I ran out of words and photos in the first post, so i will add some more stuff here. Just for information, i have edited the first post to include some stories, so make sure to check back there.
Whenever you read an article about NZ, they always mention that you should get a guide to help spot fish, as that is the most difficult part. I would certainly have to agree, as my dad saw hardly anything i pointed out, but there are always exceptions. This fish was easily over 15lbs, and with him sitting in less than two feet of water even a blind man could have spotted him. The fish was actually so big that my dad didn't believe it was a fish, saying that it wasn't possible. Well, it was, and after drooling for a good half hour, i finally crossed the river to try and catch him. Here is where i realized why this fish is so big. My first cast landed about ten feet short, a distance test really. My second cast was perfect thought, my pheasant tail landed about five feet above the fish, and my fly line wasn't anywhere near the fish. Unfortunately for me though, the fish used his brown trout magic to detect a fraud and bolted towards the depths.
This is the type of water that was really fun for both of us. It was a lot like fishing saltwater flats as the brown trout would cruise the sand in between weed beds, most often between the bank and the first weed bed to pick off emerging bugs.
One of the coolest thing about NZ is the trail system they have. Throughout the north and south island they have vast areas of wilderness, much of which have huts that they allow hikers to use. They require a small fee, but for $5 NZ ($3 US) we got to stay in a very cool cabin 5 hours from the nearest road. This is the type of thing i would love to see in the US.
Finally, i have a few stories that don't involve pictures.
First off are two double digit fish i hooked into and didn't land. It was day 2, and it was raining sideways and cold, and without waders it was quite miserable. But, we were in NZ, so there was no question whether we would go fishing. After my dad spooked the fish fish we found, we came to a spot last year where i spotted a huge trout, and thankfully he was back. At this point in time, i had never seen a bigger fish in my life, and after watching him feed subsurface for a while i put on a bead head nymph underneath a humpy. It took only three casts before i put it where it needed to be, and my humpy went down. I set the hook and sure enough he was there. The first fish on the end of the line was a 10lber, good stuff huh? Unfortunately, somewhere during the first few minutes of the fight the fish got foul hooked behind a pectoral fin, so i ended up with a 10lber on 4x in fast water and i couldn't control his head. Needless to say i had no control, and after 30 minutes the fish was still sitting in the middle of a rapid not budging. I do not know how this fish could be that strong, but he was, so we had to make a desperate attempt to net him. I was finally able to move him into a pocket, and after dragging him towards my dad i yelled at him to net the fish. Just as my dad went to net him, everything went wrong. My dad slipped so that he didn't get close enough to the fish, and the fish regained control and took off. It was a disaster, and in the mess he broke me off. Although we did what we could, and i did get a 10lber to take my fly, it felt absolutely horrible to loose the fish.
Later that day, we found the water was starting to rise and we realized we had to make a river crossing to get back to the car. We walked uncomfortably fast back to the crossing only to find it had risen at least a foot and was much faster. As you can tell at this point in time, we did not drown, but if even one of us would have slipped there was a decent chance of that happening. One thing we learned from that moment is that waters rise very quickly in NZ and it is very important to watch for big rains before crossing waters.
After two weeks of fishing, the biggest fish landed was 8lbs, the second picture i posted. We were on a river we had fished the first week and we made sure to make it back to the spot where we found another double digit fish. This fish had a perfect spot. He sat right in front of a huge rock that supported a 10 foot piece of a tree. Not only did he have a cushion of water where he didn't have to work hard, but the tree was the perfect place to break off an angler, and thats exactly what he did to me. My dad had fished after him the previous time, so he gave me this chance, and while watching him we noticed he came very close to the surface to feed. I already had on a cdc caddis, so i figured i would go for it.
One thing to keep in mind at this point is that my dad is horrible with spotting fish, so even though this fish was very obvious, he had trouble keeping track of him. So, i got in position downstream and started to get some line out. From my position, i had way to much glare to see anything, so i had to get my instructions from my dad. After making one cast way left to get some line out, i asked my dad for a line. Well, he could no longer see the fish, so instead of being patient and waiting for him to spot the fish again, i made a cast to where i thought the fish was. As my fly was floating downstream, i asked my dad if he can see the fish yet, and just then the fishes head popped out of the water and took my fly. As you can imagine, there were certain phrases floating around that can't be discussed on this site, but i will just say that we were both shocked.
As soon as i set the hook the fish went crazy, and immediately started jumping straight towards me. I was forced to run backwards on slippery rocks until i gained line control, and at this point the realization that i had this fish hooked finally set in. After running back towards his spot, the fish came completely out of the water, twice. It was absolutely amazing to see the fish jump, but the third time he jumped was a bad sign. My line went into the water about 30 feet from me, but the fish jumped 20 feet from me, see where i'm going? Well, the fish had wrapped me around the tree and before i could dive into the water to unhook my line it went slack. Unlike the first big fish i hooked, i was not actually that sad i lost him. Seeing the fish take my fly and then come out of the water like he did put a smile on my face that lasted well pasted the misery of losing him. I had actually hooked a double digit, 30"+ inch brown trout on a dry fly.
I know there are more stories to be told, like being chased by those son of a you know what cows, but i think these should be enough for now. I hope you all enjoy.
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