And all through the house, not a creature was fishing, the rivers were high and dirty. Reminds me of "School's Out For Summer". Alice sings, "We can't even think of a word that rhymes."
So Kathy and Richard were coming and they had four days and wanted to fish every one of them. Normally I tell people to take a day of rest in between to recharge their batteries. They were having none of that. The plan was to use the raft on the Rangitaiki River. Fishing chocolate milk with the river level almost 2m higher than normal was not an option. So much rain...
So we took the canoes and drove off to fish a couple of the smaller Rotorua Lakes. The edge technique we fish does not really work so well on places like Rotoma or Rotoiti except when the trout are chasing smelt. So we started on Lake Ngapouri. We had done well there before casting buggers into the edges. There was an algal bloom starting and we did not have much action except for one fish hooked. So we packed up and went to Lake Okaro and nothing happened. So we went to Matahina on the way home. It was dirty but we gave it a go. Long story short, we had some good action but nothing was landed. There is a bit of a learning curve with the edge fishing technique. There were probably half a dozen fish that should have been hooked but we blanked for the day. This was literally a first time for me.
Next morning we headed back to Matahina as this was the only real option in my mind. The lake was full and dirty but there was a difference in water clarity around the weeds. So we targeted these areas. Both Richard and Kathy started getting some action and soon had the technique working well. We have written about the edge technique lots before but basically, we paddle the canoes along shore and the caster puts a woolly bugger or similar into likely places. Sometimes you fish it slow and sometimes fast. The first priority is to be able to set the hook. Once everything comes together, fish come to the net.
Kathy wanted a pink or red fly so she selected a Red Setter which has more like a blaze red or orange body. She told me her story about one time a guide laughed at her when she wanted to use her pink fly in a dirty lake. After the first few fish, he was not laughing any more. Richard already warned me about her "luck" when they fish together. She caught a bunch of fish and Richard caught some too on a Bead Head Krystal Olive Bugger, our go-to fly for the edge.
After the heavy rain shower cleared up, we stopped for lunch on the lake edge. I filleted a brown trout for the frying pan. We had cheese and crackers, chorizo sausages and pan fried trout. Blair is a pretty good cook and the fresh trout was fantastic. The lake upstream of the island was just too dirty to fish with confidence. Blair brought his electric trolling motor and I thought that was a bit lazy of him. But when the strong northerly wind came up, we were all too happy to be towed back to the dam.
The next day was fine and mostly sunny on Matahina. Kathy caught even more this time on the Red Setter Jigging Smelt and the Epoxy Eyed Yellow Lady did the trick for Richard. More crackers and cheese and sausages for lunch on the side of the lake hit the spot. The northerly came up strongly again in the late afternoon and I was pretty happy to not have to paddle against it when we got the tow.
The last day was the 22nd and it poured rain so we took a drive around Galatea then showed them where the Rangitaiki River flows into the ocean at Thornton. At about one PM the rain cleared so we went for another fish at Matahina. Our shoreline lunch this time was venision wraps with fresh ingredients from the garden. It was the best thing I have ever eaten on the shore of a lake. I think everyone agreed. It went very well with a Monteith's Tight Lines Pale Ale. Have you seen these? There is a picture of a trout jumping out to grab a fly and a dude with a fly rod in the background. Let's just say I was hooked when I saw it and thought that was the best advert I had ever seen. Richard brought a few cans back home for his grandson who is a mad-keen fly fisherman. Then the sky turned black and we pulled the pin. We packed up just as the heavens opened up again. A Krystal Brown bugger did the trick for Richard and the Yellow Lady worked for Kathy. And yes, the water was still quite dirty.
Considering the conditions, we still had some awesome sport. They are planning to come back in February to fish with us. I told them too many stories about the cicadas on the river... What great people to hang out with!
Holy crap, I for got about Larry's Bay by the island. The lake and stream coming in were so high and flowing that there have to have been trout lying there. There were no weeds in the way and th bh krystal olive bugger was swung through and bam! The first-ever rainbow was landed from Larry's Bay. It was a good one too!
