Fairy Tales and Wet Dreams

Without being too dramatic...fishing in NZ is best summed up as a fairy tale. Zane Grey called it something like anglers heaven or el dorado many many moons ago. A lot has changed here since he first mucked around the country...mostly more people and cows. I don\'t see that teen changing unless the plague makes a strong comeback or Chinese people decide that milk is too fattening for them.
It is still an amazing place to fish for trout, but the days of double digit fish around every bend and locals looking at you with amused skepticism when you say you\'re here to fish but intend on releasing the ones you catch.
Most days are spent driving, walking and hoping with just enough of those moments that connect the dreams to reality to keep the interested angler c,gang back for more.
Today was full of those of those moments and those moments are why I do what I do and love the way i live. Clean water, dramatic skies, unspoiled surroundings, andsome laughter and memories ties it all together.
Most days are spent looking for the happy ending to the fairy tale fish stories of the romantics long dead now. But today was one of those few days when I was able to step into the dream from start to finish and life is just a little richer.

Sunday I think

No pic cuz no fish. Should have but don\'t. Missed an easy rise to a wolff and lost one in some trees. Good new is that the rain has left, rivers are clearing, dinner was great, the beds look even better and breakfast is only 10 hours away.
Fished a beauty of a spring creek today and saw some good fish enjoying the sun.
We\'re in reefton now and plan on hitting the junk around here for the next few days. We got the weather now we need the fish.

rain rain go away

The crew is down, the weather has been winning the last 2 days. Spent a long day looking for fish in some high and dirty water. Saw few, landed two between the 6 of us and took a beating by the water both from the ground and the sky. Looks like the worst is over though and the rivers are already on their way down...so hopefully all is soon to be well. Everyone could use a grab or two and then things will be back on track.

I don\'t know how many times I said fuck today. I saw a guy on walk with his wife and dog carrying two dead posits. I saw a tow truck with a crane. It cherry pick a truck from a ditch. I saw water that was so dirty it made dirty water back home look clean....we\'re talking so dirty that it was grey instead of brown...to dirty for even catfish.

Been a long couple of days, but hopefully we\'ve turned the corner and are on our way to bigger and better for the rest of the trip.

plan a to z to a

We\'ve been kind of buggerred up by the weather since yesterday so things are uncertain at the time. By uncertain I mean that we went from plan a to b to a to c to f to a to b to g to d to a to e to a. We ended up with a modified version of plan a and here we are.
So now it\'s time to wait for things to clear and try to minimize the head banging until things come right.
We\'re up by Hokitika tonight and we\'ll see where we end up tomorrow. Best described as an unplanned plan in action right now.

Merrill found a piggie on the ahuiruiri yesterday before th sky opened up.

happy birthday to me

Had a great day today on this day of all days...my birthday. Long stories could be told, but it\'s best to wrap it up now with a description that is best summed up as another day in which is really good to be here, on this earth, standing in clear water while basking in the glory of the southern sun.

Another River, another day

Day one of the actual fishing part of the program went off without a hitch. Everyone got fish and had a great time despite the clouds and intermittent rain showers. In addition to seeing and catching some fish, we were able to verify a high population density of rabbits in the area. We paid homage to the canal trout that live off salmon food and get big as hell.

I had an interesting time at the end of the day that involved dealing with an absolute fiber of a trout rig for about 15 minutes before I got the chance to throw my junk to some fish feeding greedily away. He rejected my junk. I managed to hang up and lose my rig 3-4 times before I even cast to the fish. It was a mess.

On the esoteric side, it\'s beautiful here and the landscape in itself makes me gawk all day long. Throw in some clear water and good size fish eating big dry flies and thing just make a little more sense at the end of the day than they did in the beginning.

We re around Twizel tomorrow and hit Wanaka tomorrow night. Backcountry thurs and friday.

02/21/12

Ended up having to go back to Christchurch today to pick up the rest of the guys. absolutely whipped from all the driving the last few days and really looking forward to getting after it from here on out this trip.

Watched the sun come up over some mountain range that reminded of the Bridgers, kind of looks like saddle peak a little bit. Never get tired of sunrises, it\'s one thing I don\'t think I get enough of.

Did the turnaround and made it back to Twizel around 4 and thoughts of fishing left quickly as we settled in to the roost for a few days. One of the guys smashed a finger a few weeks ago and one of the guys is an orthopedic surgeon...mix that combo with a little beer and an intense desire to go fishing and you can see what the results are!

another day

lots of driving the last couple of days. Things star to get serious tomorrow for me. Weather is awesome, Twizel is awesome. Anyway, busy time.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

I made it back to Dunedin despite a few near deaths experiences on the road involving dairy trucks and harmless motorists. I've been staying with a friend of mine that guided me on my first several trips to NZ. Selwyn lives in Dunedin and has a fishing and hunting store here in town. It was great to catch up with him and get some r and r before the big trip begins later today.

