Big browns! I've always heard legends of massive browns that come out from their hidey holes at night to feast, but have never had a go at night fishing till now...
After spending a half day on the Travers, the most populated river I've yet come across, and not getting a single fish to strike nor encountering another fisherman that had any luck, I decided to try something new. I followed three other kiwi fly fishers out the door of our hut after dinner. We had all been skunked and, not willing to depart with tails between our legs, we headed our for that magic hour thats falls on both sides of the sunset. I spent a long time trying the usual flies on trout I had spotted earlier that day and although the fish were certainly interested in eating, they didn't even look at my flies. The sun went down and I decided to try a big, black streamer. I immediately saw a fish chase the fly across the river as it swung down stream. I kept at it and a few cast later had a fish on. not exactly a monster, it was my smallest fish yet at about 18", perfect for breakfast.
I moved down stream to another hole I knew had big fish in it and tried the same tactic. By now it was completely dark and I went from hole to hole by headlight and fished by the light of faint stars and a rising moon. A few casts in and I heard a huge splash somewhere behind my fly, but no pulls. Something was interested but couldn't grab on. A few more casts and I hear another splash just in front of me so I tossed the fly that way. Strip, strip, strip, and then the line came to a stop. I lifted the rod and felt a strong headshake and then the reel started to scream. After keeping the beast out of the down logs and undercut banks, I hauled it to shore 15 minutes later and hailed the nearby kiwis to take a picture.
"You've done well mate," they said, a bit dazed. "I think we'll all take a turn getting our picture taken as we still have had no luck." The kiwi's are a humerous bunch and always a joy to share the river with. The fish truely was a beast and I'd guess that it topped out at nearly 9 pounds and it fell to a 5 wt rod with 4x tippet. I was so excited I could barely sleep that night.
The good fishing continued upstream with a high light being a rest stop on trail with Aliyah at which we spotted a nice fish feeding on the opposite bank. Aliyah patiently watched as I made cast after cast, each one landing and drifting perfectly past without a glance. Evertime were both tensed up in anticipation and gasped in frustration when it wouldn't rise, only to eat something off the surface a moment later. After three fly changes it finally gained interested and gulped my tiny black ant. Aliyah was on it with the camera and hopefully the video is included below.
After finishing up with Nelson Lakes NP we hitched to the start of the Saint James Walkway and had a blast hiking through beautiful valleys ringed with epic mountains. And, 3 out of 4 huts were empty! Lots of fish stopped but none hooked. It seemed like every hut had a resident massive brown within 30 minutes that was impossible to catch.
We then hitched to Hanmer Springs on Christmas day and were greated by a BBQ spread and a quaint mountain house hostel. Hanmer Springs is known for its thermal resort and our muscles enjoyed that fact. With heavy rains on the forecast we had to wait out our next section (numerous large river crossings) so we decided to head to our first woof hosts early.
We'll be at this hotel through new years then we are heading down to Fox Glacier for more southern alps and a fabled hotspring. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.
After spending a half day on the Travers, the most populated river I've yet come across, and not getting a single fish to strike nor encountering another fisherman that had any luck, I decided to try something new. I followed three other kiwi fly fishers out the door of our hut after dinner. We had all been skunked and, not willing to depart with tails between our legs, we headed our for that magic hour thats falls on both sides of the sunset. I spent a long time trying the usual flies on trout I had spotted earlier that day and although the fish were certainly interested in eating, they didn't even look at my flies. The sun went down and I decided to try a big, black streamer. I immediately saw a fish chase the fly across the river as it swung down stream. I kept at it and a few cast later had a fish on. not exactly a monster, it was my smallest fish yet at about 18", perfect for breakfast.
I moved down stream to another hole I knew had big fish in it and tried the same tactic. By now it was completely dark and I went from hole to hole by headlight and fished by the light of faint stars and a rising moon. A few casts in and I heard a huge splash somewhere behind my fly, but no pulls. Something was interested but couldn't grab on. A few more casts and I hear another splash just in front of me so I tossed the fly that way. Strip, strip, strip, and then the line came to a stop. I lifted the rod and felt a strong headshake and then the reel started to scream. After keeping the beast out of the down logs and undercut banks, I hauled it to shore 15 minutes later and hailed the nearby kiwis to take a picture.
