Poppy

A month ago these lovely flowers bloomed outside my house. My neighbour planted them and then moved out, leaving behind a fantastic surprise in the garden. The garden outside my place is pretty wild and lacks the attention it needs. (Too busy fishing). The highlight would have to be the 10ft tall fennel plant by my doorstep. The segmented stalks and lush green feathery tops remind me of bamboo in Japan. Every time I walk in the door, I get a burst of that aniseed smell wafting through with me. It also provides some pleasant, well-needed shade.

Early Season Get Together

Just thought I'd show the rest of the world the degenerates that I fish with. As you can see, lost hopes and early season dissapointments are abound on our faces. It wasn't the fishing... it was the guide. Walking up the river on the wrong side meant bush bashing over a bluff in wet jungle and nearly being sweeped away when crossing a (what looked like waist deep) chest deep tail-out of a monster pool in a slightly full river. Oh well we dryed out and caught 2 fish. It wasn't all that bad. It was good to see my fishing buddies after a long winter. Thanks for coming over guys!

Summer Dry Fly Fishing.

Last week I experienced some excellent river fishing. The fish were in prime condition and had obviously fattened up on some good food. In the morning the river was freshing slightly and by mid-afternoon was almost clear. The chirping of cicadas could be heard in the tall grass and the fish were keen to hit the dryfly. Most fish were caught on a caddis dryfly, but as the day wore on we became a little more adventurous. A #6 hopper pattern was successful as well as you can see in the photo. We left the river by 2.30pm with a number of fish caught and released. I fantastic half days fishing- "just like the old days". We decided to leave the rest of the river for another lucky fisher to enjoy. I hope the fish are biting just as well, above where we fished. It was my first time to try "Stroft" nylon tippet. Overall it performed well, however I lost the best fish of the day when the line broke at the knot to the fly. Fine tippet seems to lose the strength at the knot after a lot of pressure. I decided after that to use a heavier tippet. My fishing buddy likes to get on with the job of landing the fish and applies up-stream pressure if the fish is heading down-stream, to guide his fish back upstream. It's very effective and a skill I would like to employ more often. I let the fish run using side-strain to guide them but when they go down-stream I usually get the grand tour of 2 pools if I'm really lucky!

This was a memorable day and one that I finally remembered to pack my video camera. I'd like to put some footage onto this site in the future.

My fishing friends in Japan must be well snowed in by now and dreaming of summer again as theysit infront of your vices tying CDC parachute flies for the season ahead. I hope you have some good winter fishing together in the Tengrugawa. I want to fish there again with you guys oneday.

The Red Planet

I thought this might interest some of my readers. These rocks can be found in the NZ high-country. These rocks are covered in a tiny red plant. A little bit like the red weed in the movie War of the Worlds. I believe this plant is either a lichen or algae. Anyway it makes quite an impact on the otherwise fairly drab colours of the river flats.