I have known Pereniko for many years now. Lately, he talked a lot about getting back into fly fishing. He used to do it a lot when he was younger, especially as his step Dad was a fishing guide in the area. So I said let's go soon. It was 25 January and the river was still high but only slightly stained now after a few weeks without much rain. When I saw the forecast, I told him tomorrow might be our last chance for a while.
The next day around 10 AM I showed up at his house and he asked if his son, DC, could come along. He wanted to catch a trout on a spinner and I did not bring any spinning gear. We went through Pereniko's stuff and found a good spinning combo and managed to scrounge up a blade spinner that was too big but should work. We put the canoe in at the mouth of the Waihua Stream planning to have a fish for a couple of hours. It was a near perfect day; it was the calm before the storm.
I set up my fly rod for Pereniko with a large deer hair cicada. I explained how I like to target certain areas as we float along. He had never caught a trout on a dry fly before but used to do a lot of nymphing from what I understood. Soon he was casting very well and doing everything right. I explained like I do to everyone to hesitate (count to three) before you strike on these slowly rising trout. Of course, he pulled the fly away on the first few but was pretty excited to see what was happening on the surface.
We stopped at a typical riffly run of water so DC could work his spinner. I went with DC and Pereniko went upstream and we announced a competition to see who would be first to land a trout. Pereniko was fishing the cicada at the head of the run in shallow, fast water when the strike came. Those strikes do not come slowly and he was hooked up, hooting and hollaring his win over his seven-year-old. It was pretty funny.
Soon after DC hooked up and landed his first trout on a spinner. It was a happy boy moment but more of a proud Dad moment. With a few photos and high fives all around, DC released the rainbow and off we floated down river.
Pereniko was into it, targeting all of the current breaks and likely lies when, boom! He hooked into a nice rainbow. After an aerial battle, DC netted the fish. It was going to DC's koro for tea.
We got some other action and a couple more fish then called it quits after a couple of hours. I think DC will evolve his skills and one day become the best fly fisherman NZ has ever produced. For now, I am pretty sure he cannot wait to cast his spinner again. For Pereniko, he is already a fisherman but he was pretty stoked to try a new method.
It took me a few days to get around to writing this. I guess it has been a little depressing with all the rain we have had since one whole week ago. Hopefully things will come right in a few weeks. But for now, it is hard to catch trout in chocolate milk. I might have to venture off to Lake Rotoma and see if I can find a trout on the edge.
