So Jack has a foreign exchange student, Freddy, from Germany. He is keen to do some hunting and fishing. Since the floodgates at Aniwhenua were open last week, Jack wanted to go back to the Barrell. We took our time getting there having a look at Matahina first. It was calm and fish were rising. Jack grabbed the spinning rod and had a few casts. Freddy took his first cast and caught the end of a large tree floating in the lake. He tip toed out to the end of it and got the lure back. It was pretty funny.
We stopped at the bridge above Matahina and spotted some rising trout. The we made our way to Aniwhenua to first look at the falls. The canal had fish rising so Jack grabbed the spinner. I spotted several on the edge and we decided we would come back later. We looked at the falls and a couple of swimming holes then headed to the Barrell about 100 m below the dam. Jack and Freddy first fished just below the dam with a soft bait.
I went down to the Barrell and saw two rainbows feeding. I put on a lace moth and missed the strike on both fish. I put on a parachute caddis and missed another one. Jack and Freddy had come down by now and were watching me. I put on a bead head pheasant tail with rubber legs and hooked one of the rainbows I missed earlier. I called Freddy over to reel it in. He had never even held a fly rod. As I was telling him how to let a fish run, it ran. The line parted and Freddy broke off his first trout.
Then we went to the canal. The boys started at the top with a soft bait and I drove down and parked in the shade. It was hot and sunny. I put on a Dave's hopper with a small bead head hare and copper below. I began stalking up the edge. I spotted fish after fish and managed to miss a take on the nymph. Wow, those fish were spooky! Then I hooked a good brown on the nymph and lost it after a short battle.
I could do this all day long. It was a serious challenge. I will definitely be back to try again. I think I will use a single, small dry fly next time.
We went and had a look at Rabbit Bridge and I scared a couple more trout away. Then we got an ice cream and made our way home. We had the canoe but never even put it in the water. It was a pretty cruisy day and an introduction to Freddy that trout fishing is not so easy.