He and I went fishing on the Shag River for a couple of hours yesterday in the rain. He got a nice fish to hand and I lost one under some willows. We saw quite a few and it was great way to wrap up this part of my journey.

We spent the afternoon at a block party/wild game feed in his neighborhood in Karatane, a quiet little beach tome north of Dunedin. Everyone was was very welcoming and the food was overwhelming. The theme was foods made of stuff they had either hunt or gathered so we had clams, deer, duck, rabbit, paua, cookies made of lavender, and so on. Always great to get to interact with the locals in places like this as it gives you a much better sense of the place than you'll get Crome sitting around a lodge talking about G5's and private schools!

Off to Christchurch this morning and then picking a couple of the guys up for the drive to Twizel where we will be the next few days. I have to go back to Chc tomorrow to pick the others up so I'm a couple days away from the serious fishing

on the road down south

I made it down south last night and not without incidence...which is a typical statements regarding my NZ exploratory trips! After leaving the coast I headed inland to a small town near Gore. The drive over was nice but a good stretch of gravel road was windy as hell and ginormous cattle trucks were hauling ass and nearly ran me off the road a few times. Then I got to the Matuara River and decided to check things out but ended up at a dead end, smacked a small barrier fence on my way out and put a football sized dent in my buddies car! Driving here kind of sucks.

Anyway, got out on the Waikia today and found some good water with plenty of active fish for about half the day. Lance banged a few nice fish, I blew my chances but got some nice pics and spotted several fish that lance tagged so I was feeling good about the day.

Today was much more kiwiesque than a couple days ago in that we were on clear water and spotting fish. It\\\\\\\'s hard to really describe why it is that makes it so fun, but there is nothing like fishing here in NZ. South America, Alaska, saltwater, steelhead...all take a backseat this place and these fish in my book. Nothing better for my soul than walking along these cold streams looking for swingers.
I can\\\'t figure out how to get photos loaded properly from my iPad, think it has something to do with shitty Internet connections.

Notes from the road

What do I like best about New Zealand? It does not suck! Been having a great time chilling, exploring, and spending time with friends the last couple of days around Dunedin. I did fish a little yesterday on the Taieri near Ruanfurly. Typical Toby NZ day where I end up driving 120 km in the wrong direction before I realize it so I ended up fishing for just a couple of hours. The river is known for being tea colored so spotting is tough, but there was a hatch and fish coming up so it ended up being pretty good. Got some little guys and one that went just a twitch over 5lbs. Considering I\\\'ll only see a few of those in a year in MT...not bad. I even had some fish try to eat a sinker on my way back to the car.

I don\\\'t usually fish streamers here, but get me ozone dirty water and it\\\'s hard to resist, but when I have the choice of a 5 plus fish on a little dry or junk...the choice is ex in my book.

I\\\'ve enjoyed doing some photography at some unique places the last couple of days and and messing around with some funky filters. I\\\'m on my way to Riversdal to see a friend and fish for a day or two right now. Had to. Make a stop at a headship in Dunedin to buy some PTF for him which is Some kind of legal pot in which they have some synthetic type of cannabis that is legal and gets you high...that trip was one one of the more entertaining store purchases I\\\'ve made in awhile.

Miss the family, but having a great time seeing some cool sights and getting some fish.

I made it to Dunedin yesterday afternoon which is really about now back in the states. Long day of travel pretty much wiped me out, but a good nights sleep has me feeling chipper once again. I'm going to hang around the city today and do some touristy things, go take some, photos along the coast, and get settled.
I'm already feeling the pull of the water, so will probably end up on a stream somewhere tomorrow with a dry fly on my line.

0209

Things are on the fast track now as I scramble to tie up loose ends and scramble all my crap together for the big trip. The nights have been cold here which has made for slushy waters in the am but mild afternoons has resulted in some "gentleman hours" for the locals on the river. I'm looking forward to getting sunburned and hay fever in a couple of days though!

Looks like we are spending a couple days in Twizel, doing some backcountry stuff out of Wanaka, heading up the West Coast to Reefton where we'll do some more backcountry stuff, make our way to Hamner Springs and do some more backcountry stuff...all provided the weather cooperates. Going to be a trip to remember!

I'll be around Dunedin for a few days doing some fishing and photography while hanging out with my good friend Selwyn. Hopefully get over to Gore for a couple of days with Lance and then nack to Christchurch for the start of the great race.

