Stephen Meharry is a hunter-gatherer and fisherman. He does it all and provides very well for all around him. As a young man he did a lot of trout fishing and caught a lot of fish. Being a very keen deer stalker and game fisherman, he has sort of left trout fishing behind in the last couple of decades. I had dragged him out a couple of times since knowing him in the last decade. But he just did some nymphing and the last time out was after the big flood of 2017.
The sea was rough on this fateful day so I managed to get a fly rod back in his hands. I took him in the canoe down the Rangitaiki River from the Mangamako Stream. Cicadas were singing loudly from early morning so I tied on a deer hair cicada for him. Steve had never caught a trout on a dry fly.
That all changed a short time later. We floated along and I pointed out some spots he might like to chuck a cheeseburger-sized dry fly to. I explained that In slow water with a gentle sip, count at least to three before striking. Then were were some variations according to how the fly was taken. Nobody gets it right away and I am still guilty of precocious striking to this day. My Dad never did get it but he still managed to hook a few. It is a big fly with a big hook that needs to be properly set into the jaw of a trout.
Yes Steve missed and lost quite a few but he managed to land 28 trout of both flavours and we were off the water by three PM. It would have to say it was a stellar day. The video tells the rest of the story.
He landed and released the best trout of the season so far. It was the same one Dan tried to cast to a few stories earlier when he had no flies on the end of his line.
Apparently, Steve had the best day of trout fishing in his life. I get that a lot.
