Spring Creeks with a new Toy aka Rod

After some unbelievable junky breakfast at a local bakery / café (the ham was just an insult) and some NZ-Jade-shopping in Hokitika, I started with some disappointing spring creek experience not too far away. I hooked the very first fish close to the mouth of the creek but lost it as it went around a big patch of weed and I could not and wanted not to follow. Though I walked the river for quite a while I just saw one or two other non-cooperative trout – last time there was more action on that particular creek. Another creek close by was inspected for the lowest kilometer without any sign of fish. 

I decided to head south to fish a third creek with a short section of fishable water. Walking down and fishing up I had shots on two fish that did not work out. The second was in an awkward position to cast and to drift the fly to. Changing the bank would have been the better approach. Lazy me… Further up, close to a willow I spotted a feeding fish well ahead. Adjusted my tungsten-nymph-rig and hooked it. 

A strong tall brown of 6,5lbs came to the net. To my delight as this was the first fish caught and landed on the Orvis Helios 2, 9’, 5# that traveled temporary with me for a thorough test - thanks to orvis.de! A very decent rod that was loaded with a 6# line, a custom made 6 meter special leader and Stroft GTM 0,18mm tippet. The Orvis top flex rod has a significant stiff lower section and seems to be somewhat slower than my Sage TCX of the same specifications. It performed with high precision and could be cast with an appropriate tight loop. It felt a little bit heavier in the cast than I expected it to be. If the TCX would not be grown to my hand the H2 might easily be a favorite tool. A big plus of the Orvis are the titanium coil rings. They take much more abuse than the far too thin ones on the Sage. An aspect of high importance when you regularly carry your rod in the NZ bush not within the rod tube, what most of the tramping fishermen tend to do once in a while. My Sage was twice at warranty because of that issue. The carbon rod tube that comes with the Helios 2 is a blast – it is ultra-light and in contrast to my expectations ultra solid. Overall the H2 is a top of the line, high performing toy/tool.

Back at the car and the small bridge I spotted an other brown. Important about that one was to be prepared for the approach after the fish would have taken the fly. As the cast was done from the bridge, thus immediately after the cast I would have to climb down to the bank, but there was a small spot where I could land it. Unfortunately the fish was so weak and might be handicapped that landing it was not an issue. It was a thin brown in poor condition that was instantly released.

Back on the road going south towards double Hari aka Hari Hari. I ended up in the same 'vintage style' motel (Flaxbush) as two years ago. After all it was the starting peak of holiday season and I was happy to get a hard roofed room that I needed to dry my wet tent. Passing a bridge with around 10 police cars and 25 policeman some kilometers before double Hari I was wondering what happened. Later on it turned out that on this rather long one lane bridge two tourists in a car had broken the wooden (!) side rail and crashed in the river running high and boisterous below, both were dead. Take great care when you drive and do not speed beyond your limits!

A special topic as the police announced to enforce a zero tolerance speeding policy during the holiday season. So going just 1km/h too fast would result in a speeding ticket. Crazy idea because by this rule you end up out of law if you overtake a car in an appropriate manner and you end up paying more attention to your speedometer than to the road and the traffic. Strange way to enforce traffic laws...

Winding road towards the steam

The following lines and posts are written with the journey already some weeks ago. So details might be mixed up and impressions more reflected or more biased. Happy reading!

This time the accompanying wine is a Krapez Merlot 2004 from Slovenia (!). Delicious! 

 

 

There was a promising line on the map that would save us some winding kilometers going up north west towards Lake Waikaremoana. We crossed this dirty river for the last time to follow the Erepeti Road, later the Ohuka Road (all dirt) and finally the to figure out that the intended road towards the west was pretty much not useable as it ran over private farmland and was more like a route than a road. Nevertheless the landscape for the first time on NI became more eye-pleasing. But it was still far from eye candy… 

We drove up the Waikaretaheke River towards Lake Waikaremoana. The river looked most attracting but based on JK it’s not worth a try. Still there might be fish in. The foliage was nicely autumn colored as it was during the last days. Autumn could really no longer be neglected or ignored; in addition the weather was cloudy with some sunny patches. 

We reached the lake Waikaremoana. A lake that was very remote now in autumn, but might see considerable traffic in summer. We followed the dirt road around its winding east shore, passed a terrific water fall (Mokau Stream?) and continued the road curve by curve by curve – it was green bush left and right of the dirt road and very windy. 

No unfortunately we did not camp close by in the campground but followed this dame northbound dirty snake in the bush called raod. All bush, nature – but I was sick of it. Tobias was rather noisy, my leg hurt from long hpurs of driving and I wanted to end this asap…. Fast fowrad, some hours later we passed a settlement in the middle of the bush, another hour later we passed the small village Murupara and had a stop there. I forgot why. We wanted to accomplish the last leg towards Rotorua where we arrived well after dark. After some research and search we found a decent motel right on the main road. We had a simple dinner and took a late night family dip in the hot spa on our porch. 

