Ian Crabtree
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Carter, you’ll have to join the southern migration. Tim’s really putting a damper on travel plans for next year with his educational aspirations, so we’re still in the planning stage – and will be for some time.
Winter (Kiwi Summer) 2010.
Be there.
The rod loft does seem really expensive for what it is, especially in comparison with the rod ready. I’d buy the rod ready from a company that has a good return policy in case it turns out to be too flimsy. You’d only be out shipping if it turns out to be crap.
That’s going to take a beast of a machine to process output from a camera like that. I can’t even imagine what storage requirements would be like for a pro photographer using a camera like that. Hopefully I’ll have a terabyte hard drive in my computer by the time a camera like that rolls out.
Enough with the eels and back to the fish.
Not me, not my fish. Caught down on the South Island in what I understood to be some sort of canal system. A Kiwi angler caught this fish and as you can tell, killed it, so my buddy posed with it.
It’s supposedly a really artificial environment in those canals, so I don’t think there are many tears when a fish like this is killed. Simon, any idea where this might be? I can’t recall the name… (not that you need to identify it, just curious to see if you know)
I really didn’t mind the eels too much if I had waders on, but when I was wet wading I was extremely uncomfortable when they were around, which amused my fishing companion to no end.
I bet Simon will probably get a good laugh out of this. Ben seemed to think it was hilarious to watch me freak out when an eel swam around me and between my legs.
I’m sure Simon can give you a more thorough explanation, but I’ll share my experience with them.
I’m tempted to say that they’re devilish creatures, but they’re actually pretty cool in a freaky way. They’re native to New Zealand and live in the rivers. They do eat trout, and you’ll catch the occasional fish with some scars from an eel battle. I think an eel would be hard pressed to take out a large, healthy trout, but a sick or wounded trout is a goner.
They have a remarkable sense of smell. I was told that when a trout is hooked and played they release some sort of fear/stress pheromone in the water that the eels pick up on. Sometimes they’ll chase fish that you’ve hooked up, and you need to intervene to save the trout from being attacked. It’s pretty cool how well they can smell. I would hook up, fight, and land a fish, and several minutes after Id released the fish, an eel would come along and follow the scent all the way up to the place where I handled and released the fish – look around, and then swim off after deciding there was no fish to be eaten. They’ll investigate most any unnatural smell – if you wash off a plate in the river they’ll come to check it out.
Apparently they can live incredibly long lives and grow to enormous sizes. I was also told a few stories about accidentally catching them on the fly.
I’ve attached a picture of a small one that was following us while we were walking up a river. We caught him in a net for a quick picture and released it unharmed.
Malcolm’s got it right with the hard as nails. I’d describe it as thinned out epoxy. Because it’s thin you have to apply several coats, but it will give you the glossy effect that you’re looking for.
If I were you I’d just use epoxy for the heads. I love that stuff.
Awesome photos Simon! Regrettably, I spent my entire time in NZ on the North Island, so I missed out on some cool scenery and the epic brown trout fishing.
I spent a few days with my friend experiencing the NZ saltfly – fishing for Kahawai and Kingies, but we were a bit early for both (we were fishing around Te Kaha in early spring). Claire, his wife, did manage to get a nice kingfish on conventional gear.
I’ll have to go back and experience the SI some day. Thanks for sharing your pics, I miss NZ even more now.
PS The eels really freaked me out when I was handling/releasing fish.
Just how many of you guys are Alaskan guides anyway?
As far as I know, we’ve got two active and one “retired” on the board.
Simon,
Granted it’s the off season, but seeing as you live around the best trout fishery in the world (anyone feel free to debate me on this – I won’t budge), and incredible saltfly, you’ll get no pity from me. What I would do for kiwi citizenship…
Post some NZ trout pictures!
Ian
I use the William Joseph Gear Bag, but after checking out thier new site — it doesn’t appear that they offer it any longer. It is a pretty well thought out bag that floats if dropped in the water (yup…i tested it, with my camera in it).
–tucker
Just ran across this on closeout. Not a bad deal.
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/p/4302,72763_William-Joseph-Fishing-Gear-Bag.htmlI don’t know exactly what you mean by EP fiber wraps. Are you referring to the hi tie method used in EP fly construction?
Hard as Nails seems to be a good substitute for Hard as Hull. It’s pretty popular in sw tying.
Are you looking for a glue that has some flex? If so, thin out some marine goop and you’ll have flexament.
Hey Simon,
I’m not familiar with the run timing on the Kenai, but I’d imagine silvers should be around in good numbers in September. The rainbow/dolly action should be pretty awesome that time of year.
As far as advice goes… bring some really heavy tippet and a lot of flies. I normally set my clients up with a straight 30 lb maxima leader if we’re fishing over clean bottom – more to protect my hands from line cuts and prevent fly loss at release than out of necessity due to fish size. I’ve never seen any evidence to support the claim that silvers are leader shy. You really could catch silvers with your fly tied directly to the fly line if the eye of the hook was big enough. 15 – 20 lb test should be a good compromise to protect your fly line if you’re fishing around snags.
If you’re fishing glacier milk, make sure you tie some super heavy flies along with lightly and normally weighted flies. If the fly’s not running at eye level, they might not see it. And by super heavy I mean – large hourglass eyes and lots of .035 lead wire. I’d rather have to strip fast to keep a fly up in the water column than be forced to slow down stripping to allow flies to run deep. Some people use sink tips, but I’ve found them to be more of a hindrance than a help in 90% of the silver water I fish.
Last thing – be very careful releasing fish on your own, especially if you’re bringing the fish in hot (and you should!). I’ve seen more rods break while fish are being landed than you can imagine. Make sure to strip up line at the end of the fight rather than reeling up. When you grab the leader, you can let the slack out of your rod hand to take the bend out of the rod. Consider yourself warned…
Clark’s usually on the sexyloops board, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he showed up at some point to comment here.
I’m off to Alaska in 12 days Tim, so the fishing will probably have to wait until the fall. Unfortunately we don’t have any cicadas in Alaska (to my knowledge…), so I’ll have to see if I can get back on the board during the summer and check out the cicada action.
PS Nice Fish, SI?
Tim – I didn’t know you went to Poronui, we’ll have to swap stories about that. I spent about four months at Poronui in the fall (their spring) of 2004. Never fished with Clark though…
Sorry for the off-topic… cicada on.
I have the small Dry Creek Duffel Bag, and haven’t had a problem with any leakage after a season in Alaska and various other travels. It doesn’t have any padding, which I think is a good thing to be honest. I’ll pad my camera and lenses in their own cases, and throw them in the duffel. Without a rigid shell on the bag, you can stuff it into corners and get it out of the way in small boats.
I don’t trust waterproof zippers, which makes the great divider and simms boat bag a no-go for me from the start.
Were I buying one of these types of bags now, I’d probably go for the Simms waterproof backpack.
