Adventures of the Superfly: First Flyfishing attempt in New Zealand!

25 July 2005

The official score

Trout 1 - Louis 0 :)

Hi everybody!

I just came from work and decided to stop over at my favourite Starbucks, get caffeinated to my eyebals and share a little about fly-fishing in New Zealand.

My good friend Bertus came to New Zealand for the Underwater Hockey world championships a few years ago and he couldn’t stop talking about how awesome New-Zealand’s trout streams were. He told tales 'bout mountains and hills of green, rivers that were ever clean… there’s that rhyming thing again, doh!

It might just become a habit! Anyways, I’ve been craving to try out some flies ever since Bertus sparked my imagination about monstrous trout swimming in crystalline streams. So I did…

Like a few other stories in this blog it all starts with renting a car… hehe… I organised a fresh water fishing license from a local sports store in Wellington (thanks to the guys at Sterling sports on Willis st. The service is always great!). With the paperwork done and my kit packed I set out on a meticulously planned mission. (whatever! I read in a brochure about this stream with name I still can’t pronounce and decided it would be a good place to start hehe) Luckily the plan worked out great, and grew considerably as the day progressed.

My rented Nissan Sentra found it’s path through Wellington CBD like an old rental, hey wait, it is an old rental! Hehehe One minute you’re in a 1^st world city, the next you’re driving along a motorway (elsewhere known as highways, freeways etc) with a pristine harbour to your right and hills covered in lush bush to your left. This literally starts 5 km from the heart of Wellington CBD. This road took me through the suburbs of lower and upper Hutt at which point I took moonshine rd. into the hilly country. In a few short minutes this deserted road changed it’s colour and became incredibly twisty as it writhed it’s way around hills. Some turns were more than hairpins, hugging the hillside for dear life. The pace got so slow in these parts that I might as well have gotten out of the car and pushed it around the bend! (Lekker vertaal ek daai ene ne! giggel my “a dubbel s” af)

This tiny onelane, 2 way path meandered it’s way through the moonshine hills, drenched in a cloak of sirene rainforest… Taking in all of this while consentrating on driving got me into a few hairy close encounters of the vehicular kind! In good keeping with my track record I didn’t drive straight to the access point of this mountain stream but took the scenic route… NO, I did NOT get lost hehe, focus people, scenic route hehehe

After a momentary detour and photo moments with the local Lama population I found the dead end that provided access to the stream I was looking for. A few tips for fly-fishing in New Zealand… Small streams are invariably crystal clean, fish will see you before you see them. You don’t fish blind, you hunt what you see. Kiwi trout, quite like any other fish live in water, if you find this water in mountainous regions it is bound to be really, really cold so make sure you have a wader or you will loose something to the liquid form of frost-byte – no jokes! Hehe I learnt these little pearls of wisdom the hard way and almost lost use of my lower limbs hehe. I waded through this stream for a few hours and drank in my surroundings. (note to self – wading barefoot through a mountain stream in winter can and will freeze any adrenaline you have…) around lunch time I made my way upstream and mounted my Nissan Sentra steed to head to friendlier, more crowded waters. Even though this little sport deserves a place on some “most beautiful place” ranking it will not be known for it’s trout population… yet… a change of season might be all it needs…

Soon I wound my way back down the moonshine hills and out onto the motorway, over the Rimutaka hills (some more mountain passes) and toward the Ruamahanga river… This river is slightly broader than mountain streams and apparently holds good trout and salmon year round… I probably picked the most picturesque part for the river to wet the lines… There is also a big chance that I chose the perfect lure and cast in precisely the right locations… I didn’t catch anything though. Maybe I just suck at fishing but it’s great fun anyway…

Eventually I got back to my ride, dried myself off and set off for home. After a day surrounded by a thousand hills, misty cliffs and rain-forest ravines I returned home with empty arms but a full heart!

If anyone reading this post loves the art of fly-fishing or would like to try their hand at it, come to New Zealand. The fish really are plentiful, especially in the Taupo region (which is where my next fly-fishing trip will be headed). What a day, what a place!

Till next time!

Superfly… or not so superfly… hehe

Here’s a few pics to help your imagination on the path of the silver fern...

The only remotely straight section on Moonlight rd