The Lake Waikaremoana and the surrounding Urewera NP might definitely have some appeal. At that day it was just pain in the ass, as there was no option to fish and the landscape nature was ok but by far not new or impressing (besides the water fall that I really liked).

Rotorua is famous for its hundreds of fumaroles, geysers and hot springs. The village is based on tourism. Nothing more nothing less. The close by lake is just a lake. The geyser areas around are all pretty much similar, if you have seen one you have seen all. We chose the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. We walked all the accessible tracks there and where deeply impressed by a group of ladies which where fishing for gas bubbles that did rise from the base of one of the largest hot springs. This looked even more contemplating than carp fishing. It might be the next trend sport after extreme-GT-blanking (freely adopted from “Only the river knows”). Ok serious now: The Thermal wonderland is ok, but you might possibly be disappointed after you have seen Yellowstone. 

      

   

After that touristic program we drove a couple of kilometers south west towards one of the Broadlands spring creeks close by. Before the fly fishing reader gets a stroke due to excitement: these creeks are very very difficult to access. We reached a bridge over one of the creeks I figured out, at least to have a look at. A perfect stretch of water, weeds, eddies and some room for the back cast due to the crossing street. I had to rig my rod and have a go right away standing on the street. It took a while and a few casts till one of the rising fish came to my adams. Ines helped to net it from the steep bank. Just a small rainbow (?) of something around 2-3lbs. Nice! There was another fish rising around +18meters upstream right in a narrow section of the creek close to a willow bush. I was fixed and could not move as the bank was too steep/swampy. I did cast again and gain but always there where two meters or precision missing. All the time watching if a truck was approaching on the road that I would have caught on the back-cast. Several casts later I got a rise from the targeted fish but it did not stick to the fly… A nice intermezzo on this creek with a nice rainbow on the sky and one on the fly. Tobias was sleeping during the fishing in the Prado and slowly woke up so we drove back towards Rotorua. There we had an afternoon cappuccino on the playground right on the lake and another night in the terrific motel.

The next day I wanted to catch the last fish of the trip and headed back towards the spring creek area from the day before. Actually these Broadland Creeks are much closer towards Lake Taupo than to Lake Rotorua. Parked on the road close to the first creek I wanted to give a try and crossed over the paddocks towards the mouth of the creek on the Waikato river. I started fishing right on the mouth and walked out on the bank just to get stuck in the gumbo. Quickly sinking in the dirt up to the knees, I could just get out and back to the bank. Mmm I should be more carefully on the next try. There were several rather small fish laying in the current. It was rather obvious that these pre-spawning trout would be hard to entice. After a couple of minutes a man came through the bushes and thorns with his fighting dog wearing a muzzle on a short leash. We had a friendly conversation about the creek. He was a Scotsman who relocated some years ago. His strong accent was obvious. It turned out that he did not only fly fish the creek but once in a while would use a threadline. I did not understand the reason to fish a spring creek C&R with a spinner or spoon. But after fishing and thorn bashing this creek, loosing and recovering my net in the thorns I got the point that fishing this creek is a challenge (there is a cut track on the right bank some meters away from the creek that ends around thirty meters away from the road, thus access from the mouse and then crossing might be the best option to fish it). Very limited casting space, thorns and at that time fish that were just not interested. I fished / walked up to the road and left the place without a fish to my hands. The water was rather low but still silty due to irrigation.

After a brief detour via another spring creeks mouth (again very limited access due to private land), I relocated to the spring creek from the day before. Again I had a few casts on the road-pool from the day before but the good fish rising was just out of my reach. After some consideration back and force I tried a couple of times to wade the creek – but right beside the firm bank it was very deep (+1,8 meters) and I would be immediately at maximum wading depth. Combined with current, rather swampy ground and vertical banks of 1,5 meters wading was no real option. Every time I tried to get out of the creek testing its wade ability my hands got some additional cuts from the rough grass. So I crossed the paddocks to follow the creek further upstream to a piece of water that looked accessible based on google satellite images. It was semi accessible: again high or rather swampy bank. 

To my surprise I pretty much instantly spotted a fish and did not spook it. Must have tried and Adams or a Royal Coachman. The fish came and after a while it came to the net. A Rainbow of around 3lbs. I knew that this fish would pretty likely be the last fish of the trip. At least the last fish was caught on NI. A few more casts to irregular rising fish in the distance but nothing more. 

For the last time of this trip I turned around and walked back over the paddocks, crossed the fences, reached the car, disassembled the rod, got out of my wading gear and left the creek behind me.

The fly fishing end of this terrific trip!

The last days on SI NZ

The family was happy to see me again – at least I had that kind of impression.

