Our mate Johnno, JJ, Johnboy, Rangi or whatever else you want to call him, moved to Dundedin about five years ago from Whakatane. You may remember him from such Youtube films as "Long Line Adventure 2016" or "Longline Adventure 2017" when he was a longline skipper. Well he has been spending a fair bit of time around Twizel, figuring out how to catch the trout and salmon there. Steve went down a year ago in November and caught some trout as big as 18 pounds. I was a little jealous. The biggest trout I ever caught was about 12 pounds in Flaxy Lake, Kaingaroa Forest the year I moved here from Canada in 2001. I have not caught anything near that big since.
So when Johnboy instructed Steve and I to get our asses there for Queen's Birthday weekend, we did not argue. We arrived in Dunedin Thursday night and started our trip to Twizel mid morning Friday. We drove up with Steve's cousin in law, Nigel as JJ had his partner and new baby in tow. The forecast looked pretty good for the weekend. When we arrived at Ohau B, it was sunny and perfectly calm. Nigel met up with a couple of mates who were already actively relaxing. They have a group of 20 or so mates who have a competition this time each year. I think they were there more for fun than fishing. We caught up with Johnno soon after and unloaded our gear at our air B and B; we had no intention of roughing it.
JJ took us to Ohau C in the late afternoon and told us we would be soft baiting for salmon. We got to one of his spots between the salmon cages just as a dude was landing his second and limit of salmon for the day. Being our guide, we let JJ set up our gear as I had no idea what to do here. Basically I bought a light action rod combo of about 8 feet or so spooled with six pound braid. I got it from Hamill's in Tauranga. I prefer using as light as I can get away with. JJ used a uni knot to connect a few metres of six pound fluorocarbon onto the braid then as light a jig head as we could get away with and a variety of smallish soft baits. He had all the gear you could imagine.
Before Johnno could tie on my starter rig, Steve was hooked up on what seemed like his first cast. JJ gave me his rod to start while he got the net for Stevieboy. I quickly changed the reel handle from right to left. That was Steve's first salmon and it weighed about five pounds; he was here before but only caught trout. So before Johnboy had my rig tied on, I was hooked up on his rod with my first chinook salmon, about the same size as Steve's. Wow, what a start!
Then I got an even better salmon with my own rod. These salmon have a lot of fight in them. They did not jump but ran hard right to the end of the fight. Then after dark I caught a brown trout that was duly released. The softies were silver and black if that helps. We stopped by the pub to see how Nigel got on; he was in fine form. The four unlucky salmon we brought home, went under the knife, into vacuum bags then in the freezer. We finished the evening off with some Indian hot curry from Fishtail with some cold beers to wash it down. It was excellent and so hot it made Johnno cry.
Saturday morning we were upstream from the salmon cages above the "Fish Bowl" before first light. It was pretty frosty but we staked a claim on a stretch for some egg rolling. Again, JJ set us up with tiny three way swivels, about two metres of six pound fluoro leading to a globug or egg fly and about a half metre of line to as small a slip weight or dropshot as the current would allow. My directions were to cast, let it sink, then walk along as the weight occasionally bounces along the bottom. The idea was to make the globug float down as naturally as possible along the bottom. You walk as far as you can feeling for a bite until you run into a bait fisherman, reel up, walk back and do it again.
Steve caught a little rainbow trout but that was about it. We knew there were fish there because Johnno floated his fish finder through a couple of times. I told you he had all the gear. I told JJ I would do what he said but I started changing flies every second drift. I tried a heave and leave with a globug or nymph behind and nothing was happening. Then I worked a couple of buggers. I watched a huge, hook billed brown feeding from the surface right on the shoreline. He came into range and I tried to work the bugger near his face but this was no fly rod. The weight of course made it difficult to work on the edge. He did not look at it as far as I could tell before he wandered up past me and continued to rise. I tried to get ahead and try again but he did not appreciate my efforts and disappeared. Then I tried a krystal olive booby. I was feeling confident that I could wiggle that fly around in front of a trout and get a take. With these flies I was moving slower than the current so the flies slowly swung towards the bank but close to the bottom. Steve caught up to me so I started reeling in when I got the strike. It was pretty exciting until the huge run started and the line broke. It was a clean break so must have caught a tooth, dammit. Thinking back to the night before, I probably tightened my drag when landing the last salmon. At the end of the fight it is common practice to do so to hasten the fight. Just remember to loosen it back up! This is very light gear for some potentially very big fish.
Egg rolling did not work for us this day. There were a lot of people there. We went back for a huge feed of bacon, eggs, sausages and leftover curry for lunch. Then we wandered back to Ohau C to try for another salmon. It was sunny and calm again. There was a group of guys there but they were heading out soon so we waited for the spot. I was the first to strike with a nice six pounder. Then JJ caught his personal best salmon at close to 14 pounds. Then Steve followed up with a seven pounder. What a finish to the day! We stopped by the pub for a pint after to catch up with Nigel, who was still fishless. Then we had some mediocre pizza at Razza. Pizza needs base sauce. They must have run out, we decided.
So on Sunday morning we got up even earlier and had a big walk up from the "Fish Bowl" past where you can drive to. It was pretty chilly with overcast skies and some wind. You could see the weather coming. I still had my soft bait on so I had a cast while Johnboy set up Steve for egg rolling. I caught a skinny brown to start the day. They both joked that I would soft bait all day now. I said I was here to catch a big trout and will do what I am told today. So frozen hands and five hours later, I caught a two pound rainbow on an egg sack orange globug. JJ then puts a pink soft bait on for Steve and he was into salmon action, immediately. I knew I should not have listened. I put on a soft bait but left the three way swivel on with a bugger above on a short trace. Then I hooked up and broke off again just above the three way swivel, dammit. We will never know if it was the soft bait or fly. I did think the swivel was too light and it had twisted a bit during the day. That's all it took to become a weak point. Steve wound up with four salmon and two trout landed for the session, including his personal best at nine pounds. JJ picked up a salmon soft baiting. We were back at the accommodation for lunch around two.
We headed out for an evening fish at the fish bowl by the salmon cages. It was drizzly, windy and a little cold. JJ picked up one salmon but that was about it. No one seemed to be catching much in the whole area. We had leftovers and planned for an early start. We were checking out at 10 the next morning and heading back to Dunedin.
On Monday we got up early and went back to Ohau C around 6 AM to try and catch more salmon. There were already five people lined up at our previous spot with bells on their rods. So we walked back and drove around opposite the cages. JJ caught a couple of salmon in the dark using glowing soft baits. I had to try one and caught a small salmon. At first light I put on a Castmaster (spoon) and I was able to reach right to the cages. I hooked and landed my personal best salmon at just over eight pounds. I was a pretty happy chappy to have finished off with such a good fish.
We packed up our loot and headed back to Dunedin. Nigel was pretty quiet on the drive. We had a good meal at Lonestar and Steve got to catch up with his daughter, Kaylee, who is at uni there. The flight back was uneventful but I did have to purchase an extra bag to get our share of the salmon home.
Wow, what an experience! We all decided this is an annual trip until we can no longer function. I have so much to learn and think about trying next time. I pan fried the salmon with some salt and pepper and man is it good!
Oh and if you are thinking about having a go in the canals but you feel a little lost, I can put you in touch with John Lifton-Jones to guide you through it.
