Sunday 5 October 2014

Open Sesame!

Well it's here again! Finally... The new season opening creates quite a buzz within the New Zealand fly fishing community, and with good reason too. The little waterways and backcountry streams are once again open to be explored and enjoy more great times. The lakes also opened up and a few good fish were pulled, as is the norm with the exceptional lake fishing around.

Opening day was within touching distance (if you could reach ahead and touch time), plans were set into motion, bags were packed up late Monday night and we hit the road and headed for the hills. After a restless sleep and a magic start to the day we set off into the bush to get a head start on the season. We had planned to be on the river (10 and 10 on the secretivity vs goodness of mate scale) as early as possible so best option was to sleep next to the river. When we arrived at this totally new water that neither Cameron or myself had fished, we were treated to the sight of some pristine New Zealand fishing water! After camp was set up, we made sure over and over that we were ready for battle the next morning, as opening day wouldn't wait for us for anything.

The first hint of the 1/10/14 was brilliant. The weather gods had been very kind indeed and all that was left was for the fishing gods to follow suit. Camp was quickly dismantled and breakfast pretty much inhaled and wasting no time the first fly was drifting its way down the current. What quickly ensued was my first hiding of the new season also. A solid strike and a hectic bid for freedom almost saw the score at 1-0 to the fish but he wanted his photo taken more than anything so he relented. This seemed to set the tone for the day, as the fish were not shy about hammering even a half decently presented fly and then going batshit crazy during the fight. Perfect!

All day long there were good numbers of fish in most of the pools and decent runs we came across and as well as the excitement felt about this new place (to us) there was also the feeling of awe and great respect. We truly felt privileged to be able to enjoy a place like that. Not many people get the opportunity to do so and even less seemed to be inclined to do so. It made it even clearer that we needed to do what we can to preserve more places like that, as there seems to be a growing disregard for the natural beauty of these sorts of places.

Well that's my little hippy rant over... Fair to say that we had an outstanding opening day and hopefully the same was had by all who managed to get out, even if your opening day was a later date. We managed to get a few snaps of the trip and hope the season continues with the same good fortunes. Get out there and get amongst it!

A little sneak peak at the creek. Cant give too much away now can we?

One of the typical beautiful fish of the trip

One of the more memorable catches. They are in a league of their own in the bush

Now it's time for the monumental crash back to reality. These little trips like this certainly do take the bitter edge off having to work though. Not that my job is at all bad but certainly a long way off beating a bad days fishing. I think there may be a video or two floating around in the editing room so keep your eyes open and we will keep you posted.

3 comments:

  1. Those fish are MASSIVE!!!! that is so cool. I got a few fish in the kani on opening day to. But doesn't quite compare to that

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    1. It's not always about the size of the fish Jake, it's about the getting out there and having fun! And you will be into some monsters soon enough dude!

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  2. Thanks. And i totally agree about just having a good time !!

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