NZ Season Opener Photo Essay
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The new trout season opened here in NZ at the beginning of October. I met up with the usual band of delinquents with grandiose plans of checking out a few new pieces of water. As always seems to happen for opener, the weather turned to crap and we ended up bouncing all over the north island trying to escape the worst of the torrential downpours. The fishing wasn’t spectacular, but it could have been far worse as well. We managed to find fish, and as is always the case when the three of us get together, we had a great time. Here are some snapshots of our opening week.
First fish of the season:
Paul’s first fish of the season:
Notice that there isn’t a picture of my first fish of the season. I chose to pull the flies right out of the mouth of the first fish that I got to eat, which turned out to be my only shot for quite some time. It took me two days of fishing to land my first fish of the season, which was about a 10″ rainbow… I seem to recall making numerous threats of selling all of my gear and taking up golf.
Obligatory IA food shot…backcountry riverside bacon sandwiches. I cannot put into words how delicious they were:
While eating the above mentioned bacon sandwiches, this fish appeared in the pool in front of us. A cast or two later and Paul was connected. A worthy battle ensued, and the fish finally came to hand…despite my fumble after landing it the first time, which resulted in round two of the battle. We really should bring a net.
This is the point where the weather took a turn for the worse and we bounced from river to river trying to get the best possible chance at decent weather.
Tight spot:
We got into a few good rainbows:
But most of what we encountered were beautifully colored up browns:
I reunited with an old friend, a tagged fish that I caught last year. My new mission is to try to catch this fish every year.
There were some bugs out:
And we even got into a good evening rise:
Who says browns don’t jump?
One of the prettiest fish I’ve seen in a while:
And finally, one of my favorite shots from the week:
Thanks Zach. We tend to see a lot of deer sign on most of these rivers, and since we were planning on spending multiple nights backpacking, we figured we may get the chance to do some hunting in the evenings. There are red, fallow, and sika in the area, but I think it’s mainly reds. We didn’t end up getting any shots at deer on this trip, although we saw a few reds on distant hillsides.
Browns still spawn in the fall here. I’m by no means an expert on the NZ fishery, and some of the kiwis on the board would surely be able to give more detail on the spawning behavior of fish here than I. However, from my experience over the last couple of years, the spawning season seems to have a longer duration down here than in the states. The egg in the picture above was more-or-less just for fun, but it worked. Like a lot of places, eggs can work here well into spring.
Nice tree Tim.
We get some rainbows spawning late here. Mid Nov is the latest I’ve seen any on a redd.Good stuff Tim. And what ever you do, don’t sell your stuff and pick up golf! I would make fun of you forever if you did that!
Joel
Not sure if we are making down that way this year Tim. We are looking at Patagonia right now. Getting to NZ this year is expensive! Would love to fish rage with all the mates though… Maybe we need to have an international meeting somewhere that we ALL travel to? I bet Simon and Greig would be up for it!
Nice tree Tim.
I hate it when trees suddenly jump right in the way of a perfectly good picture…
Maybe we need to have an international meeting somewhere that we ALL travel to?
I’d love to.
Maybe we need to have an international meeting somewhere that we ALL travel to?
I’d also love to. Unfortunately we’re on peasant wages down here in NZ… At least we’re peasants in paradise, I guess… 😉
Tim, another good report buddy! Let’s do it again sometime really soon.
Tim, another good report buddy! Let’s do it again sometime really soon.
Like this weekend. You know you want to join us… Potential for new access too! 😉
No more gut-busting hills for me… I’m getting far too old – I’m taking the raft!! 😎
Great shots. Trip looked epic (despite the rain)!
If I wasn’t sure of it before, I am now… Guns in fishing pictures are badass.
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