Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Tongariro - across the ditch.

It had been a few years since I had fished the winter run of steelhead in the mighty Tongariro river in the middle of New Zealands North Island.  From my place on the far south coast of NSW to the small township of Turangi near Lake Toupo is a good 2 days travel on bus, train, plane and car.
I have previously had some world class fishing  on the Tongariro and surrounding rivers but sadly this trip was something of a let down in terms of fish numbers. 
We managed some nice fish but sadly the day after we arrived the heavens opened up and did not close for several days.  Overnight the river rose to flood levels that had not been seen in years, leaving it a seething mess of chocolate milk like water for the next 5 days.
We tried fishing some of the smaller local creeks like the Hinemaiaia and Waikato but the rain seemed to have flushed most of the fish from all the systems.  We managed to pick up the odd fish here and there but it was very tough fishing in the swollen fast waters.
Eventually the levels dropped but the fish were slow to re-enter the river, the final two days saw us find some pockets of fish which hinted at the fishing I have come to expect on the Tongariro.
So...for 8 days fishing I guess we managed 2 fair days, but as they say "a bad days fishing is still better than a good day at work".  Our stay at the Tongariro River Motel was excellent and Ross that runs it was and amusing trove of local information.  It is an easy and affordable trip to fish Toupo region,  I just hope the weather is kinder next time.





Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Avoiding Elections with a Camera

So it has been a long while since I did any serious amount of posting on X-Stream Fishing.  Out of necessity, my work life has dominated my time for the last year and half and adventure time was pretty minimal to say the least.  Things have again turned and I am once again able to pursue my walking, paddling and of course fishing.  Over the next few months I have numerous adventures planned that will take me around my beloved southeast, over to NZ and Tasmania. Here is a little photo essay from last weekend, an election avoidance trip with my friend Matt to camp and fish a small hidden estuary that I have missed very much.  Click on the images to enlarge them ;-).















The Wait

The desire to tie on a surface lure and lob it at some gnarly bankside structure always peaks on the 1st of September. The self imposed closed season that allows Bass and Estuary Perch to go about their business undisturbed felt very very long, the warmer than usual winter temps only added tension to ‘The Wait’.

Mike, Jeff and I don’t really plan to fish the start of the season, it is a given, no plan is required. So as with seasons gone, we met as and where we do, readied gear and launched. We cracked a beer and drank a salute the start of our season; it was nice to be back on the water, talking fish, sharing our hopes and plans for the season ahead.

As often happens with fishing, expectations exceeded reality, the fish proved tough and as the light of the afternoon faded so did our hope of early season bass. It was almost dark when a tubby little shallow diver was clobbered half way back to the canoe.


It did not hit like a bass, fight like a bass nor indeed look like a bass, my mid fight call of flathead was right – flattie! Normally I am happy with by catch but…

We settled into a rhythm of lure and retrieval variations, searching for the winning combo. I was in the midst of a beer renewal when my stationary lure was boofed hard…damn missed chance (fresh beer though). A quick recast and more subtle retrieve with more pauses paid off with another solid surface boof, this time I was connected.


We don’t consider EP’s by catch, we often put a bet each way by selecting from a small group of lures that will take both species. In the grey area that contains both bass and EP’s it makes sense.

It went a little quite after that, cold air sank onto the river and we started moving around searching for more fish. After a few more boofs and a few missed fished we found a small group of EP’s along a reeded bank and connected with a few better specimens. Mike was all smiles with his first for the season.
As is often the case with Perch, they hang in schools year round, so it was no surprise when we nailed a few more in relatively quick succession, all off the top with the pulse raising boofs that tells them apart form their cousins the bass. The sound of an EP boof is totally different to that from a bass. 

The bass manage to elude us so and so the hunt for our first bass for the season continues but…..The Wait is over.