First Wrap Up

I posted some maps above that are from the SPOT Tracker that seem to better summarize our trip to New Zealand.  The total distance from Auckland, NZ to Los Angeles, CA is just over 6500 miles.  I'm not totally sure but I think that the total distance for this trip was 16-17,000 miles.  


I arrived home just after midnight on Sunday, March 18.  It was a long trip home - just over 40 hours enroute.  Way too much of that time was spent waiting in airports - first Christchurch, NZ, then Auckland, NZ, then Los Angeles, CA and then Phoenix, AZ.  When US Air wanted me to wait for my luggage due to the ramp crews in Indianapolis being barred from unloading luggage due to strong thunderstorms in the Indianapolis area.  I gave up and I will go back later today to get my luggage.

Last Day of Fishing

Yesterday Charlie & Gene took a day off from the fishing wars.  Don and Chip went with John and Ross to the Hunerui River.  It was another spectacular river in a narrow mountain canyon.  The walking was very tiresome for the anglers, but these NZ guides run the rocks like they are nothing.  Each angler had a couple of missed opportunities, but at the end of the day no fish were caught. 


Today begins the first of 2 Saturdays this week to make up for no Wednesday last week.  We will drive to Christchurch for a 90 minute flight to Auckland and then across the pond tonight.  So, we leave Christchurch Saturday evening and from Auckland Saturday night and arrive Los Angeles Saturday morning.  

Charlie & Chip

To begin the day news reached Charlie that he had just become a grandfather for the 4th time and Chip was an uncle again when Charlie's daughter, Wendy, gave birth to Alexis.  Mother and daughter are doing well.

Chip caught the biggest fish of the trip. It was a nice 7lb'er.  They were fishing the Boyle River with our host, John.

Gene and Don spent the day on the Hope River on private land.  Each fished one side of the river.  It worked well because Gene fishes left-handed and I fish right-handed.  So, now you know that it was not Gene nor Don who caught the big fish of the trip so far.

Photo Dump Continued

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A couple of more of Chip's fish from Wednesday (NZ Time).  Another shot of the lodge deck.

Hopefully pix of the largest fish caught so far on this trip tomorrow.  It was caught Thursday (NZ time) by an undisclosed angler.  More tomorrow.

Clarence River - Photo Dump

Some shots from the Clarence River near Hamner Springs.  Gene's fish from yesterday.  He had another one on and lost it.  Chip and Charlie were high gun yesterday with 2 fish each.  Then a couple of photos of the spectacular location of the lodge overlooking the confluence of 3 rivers.

Driving in NZ

Today's drive reminded me of the problems that Americans have driving here in NZ.  Of course, they drive on the left side of the road here.  That part gets easier as you go......well, until you make a stop and pull out automatically to the wrong side of the road.   That can be dangerous to both parties.  But it goes beyond that - the driver drives from the right side, so you have to relearn which side of the car to get into as a driver or as a passenger.  I am constantly forgetting this.  My guide, Greg, would find it necessary to gently remind me that I was getting into his driver's seat by saying, "I'll drive, thank you!".  Once settled into the drivers seat, the controls are all backwards.  The shift lever is on the center console to your LEFT.  Every time that I want the turn signals, I turn on the windshield washers.  For the wipers I turn on the turn signal.  Then the sight picture while driving is extremely distressing to both the driver and the passenger - maybe, that's just Gene as the passenger.  It's kind of like being home with Barb as my passenger.  There is a constant critique of how I am driving.  Another thing is like home - my passenger never want to drive to show me how much they are at this.

Too much fun.  

I'll try to add some photos to this post later to help you understand our difficulties.  Maybe it's just us!

The Move Is Complete

Today we made the 2 1/2 hour drive from Murchison to just outside of Hamner Springs, NZ on the South Island.  It was a spectacular drive along 2-lane highways through the mountains with lots of 1 lane bridges to navigate.  The scenery was terrific except that we soon ran into rain that continued all the way to Hamner Springs.  