I'm in Bozeman today, leave tomorrow and get back Mar 6.

020712

My blogging interest and skill set has diminished over the last week, so sorry to disappoint. I'll be better. But, there hasn't been much of a fishy nature to talk about as business has been business and I've been scrambling to get the ducks in a row, spend some time with the family, and get ready for the great adventure.

Here's a couple totally non-fishy things that are of note in my world the last week. I bought an IPAD a couple of weeks ago and proceeded to drop it on it;s face and shatter the screen after 3-4 days. Sent it back and Apple gave me a deal on buying another one. Crazy thing was it was a total of 3 days from when I called until I had a new IPAD. A day or so prior to this, I stepped on my Kindle and destroyed the screen. Amazon had a new one at no cost in my hand within 48 hours of the call. I need to be more careful with my electronics but damn those companies are good.

We are doing some serious remodeling in the shop this winter. Took the ginormous rod rack down today and moved some slat wall around. The boys are going to paint while I'm in NZ, then we'll replace the flooring, get some new fixture and the end should result in a much improved look and feel to the shop. Plus we've got a bunch of new crap on it's way for the season.

I would prefer to just fish or take some pics, but even I have to work sometimes!

packing for NZ

Just the Essentials at this stage of the packing process!

02/03/12

Good to have the weekend as its getting stressful trying to get everything sorted before I head out of town. We have some very cool things coming down the pipe at the shop over the next few months. Just trying to get it all tied together and everyone on the same page is a pain in the ass.
Always looking to grow the business so that we can be better at taking care of folks, employees, and the water...hopefully while catching fish too. Sometimes hard choices have to be made, thank God it doesn't happen too often and it's only fishing anyway. There is a tendency to sometimes take myself and business too serious sometimes, and it always helps to remember that nobody is going to die on the operating table if I make the wrong choice.

This business can be very odd with gay little "politics." I just try to keep it in perspective and steer the global empire in the direction of the sun to keep the soul filled. Anyway, this is all vague as hell, but then that's just how things are sometimes.

Lots to do in the coming week and then it's off NZ.

Flakes, Fish, and Circles

Why am I awake at 5:30? I guess I've been awake since 4:30, just finally got out of bed to start the day. Beautiful thing about Montana this time of year is that it is dark until 7:30-8:00 in the morning. That makes moments like these seem much more productive.

The last few months have been productive from the back end of the business perspective. Now, I'm trying to get things wrapped up before making my way out of here next week. Without naming names, the degree of flakiness in the world today - when it comes to doing business stuff - is just amazing to me. From contractors to professionals to tech companies...flakes flakes flakes! If I could speak whatever it is they speak in India and workable spanish....I think I could get everything I need to get done in a week instead of having to turn these projects into "winter projects" every year.

Oh well, I wish I was going fishing today, the lower was good enough last weekend to make me wish it hadn't been nukin' the one day I had to get out. I used to hate the lower as recently as 10 years ago...considered it a necessary evil in terms of someplace I had to fish because I live and work here. It's wide, shallow, windy, weedy, and the hatches generally suck or the fish's response to the hatches generally suck is probably more accurate. Ever since the g-man turned me onto the Clouser Cray over and I realized that trout everywhere prefer lightning bugs...life on the lower has been pretty good most days.

I always feel like an ass when someone comes in the shop and asks what to fish on the lower and I tell them a Clouser and a little nymph...maybe mix it up and simplify things by fishing a wire worm. I know everyone is looking for "The Fly" and there are times when a certain little bug or specific color hopper works better than other, but chances are if the fish are eating, they'll eat a crayfish or a worm too.

But then I begin the meandering trek down the road made up of the mental masturbation of the ways of fish and fisherman. It starts like a wire worm is all you need to catch fish on the lower. Sure a crayfish works well, but they'll usually eat a worm too. Then esoteric concerns come to mind and I wonder if this person is looking for a soulful enriching experience on the river or just wants to catch fish. There's always something to be said for doing it right by reading the water, paying attention to flows and temperatures, matching the hatch, and connecting with a hard earned trout. So, the answer to the question of what are they eating on the lower is usually more dependent on the path we've chosen for the day.

If the tug is indeed the drug, a worm or crawdad...on a fly rod...is probably always a good way to go. If meat in the freezer is the goal...a worm or crawdad on a spinning rod (sculpins too) work well. If, on the other hand, one is in search of something more on the river...then a crawdad or a worm on a fly rod might be the way to go. In the words of the late and great Harry Chapin..."all my life's a circle..."

Now I'm back to wanting to chop the heads off all these flaky pukes that somehow manage to stay in business by not returning phone calls and meeting deadlines. Circles I tell ya. It's all a big circle.