We had another day in Nelson before we had to move onwards further north. A family day was what we all needed. So we went to the west to go over to the Golden Bay. All the way over this winding mountain road I thought to myself: strange I know that street. It took a while till I realized that we went to a river “behind the mountain” (Takaka pass) back at our very first river to NZ in 2009. This time we continued towards Takaka, a small eco-touched tourist village with an alternative boutique stile spin. You got it? 

It was semi-eco. It started off with a lady at DOC in Takaka I asked about possible Didymo in a certain river (as the main river had) and any restrictions related, but she had absolutely no clue about it. Then there was a lady outside of DOC protesting and collecting supporters against the budget cut of DOC of about 5 million NZ$. But she could not answer the question what the total budget of DOC was at all, so if 5 million might be percent wise much less than other organizations where facing or if it was substantial at all or could be saved by using less paper. And finally and third there was a lady which looked very strange at us as we asked here to heat the wrap we choose for lunch for 10 seconds in the microwave (the wrap was chilled). She replied “You can’t heat lettuce!” I was done with that village, let’s get out of here before I get mad. 

We continued towards the Pupu springs. A significant spring feeding a spring creek with very pure and clear water. One of the clearest springs in the whole southern hemisphere.

Later on our ways separated, Ines and Tobias went for the Pohara Beach and I went to fish that spring creek. My story is told quickly: perfectly looking creek, difficult access (farmers sending you somewhere upstream to walk all the way downstream over paddocks), only one fish spotted, very slippery ground that made me not just to dip but literally to swim with the rod in my hand. Thanks again to the watertight patagonia back pack. I finished this creek without a single fish-contact.

In the meantime Ines and Tobias did spend a few hours on the sandy beach. After a while the wind increased and they headed for shelter at the local playground and the local cafes. I quit my excursion rather early so it took some local investigation and just a short search to find them hiding in a cafe.

That was Golden Bay – we went back over the hill to our nice apartment in Nelson.

Some days ago we had the idea to spend a few days over in Golden Bay. But it turned out that decent cottages where unavailable or unattractive due to unacceptable rental conditions (such as no linen or change of rental fee). And after these hours over there we came to the conclusion that it was not the worst to stay in Nelson. Besides that I can only recommend to do some hiking or better freedom sea kayaking in the Abel Tasman NP. We did the last two years ago.

We finally had to leave Nelson. After ten days. All of us where a little bit sad. We went over to Picton / Waikawa Bay towards a huge cottage we booked to celebrate Tobias first birthday the next day - the perfect place for a family (huge living room, balcony, kitchen, lots of rooms and space).  But before that we headed towards Blenheim. One of the most important winery areas of SI. On the bottle this area is called Marlborough. 

Three wineries had the pleasure to be visited by us: Wairau (decent), Hans Herzog (of whom we bought a 2003 red CabSauv something – to the date of writing not yet drunk. Modern Swiss origin, highly quality oriented) and Fromm (where the wine did not meet our taste but the traditional preparation of the mash was happening – barefoot kicking of the crapes). 

Tobias first birthday was approaching (13^th of April). Sure he did not yet realize what happened but his parents prepared a cake with candles (that made him frighten) and some presents including a very typical NZ toy: a Buzzy Bee. A Buzzy Bee is a wooden bee to drag behind, that turns its wings and makes a buzzing sound. He loved it and immediately gave it a good play on the large balcony. An his parents loved that he loved and them loved him because of love. Got it? Besides that he got his first shoes and a book. 

The afternoon I wanted to catch the very last trout of SI. I knew about a creek close to Blenheim in the middle of the wineries. Access with all these creeks in urban area is a little bit limited most of the time. I found some access from a bridge walking upstream. I started as usual, trying to get in the water, I got some water in my waders as this was one of the creeks that was bathtub shaped, thus 1,5meters in depth right next to the bank. Walking the creek upstream through the vine and the apple trees I spotted a view fish in that typical weedy spring creek. If memory does not cheat I most likely caught the last fish of SI in that creek. A rainbow around 2-3lbs. nothing of particular interest – just the last fish on SI (But as usual there are supposed to be much bigger fish in that creek - typical for spring creeks - the large trouts only come out to feed late or early). That is what fascinates me about guides memorizing fish, fly and circumstances. As stated I have problems to memorize the fish caught one day ago. On the way back I could not resist to pick up an apple from the ground. It tasted very sweet and juicy, I had to get two more for Ines and Tobias. All three from the ground, thus windfall.

 

Ines and Tobias in the meantime went to the Blenheim swimming pool. Where they got free entrance as it was Tobias birthday – thank you Blenheim!

Our time on the South Island of New Zealand was coming to an end. The next day we would have to leave the South Island to go over to the North Island (NI). I was afraid of that plan and was not promoting it. Let’s see what NI has to offer?

 

 

PS: at the time of writing we/I have the second bottle on this trip of Wild Earth Pinot Noir 2009 - by far the best and most interesting Pinot we had - it was accompanied by plenty of lamb chops this night on Coromandl... the last lamb chops of this trip : (