For Gene and I both, everything below our waists hurts from exertion.  Gene has an additional few aches and pain above the waist, but nothing that ibuprofen is not handling.

More fishing tomorrow.  The break today was welcome.

  

Some Catch Up Photos from Owen River Lodge

Charlie with another brown trout.  

Gene & Don Relaxing - Gene with his iPad (He is a confirmed member of the Apple Cult).  Don is working hard on his conventional MS based Netbook trying to keep up with demands for new posts on the blog.

This photo gives you an idea of the high banks along the river from which the guides spot the fish and then angler must climb down to the river to cast to the fish.  After spooking or catching the fish then the angler has to climb back up the river bank to search for the next fish.

Some Local Scenery Along One of the Many Rivers that We Fished

This photo is from Gene's softer side - He really liked this flower, but he doesn't know what it is called.  He is offering a free dinner with him in Christchurch, NZ any time when he is in Christchurch.  Winner is responsible for getting him/herself to Christchurch.

Tomorrow (Tuesday in NZ, Monday in the US) is Moving Day

Tomorrow the only goal that we have is pack up our stuff and move about 125 miles SE of here.  We will travel in our rental cars for about 2 1/2 hours and hope that we can remember which side of the road to be on for the entire trip. 

I have to say that this is the most physically demanding fishing and technical fishing that I have ever had to deal with.  I have enjoyed it immensely, although I wasn't always able to realize how much I was enjoying it.  The long hikes carrying a back pack trying desperately to keep up with a Kiwi guide who just lopes across this country are strenuous to say the least.  River crossings are a trip in themselves as guide and angler hang on to one another and off you go.  

Other than the one exception today a single bad cast often badly spooks a fish that you worked so hard to find and then get into position to make the cast.  I found myself wishing that I had my grandson, Keegan, here to help me scramble up and down the steep riverbanks.  I think that I might have worn the butt out of my brand new waders sliding down the steep banks.  Today's banks were the steepest of all - often 25' to 30' high.  Arghh, it hurts to even think about that tonight.

Tomorrow is travel and rest and then back to the fishing wars for 3 more days.  I am expecting more of the same in our new lodge, Riverview Lodge, near Hamner Springs.  We'll see what the reality is.

Lots More Fish Porn

Today it finally all came together for me.  Greg, my guide, and I went to the Weirau River.  It was gorgeous country.  When the first fish that we spotted ate, I began to think that this was going to be a good day.   Soon the weather cleared after yesterday's light rain all day and evening.  Then I caught my first NZ fish on a dry fly.  Later I made my only terrible cast of the day.  The fly (a size 10 black cicada) landed right next to the shoreline about 6 feet from the fish.  He ran the 6' to get the fly, climbing over a rock in the process, and took off downstream with the fly.  I did a beautiful hook set and the race was on.  It is amazing to me how quickly you can run over the same slippery rocks that you carefully picked your way over to get into position to cast, while holding your rod high and reeling like hell, then figure out which hand to hang on to your walking stick.  What, no third hand!!

Chip and Charlie also had a good day, while things were a little slower for Gene..

Chip with a beautiful brown trout.  Chip made an amazing recovery from his short-term illness yesterday.  When he got to the river finally some time after noon, he immediately landed this fish as makeup for the lost morning.

These fish are incredibly difficult to catch.  They tend to lie is places that they are difficult to spot, difficult to cast to, and spook at the slightest indication of an intruder in their world.  Many times I have heard my guide say, "Perfect cast!!  Oh, that bugger!!  He buggered off!"  "Bugger" seems to have many uses here in NZ.  It can be used a noun, adjective, or adverb, much like "F" bomb back home.  But when it all comes together, it is truly sweet.  But you have to remember that merely hooking the fish does not complete the task.  Once hooked these fish seem to like to run downstream.  You have to chase them, often long distances, running over the same rocks that a short time before you were very carefully picking your way over.  Then the fish goes into a pile of "rubbish" or behind a rock.  Using 5X or 6X tippet, it is a challenge to get them out.  I lost a really nice 6lb'er yesterday when it bolted from the net and broke a badly frayed tippet.  Argghh!!  So close, but so far.

