On short notice Timo, Lewis and I made a hasty plan to fly in to the Central Waiau Hut. We arrived around 11 AM with ample supplies. Timo asked me to catch a trout for tea so I set off down river. I walked quite a distance before I spotted my first fish. I put on a rubber legged stimulator dry fly and made a few presentations. This rainbow was not looking up so I attached a bead head weighted hare and copper nymph and made several more presentations. It did not even look but was actively feeding. So I tied a small pheasant tail flashback nymph below the bh hare and copper and tried again. The rainbow came up and ate the stimulator which I was then just using as an indicator. I must say I was struggling to cast this combo. It was my first time out since autumn and my six weight floating line was many years old, neglected and not running through the guides well. I guess that is a lesson to self to change your fly line every five years or so. Or at least look after it; I am bad for that.
Rainbow on a Rubber Legged Stimulator
I brought the hen rainbow back to camp feeling victorious. When I got there I discovered Lewis had already caught one on a soft plastic using his spinning rod. It was his first trout on a spinning rod. I filleted my trout boneless for afternoon tea while Lewis's trout was headed and gutted to cook slowly over the fire.
We had a beverage or two and then a nap as it was 30 degrees and full sun. Timo spiced and fried the fillets skin down with a lid over the pan. It was delicious and we called it "bush fried trout". He also served up some fresh venison and mushrooms. The trout over the fire was, well, not so good. Those were the only two trout killed. We had a couple more beverages and another nap. An hour or so before dark I walked up river to the first pool and spotted a few trout. They were moving around a lot. Being lazy, I cast the same rig I had on earlier. It was a challenging drift and all I caught was the tree behind me. So I went back to camp at dark to join the boys for another drink.
On the morning of day two I headed up river and started where I left off the night before. On the first cast with the same rig, I caught a nice rainbow on the pheasant tail flashback nymph. From there I travelled up river fishing only to spotted fish. Some were easy but most took a while to get their attention. I changed rigs after a few fish and used a royal stimulator as the dry fly. Then I spotted a large free swimming mayfly nymph in the water. I tied on a bead head copper John in a size 12. The next fish was landed on the stimulator.
It was sunny and getting windy and I had just caught my second trout on a dry fly. So I decided what the heck, I am fishing with a size 6 deer hair cicada for the rest of the day. I had never caught one on a cicada this early in the season. I fished to two more rainbows without a look. Then I came to a large backwater with no flow and spotted a large rainbow sipping from the surface. I dropped the cicada a few metres away and it came right over and sipped the cicada. I tried to wait for three seconds but set the hook too early and only just bent the rod before it was lost. I laughed and carried on. I tried for the rest of the day but could not raise another fish on the cicada.
On day three I marched right up to where I left off the day before which was about an hour and a half walk. Timo told me to walk up to the swing bridge and check out the burned out hut where the Japanese guy had blown up years before. So I walked and looked with my cicada. The first fish I spotted would not look up so I put a bead head pheasant tail nymph below. I hooked the fish right away then broke it off after a couple of runs. Turns out I did not tie the tippet to the bend of the cicada's hook very well.
The next couple of fish went for the bead head pheasant tail nymph in a size 12 below a cicada. I did spook one with the cicada/nymph combo at the shallow end of a pool. They are big flies and hit the water with a splash. It was one of those spots where you would cross the river. It was lazy of me not to change gear. So the next one I saw I in the same situation, I put on a long tippet of about 16 feet and tied on a blue blowfly dry size 12. It was hot and the blowflies were swarming and I thought a gentle presentation would do the trick. It felt much better casting the long tippet as I had struggled up to this point. One cast and the jack rainbow took my offering on the first presentation.
I walked and walked and walked and still no swing bridge. The river changed from a gravel bed to rocks then to boulders. It was becoming faster and more like deep pocket water than pools. The river crossings were deeper and deeper and I did not spot a fish for a long time. Then I caught another beauty in fast pocket water on the cicada. My last fish was hooked on a nymph while I was standing on a rock in the middle of the river. There was no chance of landing it as there were vertical walls for a shoreline and fast, deep water all around me. When he ran downstream I just straightened my rod and pointed towards him. The line parted.
Bush Fried Trout
I walked upriver until I came to a series of small waterfalls surrounded by vertical walls. The river was one or more metres wide and raging. There would be no further progress from there. I began my long march back and arrived back at camp after dark. Timo said there was a swing bridge when he was there seven years ago. We found out from Derek, the chopper pilot, that it had been torn down years ago.
What a great trip and I am happy I walked as far as I did. But holy crap my legs hurt for days after. I strongly recommend the upper Waiau River to anyone. It is beautiful and there are plenty of well conditioned rainbows. I never saw a brown.
