NZ, living the dream - part 1
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Quote " in NZ for 3 weeks last month. The wifey is so fantastic that she somehow agreed to booking 3 full days of fly fishing during our stay."
Wow .... does she perchance have any (much) older unattached sisters ???
Your fishing location looks very much like it could be back country on the Rangitieki river albeit running fast & coloured, then the closing shots perhaps Huka lodge on the upper Waikato river above the Huka falls ....
In any event .... pleased that you enjoyed the experience.
Wow .... does she perchance have any (much) older unattached sisters ???
Your fishing location looks very much like it could be back country on the Rangitieki river albeit running fast & coloured, then the closing shots perhaps Huka lodge on the upper Waikato river above the Huka falls ....
In any event .... pleased that you enjoyed the experience.
PS first tip re the sand flies try eating plenty of ginger however we welcome visiting anglers because they relish new blood & when it is available, tend leave us kiwis alone.
As for the tales from the old timers re having lost fingers to eels ... reckon they enjoyed a good laugh having put the scare of god into yet another visiting angler & think you will find they were probably ex timber saw millers.
Despite their fearsome size & appearance, in the scale of things they are relatively harmless providing you do not try & take their food off them. Should you be silly enough to do so & are bitten have to remember not to instinctively pull your hand away, which will cause their teeth to clamp but rather push forward which will cause them to release ..... easy to say of course but no doubt hard to remember to do at the time. I have been river fishing for over 40 yrs now but have never been bitten altho a visiting Aussie angler friend was, only a couple of months back however he was cleaning a fish in the river in the semi dark which is to tantamount to inviting it to happen.
Whilst on the subject of NZ eels few are aware of what unique creatures they are :-
They are the worlds' biggest & a couple of species only found in NZ
At about 18 years of age they migrate to the Pacific island of Tonga a journey of over 3000 kms or more.
Once they begin spawning the males gradually become female as well, until they are all egg bearing females.
After the eggs have been fertilised the adults having served the purpose of their trip die.
The fertilized eggs hatch into tiny wee things called grasslings, which soon after birth begin the long journey back to NZ via ocean currents then miraculously, most find their way to then up the rivers from whence their parents lived, to eventually become fully grown eels to start the cycle all over again.
The REALLY huge specimens are barren females that have never been on a breeding journey.
There you go .... more than you ever wanted to know about eels but were afraid to ask!
As for the tales from the old timers re having lost fingers to eels ... reckon they enjoyed a good laugh having put the scare of god into yet another visiting angler & think you will find they were probably ex timber saw millers.
Despite their fearsome size & appearance, in the scale of things they are relatively harmless providing you do not try & take their food off them. Should you be silly enough to do so & are bitten have to remember not to instinctively pull your hand away, which will cause their teeth to clamp but rather push forward which will cause them to release ..... easy to say of course but no doubt hard to remember to do at the time. I have been river fishing for over 40 yrs now but have never been bitten altho a visiting Aussie angler friend was, only a couple of months back however he was cleaning a fish in the river in the semi dark which is to tantamount to inviting it to happen.
Whilst on the subject of NZ eels few are aware of what unique creatures they are :-
They are the worlds' biggest & a couple of species only found in NZ
At about 18 years of age they migrate to the Pacific island of Tonga a journey of over 3000 kms or more.
Once they begin spawning the males gradually become female as well, until they are all egg bearing females.
After the eggs have been fertilised the adults having served the purpose of their trip die.
The fertilized eggs hatch into tiny wee things called grasslings, which soon after birth begin the long journey back to NZ via ocean currents then miraculously, most find their way to then up the rivers from whence their parents lived, to eventually become fully grown eels to start the cycle all over again.
The REALLY huge specimens are barren females that have never been on a breeding journey.
There you go .... more than you ever wanted to know about eels but were afraid to ask!
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4,040 Posts
Yup, Huka. Nicest place I will ever stay in my life, unequivocally. I had a bout of depression upon our departure that was embarrassing in retrospect considering that I was still in New Zealand... Being treated like a king turns you into an absolute monster in about 24 hours.
I considered contacting you before our trip, but we left Auckland not long after arriving. IIRC you live North of Auckland. I believe that you were in the Chatham Islands anyway. One kiwi told us that it was the worst Summer he'd seen, weather wise, in 42 years. It was kind of cold most of the time we were there.
No I live in Auckland on the Northshore, however I may well have been in the Chathams when you arrived which is a pity as would have been nice to meet up.Yup, Huka. Nicest place I will ever stay in my life, unequivocally. I had a bout of depression upon our departure that was embarrassing in retrospect considering that I was still in New Zealand... Being treated like a king turns you into an absolute monster in about 24 hours.
I considered contacting you before our trip, but we left Auckland not long after arriving. IIRC you live North of Auckland. I believe that you were in the Chatham Islands anyway. One kiwi told us that it was the worst Summer he'd seen, weather wise, in 42 years. It was kind of cold most of the time we were there.
Yes the weather this year has made us think down here, that poor old mother nature is showing early signs of dementia ! NZ as you know is a fairly small country yet in various areas of the country all at the same time were experiencing drought, flooding, fires, snow etc. all of which appears to have the fish ( both sea & FW ) rather confused as to what time of the year it is & what they should be up to.
Hopefully might have a better idea myself shortly as off out tomorrow in the boat sea fishing then Sunday away for 3 or 4 days fly fishing.
The members of the Wyndham club with whom I spoke were very animated and expressive in their descriptions (many hopped beverages had been enjoyed) with much hand gesturing. The missing digits were glaringly evident. I was told that the Wyndham river (a tributary of the Mataura) has some undercut banks and the anglers victimized by the eels were almost invariably sitting on one of these banks while cleaning their catch at the end of the day.
I did also encounter a younger man on a tributary to Lake Wakatipu outside of Queensland who was hobbling about with some difficulty. He told me that, as a child, he had had lost the heel of one of his feet to a very large eel while swimming in the river. I don't know if I was just a gullible tourist but the evidence presented in both instances was pretty gruesome.
The eel that wanted my best fish (which was lightly bleeding) was quite aggressive and unrelenting despite my kicking at it and fending it off with my rod while the resuscitation was being performed. It never bit me and this occurred before I had spoken to any Kiwis about those nasty things. I was completely unaware that there were eels in the NZ rivers until it suddenly appeared. As I was waist deep in the river, had I been bitten, I would be writing this in an alto voice.
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36 Posts
Tangler
Congratulations on the nuptials and a great honeymoon! Looks like you guys had a tremendous trip and kicked off this chapter of your life in style.
Congratulations on the nuptials and a great honeymoon! Looks like you guys had a tremendous trip and kicked off this chapter of your life in style.
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17,061 Posts
Sweet troutskys! But getting married to go heli-fishing is a little extreme----
Brilliant contingency planning by our boy. In the future, when Tanglerette's constant reminders to him of his shortcomings are interrupted only by yet another delivery from Bonbons-R-Us, he will suggest a return trip to recapture their love. Helicopters, open doors, rugged terrain......what could go wrong?
21 - 34 of 34 Posts