New Zealand Whitebait

Last night, Saturday night, we were treated to a New Zealand delicacy as an appetizer - Whitebait.  Whitebait is a tiny (1 1/2 inch), transparent fish that anadramous, i.e. it lives in freshwater but goes to the sea to spawn.  On its way back to freshwater the young fry are netted.  It takes 1700 fish to make one kilo (800/lb) and they cost $125/lb to buy in the stores here.  One of the guides here at Owen River Lodge nets these tiny fish and provided them for our dinner.  

The Whitebait are cooked whole (head & guts included) in a pancake-like batter, perhaps 3-4 fish to the "pancake" and served with a flavored butter to add to the pancake.  

Unusual, but very good!!

Felix Borenstein - Our Host at Owen River Lodge

A Serious Note

Greg, my guide, carries his bicycle everywhere that we go.  He provides his own vehicle shuttle service.  He leaves the bike where he is planning to get off the river.  Then we drive downstream and fish upstream back to the bike.  Greg then rides his bike back to the truck.

Today while I was sitting in the grass along the river and road waiting for Greg to return with the truck, I became very reflective.  Old men do a lot of that, I think.  I thought a lot about how I came to be in this place doing what I was doing.  How did I ever come to know that I wanted to fish for the most difficult trout in the world here in New Zealand? 

Some years ago there were 3 of us senior Ducks Unlimited (DU) volunteers who worked with Matt Connolly, who was then the Executive Vice President of DU.   Matt sparked an interest in fly fishing in these 3 volunteers and then fanned those sparks into a raging passion.  In those days not only were all of us working together as a part of the DU senior management team, we were friends, confidants, and most of all we went some very special places together doing that which we loved to do.  Those 3 DU volunteers were Gene Henry, John E. (Johnny) Walker of Galveston, TX and me.  Gene Henry sits beside me now still offering a critique of current DU activities.  Matt is at home in Memphis, TN.  Johnny Walker passed away suddenly in 2004.

From both Gene and I, we send a special thanks to Matt for helping us come to know that we wanted to, and had to come to New Zealand to test our fishing skills and broaden our knowledge of this wonderful sport.

To Matt, we owe you a huge debt of gratitude.  Thanks for all of the fun.

To Johnny, we miss you mightily and hope that somehow you know that we are here.

Don & Gene

Another Great Day on the Owen River

Today we had a "spit of rain" according to Greg, my long-suffering guide.  We all stayed close to the lodge to fish the home pools.  The youngest man of our group, who was going to carry us old guys, did not answer the bell today.  He said he was ill, but it is generally accepted that the illness came out of a bottle or two of wine last night.  This is a nice Owen River Brown Trout.

The sign above is a bit of humor by the owner of Owen River Lodge, Felix Borenstein.  You will meet him on this blog soon.

I don't have all the fishing reports for the day, but Gene and I were frustrated in trying to cast around obstacles.  In spite of that fish were caught, fish were lost and fun was had.

My Guide, Greg, At Owen River Lodge

Above is an interview with my guide, Greg.  The local brogue is a bit difficult for me to understand at times, in spite of my excellent hearing.

More Fish Porn

All anglers are now on the board.  Gene leaped out to high gun yesterday with 3 (out of 5) fish landed.  Chip has now landed 2 and Don and Charlie are bringing up the rear with one fish (and damned glad to have that one!).   I fished the Upper Grey and the Blue Grey River yesterday.  I went all the way to the final minutes of the day before I landed a really nice 4 1/2 lb fish. 

This is such technical fishing.  They stretched me out to a 15-16 ft. leader yesterday.  In a strong downstream wind it was difficult to cast.  In Montana rivers are rated in numbers of trout/mile, here there at best a few fish/mile.  It is lot of hiking between fish (which the guides all seem to know by name, then scrambling down the river bank (often 8' or more) to the river and moving into position to make the cast.  The slightest screwup and the fish is gone.  These are old fish and they have seen it all.  All of us (except young Chip) are counting our aches & pains.

