making its presence felt but you can't change the weather so 20 years of experience came to the fore, you work through the options and choose the one or two that are best suited to the conditions and the clients. Easier said than done sometimes but you can only do so much. Saturday 8 was a perfect day for a change – a change of government as it was Election Day. It turned out to be a very good day. We caught some nice rainbows and a new Government. We picked up some nice casual days based out of town which saw us out exploring the rivers for the new season. I seem to recall plenty of fish about but cooler than expected water and air temperatures had the fish fairly docile. I saw some good fish but not in feeding mode. I am never sure what is worse, seeing fish that you can’t catch or not seeing fish at all. Seeing and not catching because the fish are not on the job is certainly very frustrating. On the 15 November I saw the welcome return of Paul from the United Kingdom. We spent a couple of days locally then headed east and north on a circuit trip. It is an annual adventure for us now and with both of us keeping diaries it makes for an interesting read. Amazing how similar our trips turn out to be, never close to being the same but the number of good days to average ones and venues are always similar but can have hugely different results one season to the other – with 8 years of this behind us and good records kept it is no surprise that patterns emerge. 69 fish for 9 days and we did not land a fish on one of those days. Best day was 12 fish hooked. Rich and Donna were back in for 5 days and it seemed I had used up my luck as well as theirs. I could not buy a fish, saw lots but got a lot of harsh treatment, strange game this fishing at times. Always wanting the best for everyone and knowing what the venues I choose are capable of and that I have got good anglers it can get very frustrating and there is little you can do about it. Then you start 2nd guessing your decisions and things can go from bad to worse. Get one good day and your tails up and you’re rearing to get back out there. Paul’s second 9 day period will long be remembered for 2 consecutive days on the Mataura River when 28 and 26 fish were landed! There were a lot of interesting points on those 2 days, both were wet drizzle zero spotting days so we fished the drop offs and ‘ice cream’ water. Double nymphs, size 16 and 18, 12ft leaders and small indicators. I recall having landed 19 fish for the day and saying lets fish one last run to see if we can make it 20. Never tire of catching right. Well the ‘last’ piece of water was knee deep at best, very quick and dropped into a long very deep pool. It had a very distinct drop off and it was easy to see there was nothing on the lip. Paul’s first drift on a very, very short line into the hard water above produced a fish, then another and another, we took 9 fish of around 4-3lbs out of a section no more than 30 inches deep, 25ft across,10ft from front to back and never spotted one of them. This is amazing. Then we backed it up the next day on the section immediately above where we finished the first day. Also notable were our raincoats, thermal under layer and gloves. It certainly was not weather you would rush out to fish – 92 fish for 9 days averaging for a total 18 days was a touch under 9 fish per day. It was almost identical to the last 2 seasons but with totally different weather and venues. I made a note on 13 December that summer may have finally arrived, at least the Manuka Beetles have arrived so some dry fly action should be happening. 15 to 20 December were some of the best days fishing I had in years. Comprising of a Father and Daughter team we had an enjoyable 6 days fishing. Alex went from a complete novice to sneaking away, nymph fishing and catching on her own. Why is it women are way better students then men? Thanks David and Alex your piscatorial efforts based from Lumsden were great. I was spending a lot of time down South this season. Lumsden, Garston and Mossburn use to be my ‘go to’ places but over the past 4 to 5 seasons I had drifted North and East, it was nice to get back South, and with the results I was getting I began to question why I ever stopped going here in the first place. Before I had time to blink it was 2009! January 2009 and I was back fishing on the 3rd and the weather seemed to have improved with the New Year. I enjoyed some great damsel nymph days on and around the local lake margins and weed beds. This is one of my favourite venues. No big circuit trips just nice 1-3 day adventures locally with some regular Wanaka holiday people. Then it was off to Reno, Nevada for our annual SCI and hunter’s convention, all 4 Telford's. It was a great trip to the USA with our Daughters. Thanks to Sam I managed a nice few days’ quail hunting in New Mexico, luckily for Sam I have absolutely no idea exactly where, but it was a great hunt. I even managed a couple of Javelina with the bow, interesting animals. Home to Wanaka by 4 February. I was back into fishing on the 7th with Geoff who was back for season #4 from Chile. We had one out standing day on the West Coast on big dries and 3 less than memorable days – that’s fishing. The next 8 days from 13 – 19 February were the best weather days of the entire season. I spent them all on the West Coast guiding out of Moeraki Lodge. Whilst the number of fish were nothing to write home about the ones we did catch were awesome 6-9lb fish on big dries in crystal clear Mountain rivers, not a cloud in the sky and the cicadas almost deafening in the riverside rain forest. An awesome break from my regular haunts, not exactly in my comfort zone but lots of new water to explore. The later part of February and the first week of March were 3, 5 day trips with my regular anglers, more great fishing and fun adventures. All up a good season, straight forward for us as 90% of our Anglers are return Clients, some were on their 8th or 9th trip with us. Thanks everybody it was great being out on the water with you all. It was a tough season weather wise, but that is such a common complaint I think I will just call it excuse #1, saves time and energy. Question: What’s up with the fish? Answer: #1 G.T To view the Trophies please visit our Fishing Photos page
 Top
of page
|
||
