This is the final installment of my New Zealand adventures. More like photo journal actually. I'm no photographer so hopefully the scenery will compensate for the crummy compositions!
October 2005 -- Some shots of rivers and lakes somewhere over the mountain range on the descent into Christchurch. This is I think the 13th of October, so its just around the start of the fishing season. Still quite cold.
On this trip I rented a car to fish the Hurunui River. Because I arrived in NZ around noon, and got the car only at 3pm, I only had the late afternoon to fish somewhere near Christchurch before the big day out the following day. At the suggestion of Mike, the fly shop 'man to ask', I found my way to Hart's Creek. This place is south of the city and it's a small stretch of stream that ends up in a large bay exiting into the Pacific. It has mainly Brown trout and the fish are very easily spooked probably because of the fishing pressure.
As you can see, the stream is not very wide, but it is quite deep in some of the pools. The browns tend to hide tight against the banks - sometimes even under the undercuts. Most of the time you have to fish from the top of the bank as there is almost no shallow water to step into. The banks drop right off -like our longkang (drain).
Then there are also the ever curious locals that you have to be careful in order to avoid hooking up on your backcasts!
Being still a green trout fisherman, it was inevitable that I spooked most of the fish. But it was a nice evening and a really scenic, cosy stream to fish in.
The next day, I left Christchurch early in the morning and drove almost 3 hours up to the Hurunui River. This is (supposed to be)one of the good dependable rivers with good trout density. As usual, there were locals on the drive up that one just had to stop to give the right of way to.
The drive up on sealed road was easy going, after about 2 hours the road became shingled, ie - loose gravel. One can only travel about 40-50 km/h, plus there are lots of twists and turns(see the following pictures). But, the views are fantastic and breathtaking. These shots are on the way in along the river.
..........And more photos of the Hurunui.. I tried nymphing at the pool (right) but no fish. The water at the base of the rock face was 8 -10 meters deep!
I finally reached the end of my ride near the fork in the river and had to take a short hike up to the south branch of the river. Crossing the Sisters Swing Bridge to fish the opposite I saw a mother of a trout below! It looked like a meter long barracuda swimming slowly in the head of a deep pool. I scrambled down and tried my darnest to catch that leviathan -nymphs, Wolly Buggers, Matukas, even Clousers. Giving up, I crossed over the bridge and slowly worked my way up river. (Mike told me later that it might have been a salmon).After a couple of hours in the cold water and thinking of the long trek back downriver, plus the walk back to the car, I gave up fishing just about the spot in the photo on the right.
When I finally got back to the car around 3pm, I weighed my options - go back to Christchurch or fish the waters that I drove past on the way in. If I continued to fish the Hurunui, I'd have to drive back around sunset and that means driving into night. I decided to leave the river for another assault some other time and fish the Waimakariri River on the way into Christchurch.
If you had read this post thinking you'd see many pictures of trout, well, sorry to disappoint you. But since you persevered thus far, I'm happy to show you the result of my earlier decision to fish the Waimakariri - My First NZ trout! A small rainbow caught while downstream nymphing.
So ends my NZ chronicles, until the next trip of course!! Thanks for your time and next time I'll bring your Desert Fly Fishing!
Cheers!
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