Gene fished the Matakitaki River.  Gene caught his big fish right below the gorge pictured above. 

Many Thanks to Ian Anderson

Thanks to Ian Anderson at FlyMasters for getting the SPOT Tracker going.  I really appreciate it.  You can see the rugged country that we are.  It is strikingly beautiful.  While the peaks are not as high as the Rocky Mountains of the US, because the peaks take off from near sea level, they are as spectacular as the Rockies.  The mountains are more heavily forested than the Rockies.  The primary tree seems to be a evergreen beech tree that has bark like a sycamore.  

First Fish Porn

Charlie with Fish

All Anglers On The Board....Except Don

Day 1 of Fishing - All anglers landed fish except Don.  The Wheatleys are "team fishing" with one guide.  Gene and Don each have a separate guide.  We all went to different rivers yesterday.  I was on the Mauria River.  I don't know the names of the rivers that the others were on.  The Wheatleys each landed one fish.  Gene landed 1 fish.  I did finally get a hookup on the last try of the day but the fish took off downstream.  I was unable to chase the fish on my side of the river.  While fighting the fish we decided to cross the river and chase it from the other side.  Crossing the river we got into deeper and swifter water than was anticipated.  The guide was holding me up.  At some point I stumbled badly and dropped my rod tip.  At that point the fish broke me off.

These Kiwi guides are a tough lot.  There are long hikes between fish.  When a fish is spotted we have to climb down the river bank, often very steep river banks, and get into position to cast to the fish.  Gene is describing this as "combat fishing", even tougher than Alaska.  

As soon as someone gets me some photos, I will post them here.  All of the fish, including the one I lost, were in the 5lb range. 

Food has been great here - all meals are very upscale and gourmet.  I am told that we are changing chefs for the weekend and it will be more traditional NZ fare.  Lilly Ann, our new cook, has shown up for work.  We'll see how that goes.  I am trying to get our host, Felix Bornstein, to hold still for a brief interview, but he is dodging me at the moment. 

Sorry about the SPOT Tracker problems.  I just don't have the time to figure it out.  I also don't know why the one map shows that from Los Angeles we went around the world the wrong way.  We certainly didn't do that.   Oh well, today is another day.  More later with photos. 

Screen Shot of SPOT Map

I'm still struggling to get the SPOT data to load into the blog.  Sooner or later I have to decide whether I am here to fish or be a technician.

From Down Under

We have arrived at our first destination in New Zealand, Owen River Lodge, near Murchison on the South Island.  We made the trip from Los Angeles to Auckland, NZ (North Island) last night on a Boeing 777 in 11 hours and 40 minutes.  We lifted off from LAX at 10PM PST and touched down in Auckland at 6:40 AM NZDT this morning.  We started out at 28,000 ft and later climbed to 35,000 as our fuel burned off.  The highest ground speed that I saw was 624mph on my personal monitor.  We had "sky sofa" seats that recline and make into a pretty decent bed.  I slept about 6-6.5 hours on the way down.  Each sky sofa has its own music and movie selections.  We also had our own electrical outlets, ipod plug-ins, etc.  It was a very civilized way to travel.  The Air New Zealand crew served a "lovely" meal as the Kiwis say.  The service was superb.  

At 10:30 AM NZDT we boarded another flight on a DeHavilland turbo-prop for the 70 minute flight to Nelson, NZ (South Island).  From there we had a 90 minute drive to our lodge.  We did stop on the way at an authentic NZ pub for a fish & chips lunch.  It was great.  I am told that the beers and the wines here are superb.  

The first day of fishing is tomorrow.  My guide's name is Greg.  I drew him because we are both very hard of hearing.

One piece of bad news - The SPOT Tracker feed to the blog blew up today.  It worked fine before we left LAX.  I have a hunch it is because I am logging on from NZ.  The SPOT Tracker is working flawlessly, but the feed to the blog is fighting me.  I think that as soon as I get some sleep, the problem will be temporary.  

