Well Dan and I finally got around to floating down the Rangitaiki River. Both he and Larry have been doing very well on Matahina hence the delay. It was a clear sunny and hot morning and the cicadas were loud.
I brought along a wee wet fly pack and a bunch of dry flies that we had not caught a trout on yet. I started Dan with a grey woolly bugger as I paddled him down river. He soon caught a tree then broke his rod trying to pull it out. That was his first penalty of many today.
It was now my turn so I put on a pair of Invicta wee wet flies. I simply tied the trailing fly to the bend of the hook about 30 cm behind. I hooked and landed a beautiful brown trout after several failed attempts.
Then it was Dan's turn with a pair of black and peacock wee wets. Lucky for me I get to tie Dan's flies on for him. Now I know why the sighted brown trout would not take as my knot must have failed; he was just casting line, crackup! He still managed to spook it though. I only brought the two flies so I had to pick something else.
I put on a royal coachman wee wet fly. I only put on one so as not to repeat the process of losing both, again. Dan soon found his hook in the mouth of a rainbow so we ticked that one off the list.
A cdc dun emerger was next and I think I lost it in a tree. Then Dan used the same fly and broke it off on a large brown trout. So I guess we can tick it off the list. Turns out I ticked it off the list already about a year before.
Then it came time for a little sight fishing with dry flies. I put on a red damsel and got a nice brown in just a few casts. There were plenty of adult damsels flying around so it was a lucky pick.
Then it was Dan's turn with a parachute pheasant tail. There were a couple of failed sight fishing attempts then he got a good brown fishing blind as we floated.
The next fly out was a parachute black gnat. I hooked and lost a large brown on the first cast. So I guess we should tick that one off, right?
The lower section of the river towards the bridge and take out looked perfect for a woolly bugger so Dan used a grey one until he lost it in a tree. So it was my turn with an olive and black woolly bugger. After a few misses I got another good brown.
So that was about it with a total of five fish landed for the day. That was definitely not par for the course but we still had a great day. Talk about being tired after being in the blazing sun for eight hours. At least we remembered the sun block this time.
