New Zealand Holiday

The first fish of the trip that was netted

Finally something to talk about

The smaller fish is the size that I would get in the USA typically and the bigger one is what I typically expect in the North island of New Zealand

I have been traveling around New Zealand fly fishing at all the old streams that I use to fish. The South Island turned out to be a complete failure. We only saw one fish on the Ashburton. Dickey's road looked really good this time of year and on the second cast I had a fish hooked, but it was jumping like crazy and got off. We had a few large trout chase down our flies, but give up at the end. On the way back up to the Picton ferry we stopped at a lot of places. At the Ashley river I got a 2" fish on a size 14 caddis, not the start we wanted but it looks like we were finally going to get some trout. We stopped at the Wairau River that had a nice wide holding area and it did not disappoint. The rise started just after we got there, but even if I could cast my whole floating line I would just be getting to the fish. Still it was amazing to see what looked like 3-4lb trout rising all over the water. So that was our South Island and it kind of blowed like the strong winds that can come through.

Now based in Taupo you would think that we would be fishing the lake, but without a boat and trying to keep away from the other anglers we stayed out of the Taupo region. Therefore, we also did not have to pay for an additional licence. Taupo is fishing amazingly well this year with people reporting limits with in a few hours of starting to rig (not fly fishing). We decided to fish dam to dam up the Waikato river and we started to see a lot of rising fish and even started to get a few larger trout. Still hoping to catch at least a +5lb trout before I leave, not sure I will get that +10lb trout, but that would be great.  

Salmon Fly

I ordered some feathers from http://www.aaronmostojfeathers.com/ and they turned up about two days after ordering and they were an amazing quality, so I started on a fly that I had seen in a few books. Did make some changes to suit the material that I had and then I decided to tie it on a 4/0 hook, even though I had a 7/0 that the pattern requested. I really like how it turned out and plan on getting some more peacock eyes to set if I can make the 7/0 version.

 

The 2nd fly as promised

This took some time to actually get around to photographing. It is another freestyle fly to practice a few techniques and get ready for some real patterns once I get together all the material required.

Initially I did not have the throat, but since the mohair did not comb out as much as I wanted I added the throat to try and balance the fly. The topping on this fly was almost where I wanted it, but it seems to disappear at the head and that is something that I need to work on still with all my flies. The tippets in the tail seems to short and splay out. I can not wait to get the right size peacock herl as this looks really bad. Also, it would have looked better if the body had some tapper to it.

Freestyle - salmon fly

This is my latest fly off the vise. It is more of a practice for getting the wing to sit properly and trying out body types. I actually put the topping in boiling water this time to straighten out the stem so it would sit straight. I still have an issue with getting it to sit how I wanted it to. I am really happy with the fly and hope to have a photo of another fly I tied over the weekend up later this week. Also, I finally found a mono filament that makes a good gut substitute, also three is better than one.

St Varin - CO

This week saw a  bit of a snow storm come in and we had a couple of days of snow and then a pretty cool weekend.

The original plan was to go to Lagerman Res. and hunt down some pike before ice formed on the lake. So I got up pretty early and drove down to Vic’s to grab a coffee before heading towards Lagerman Res. Upon arriving at the lake the sun was peaking over the hills and there was no wind, however when I got out to have a look around it was a lot colder than I expected. So the plan changed, and it changed to trout; but where to go. So I headed home, grabbed a bunch of fly boxes, waders, more socks and clothes to fight the cold. I consider the St Varin home water, but I have not fished it much and what time I have spent on it has not been very successful. So I drove to a few spots and looked around and finally decided on a section to fish. The first section was pretty low and lacked any sign of fish, however I did end up catching a trout without even seeing it or knowing about it until I went to cast again. This was my first time back on a trout stream for a while so I was feeling like a beginner again and also it seemed like I was walking on marbles half the time.

After my first fish I got into so good water and started to see trout where I expected to see them. Out of a bunch of there was a pretty sizable one at the head of the group so I decided to pick on that guy and forget about what happened to the rest. After a few fly changes I found that he was interested in a midget larva pattern (basically a holographic bead head, thread body and copper ribbing). The fish gave a pretty good battle and it was all worth it. The rest of the time was pretty hard going as the sun was pushing my shadow further in front of me making my presents known by all the fish before I could see them. All that I saw was the wake from the trout as they made for the rocks and holes.

Lagerman Res. - Longmont - CO

I was looking through the maps on http://www.fishexplorer.com for a place to go fishing for pike and I found that Lagerman Res. was close to where I lived and they do stock pike. So I set off to see what it was like. Right now it is pretty free of vegetation and one section of the reservoir is closed for a period of the time during the year for birds, but it is open now. From what I have read, you can catch walleye on the east side, but the normally closed of section looked good for cruising pike. I fished all the way around the reservoir and only saw a couple of dead pike on the rocky sides. When I got around the the flats I did see a cruising pike, but it was not interested in what I had on. The flats look great for cruising fish and once I saw some carp I turned to a small crayfish and was able to bring one to the net. I also spent some time casting to an orgy of carp, but they were either not eating or were to busy eating something that I did not have. Looks like I will be back here to see if I can get some more carp and a possible northern pike.

Hygiene Lakes - Longmont, CO

Another weekend and another day out trying to get some big fall bass. The wind had pickup this week and the action had slowed off. I did see quite a few bass close to shore, but nothing was really taking any thing. If you know the lakes and the back lake there is a feeder pipe that the bluegills like to hang around, but today there was about three pretty nice sized bass and I was happy to get one. I did not have my normal camera and the one I had was on my super crappy DVD recorder.

Looking about going out and trying for some Fall crap at McCall tomorrow (I have no idea if you can catch fall crap), or possibly go to Lagerman Res. to see what it is like and if it is possible to get some pike. Originally I was planning on going to Gross Res. for salmon, but I am not up for the drive; could try during the week on the way home.