"You've done well mate," they said, a bit dazed. "I think we'll all take a turn getting our picture taken as we still have had no luck." The kiwi's are a humerous bunch and always a joy to share the river with. The fish truely was a beast and I'd guess that it topped out at nearly 9 pounds and it fell to a 5 wt rod with 4x tippet. I was so excited I could barely sleep that night.
The good fishing continued upstream with a high light being a rest stop on trail with Aliyah at which we spotted a nice fish feeding on the opposite bank. Aliyah patiently watched as I made cast after cast, each one landing and drifting perfectly past without a glance. Evertime were both tensed up in anticipation and gasped in frustration when it wouldn't rise, only to eat something off the surface a moment later. After three fly changes it finally gained interested and gulped my tiny black ant. Aliyah was on it with the camera and hopefully the video is included below.
After finishing up with Nelson Lakes NP we hitched to the start of the Saint James Walkway and had a blast hiking through beautiful valleys ringed with epic mountains. And, 3 out of 4 huts were empty! Lots of fish stopped but none hooked. It seemed like every hut had a resident massive brown within 30 minutes that was impossible to catch.
We then hitched to Hanmer Springs on Christmas day and were greated by a BBQ spread and a quaint mountain house hostel. Hanmer Springs is known for its thermal resort and our muscles enjoyed that fact. With heavy rains on the forecast we had to wait out our next section (numerous large river crossings) so we decided to head to our first woof hosts early.
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| The night brown |
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| The crystaline pools of the travers. Icy cold but always refreshing. |
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| The brown that had an audience. Video response below for little Cam, were sending you the fish! |
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| After talking too my dad I had to eat a fish, and damn was it tasty. The bright meat tasted as it looked; like salmon. |
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| Traver's falls, also very refreshing. |
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| Cannibal Gorge Hut, the first on the St James. It was empty and provided a nice hot stove which we kept well stoked as long as the rain fell. The morning skies shone bright the next morning as seen in this photo. |
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| The first of many meadows and mountian views along the St. James. |
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| Looking back out towards Cannibal Gorge, Aliyah in right center. |
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| Aliyah Admires the Fairy Queen from the Ada River, one of the most beautiful mountains I've yet seen. |
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| Fairy Queen with the Christopher River in the foreground. Our hut, Christopher Hut, was about 100 meters to the left. |
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| Wild Horses of the Waiua River Valley |
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| We rounded the range after Chritopher hut and were greeted by the typical dry Canterbury landscape. It was dreadfully hot and we took shelter under a nearby tree for almost an hour. Foretunately, a series of small creeks kept us cool all the way to Anne Hut. |
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| Anne Hut. When we arrived, a herd of wild horse surrounded it and was basked on the sun soaked veranda. |
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| Even more valleys! We saw two NZ falcons not far from here and Aliyah got a call response from one of them. We later learned from a truck driver with an environmental science degree (who picked us up on Christmas day despite company policy) that NZ falcons nest on the ground in priaries such as this. If the pair were nesting anywhere near the trail we would have been viciously attacked. |
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| Rokby Hut. A cozy old hut with canvas hut that is still in use though no one had stayed there in over two months. It was a bit too much like a sauna for us this day. |
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| Boyle Flats with the hut just visible to the left of the river. Again, empty and on Christmas eve. We enjoyed a can of peaches that Aliyah laboriously packed along with a heafty portion of coconut cream. |
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| A Boyle River flood plain. |
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| The hotel were are helping to restore near Greymouth. If you sent a package, this is where it met us, thanks so much for the socks and treats! |
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| There is a VERY large dog there and it sleeps more than a cat. |
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| She reminds us a bit of Queenie. |
We'll be at this hotel through new years then we are heading down to Fox Glacier for more southern alps and a fabled hotspring. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.
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