I hope that we have lots of fish tales to regale you with tomorrow evening.  The Wheatleys are out in front of the lodge on the river now trying to draw first blood.

Introduction of 3rd & 4th Anglers

From the Koru Club Lounge (Air New Zealand) at LAX.  Whiling away the remaining hours until flight time at the "club".  Charlie Wheatley (right) and Chip Wheatley (left) arrived from Maryland via Philadelphia Monday evening.

Greetings From LAX

I am staying at the Westin Hotel - LAX here right next to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).  In fact looking out my hotel window to the south I have a perfect view of what must be today's preferred runway for commuter and general aviation aircraft.  As you can imagine it is a busy place.  Luckily this hotel is very well built and I don't hear any of the nearby aircraft operations.

All went well today after I got away from the "black ice" of Indianapolis.  Fortunately I had stayed at a motel near the Indianapolis airport last night and dodged what had to be a very messy commute.  I have to thank Barb for that one - I probably wouldn't have thought of it myself.  The only black ice problem that I had this morning was walking across the hotel parking lot to leave some things in the car that I have parked there for the duration of this trip.

One of today's flight attendants said that 32 people did not show up for the flight due to weather conditions.  My seatmates - a young couple from Fountain County, Indiana headed to Las Vegas to get married later today - said that they had a lot of problems driving from their home to the airport.  Once we got moving US Air was early into Phoenix International and on time to LAX.

None of my fishing partners are here yet.  The Wheatley's are due at LAX at 7:15 PM PST from Maryland via Philadelphia on  US Air.  Gene Henry will be flying here from Arkansas via Dallas early Tuesday morning, arriving about 10AM PST on American. Could it be that the Eagle Creek Coffee Shop's own Captain Mike will pilot him here?  Could be, but I have never heard him speak of flying the Rogers, AR to Dallas route or a Dallas to LAX route.  After we all have rendezvoused all we have left is to patiently wait for our 9:15PM departure from LAX to Auckland, NZ. 

Journey Has Begun.....Well, Sort of!

The Journey Has Begun......Well, Sort of!!        In the spirit of "the first mile is the hardest", I have completed the first 20 miles.  I am staying tonight in a hotel near the Indianapolis airport in order to get 45 minutes extra sleep in the morning for the pre-dawn takeoff for Los Angeles via Phoenix.  Also, this hotel offers up to 2 weeks free parking with a one night's stay.  So, it was a good deal.

A much bigger leg of the trip tomorrow.  Talk to you from Los Angeles.

Final Preparations

More Preparation - Fly Lines

Trip Preparations - Boots

More On the SPOT Tracker

All data shown on the maps above prior to March 5, 2012 should be regarded as "test data".

Following is some information on how the SPOT Tracker map incorporated into this blog can be used. Below is a screen shot of a sample SPOT map.

In the circled area marked as 1 you select the type of map that you want to use.  If you click on Map, you get a conventional road map.  On the other hand, by clicking on Satellite you will get a satellite view of the area shown.  The resolution in these satellite maps is limited to what is available to Google in this part of the world.  If you click on Terrain, you will get a map showing the terrain.

In the circled area marked as 2 you can move the slider up and down to zoom in or zoom out with the map.  Move the slider slowly or you will quickly lose your bearings on the map, as it will display an area of the map outside of the area of focus. 

Lastly in the circled area marked as 3  there is a button identified as Full Screen.  Push this button and the map will cover your entire screen.  There is another button at the bottom right of the full screen picture that will close the full screen view and return you to the blog. 

I hope that you enjoy the SPOT Tracker and use it to learn a little about the geography of New Zealand.  

By the way if you click on any photo in this blog it will give you a much larger image than that displayed in the blog.  

The SPOT Tracker

Introduction of Second Intrepid Angler

Introduction of One of the Four Intrepid Anglers

Our Quarry - German Brown Trout