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.

Back Country Browns

My 2 friends have just finished 3 days of fishing in NZ. It was there first time to fish here and it was a very steep learning curve. With only a few days vacation my friends needed to get their basic skills into action straight away. Strong fish, heavy water and slippery rocks were a big challenge for these 2 rookies. After some focused instruction, 3x tippet and some home tied flies finally they landed some good fish. This experience taught me a lot about the skills that are needed to be successful when fishing in NZ. Accurate casting, fly selection and tippet/knot quality are essential. Then the biggest skill of all, spotting the fish. Most anglers will miss those ghosty shadows hugging the rocks and walk past them. On a river that gets a lot of pressure these are the fish you are most likely to catch.

I am happy to say that this trip was a really nice experience for my friends and they were able to catch a few good fish. They were happy to stop fishing after 2-3 fish and relaxed, soaking up the atmosphere at every opportunity. After a tough walk with heavy packs these 2 were rewarded with some lucky events in a river with few fish.

Have a safe and enjoyable trip home. Please come back one day.

Thanks to Mr. Kato for the fly box and the Ishii Bro's for the hooks.

Mother Nature and the Art of Camoflauge.

After fishing I am sometimes surprised to find a small friend, who has hitched a ride home to my house. This fellow was on my hat and to me represents the best camo of all. At first I thought it was a stick, but something caught my eye. The shape was too perfect. After a few photos I released it back onto a Red Beech tree outside my house. I wonder what the adult looks like??

Kiwi-Nabe.

In the city now days you can easily find imported Japanese food. So I still like to enjoy the flavours that tantalized my taste buds when I lived in Japan. Here is my version of the Nabe. It's quite hard to get thinly sliced beef here. It's usually sold in large sized pieces. Vegetables are plentiful, but good Tofu is hard to find. Oh well this particular Nabe was really tasty. Yum!