Blair, Chief the dog, Dan and I took the raft down from the Aniwhenua Falls at around 9 AM. It was hot and sunny and my goal was to use flies from my Christmas Trout Fly Pack. I thought I would first try some of the streamer flies with a sinking line. Dan was set up with a dry fly and nymph combination and Blair was armed with a spinner.
We floated down and Blair carefully aligned the raft in the rapids so Dan would get wet. He seemed to enjoy it and we certainly did. We poked around a bit and tried for a fish a few times but not much happened in the upper stretch. We got out at one of the known spots and I tried a Jack Spratt on the sinking line. I raised a trout but it would not take. I did not like the look of my tapered leader so I cut it back and tied on some eight pound flourocarbon and a Parson's Glory and tried again. I raised the fish but it still did not take. Blair caught one on a spinner.
At the next spot I raised another with the Parson's Glory but again it did not eat it. Blair caught another on a spinner. Dan's dry fly and nymph combo was not working so I set him up for nymphing with a small bead head hare and copper below an epoxy bomb. I walked him through some likely water but nothing happened. Blair caught another on the spinner.
The next spot was a rapid on the far bank that tapered back and down with a distinct line of slippery rocks forming really nice lines for nymphing. I sent Dan to the bottom of it to fish his way back up. Blair went for a walk to look for animal sign. I sat in the raft with a cold beer and watched. Dan has caught a lot of fish in the last few years and nymphing was brand new to him. He picked it up quickly and was bound to start catching. Sure enough he was into a very good fish on the size 16 bead head hare and copper nymph. Unfortunately it ran with the fast water and the hook pulled after a few minutes. He was right back into it again but the next fish broke him off after a big run. Dan was pretty excited to be using a new technique and catching fish. Blair caught another then another on the spinner.
So Dan was so excited he nymphed all the way down the river from the raft. He picked up a couple of fish too.
We got down to a known spot where there is a gravel island in the middle and two rapids merging below. Last year I broke off a big fish there when my fly line got tangled and it ran. I put on a size 10 black woolly bugger and worked both edges with the sinking line. It took a little while but I hooked up on a strong fish. It ran down into the fast water and I called for Blair and Dan to hurry and give chase. I was halfway down the backing and Dan was slow to react. I lost all of my brand new sinking line and half of my backing.
It was one of my Dad's old reels and when I tied the fly line on the first time the backing broke. I should have replaced it. Oh well, another lesson learned. You would think I should know better by now. Blair caught another on the spinner.
It was time to go so the boys just fished from the raft as I paddled. Dan picked up another on the nymph and well, Blair just kept catching fish on the spinner. We pulled out at the Mangamako and went back to Black Road where Blair had his caravan. We had a feed of sausages and another beer. I must say it was a pretty cool way to bring in the new year.
My advice on fishing this stretch is simple. Be like Blair; use a spinner. I also reckon soft plastics will do extremely well as there are a lot of deep pools to probe. Next time I may try that. Happy new year!
