Day 13 - The Manatainoka

The Manatainoka is a 20 minute drive from Massey near the town of Pahiatua (home of the area's only micro-brewery). It's one of the local rivers in the area I hadn't fished yet. I headed out after a frustrating day at work as our campus network was not functioning correctly. Amazing how dependent we all are on the Internet.

The weather turned foul today and I only had an hour on the river. Through this torrential downpour, I was able to land a single smallish (16") brown trout while fishing near town. I hadn't caught very many brownies on the North Island so it of course it was a treat for me. Another beautiful piece of water:  so many rivers - so little time..

One more day to go.

Day 12 - The River Delta: Lake Taupo

Today was our last for the excursion to Taupo. Greig has a super place with an ideal location. It was a two minute drive from his bach to the boat launch. The two of us jumped in the boat and headed across the lake to fish the delta where the Tongararo enters Lake Taupo. It's a really amazing drop-off in these crystal clear waters. The river entry is about at two feet deep, it immediately drops off to over 20 feet. When the runs start, the fish will stack up here before entering the river.

Fortunately for these fish, they've wisely chosen not to move today as they knew two very keen fisherman were waiting! We fished "boobies" on full stinking shooting heads. It was an interesting strategy. I hooked one, but lost him due to my ineptitude with a right-hand reel. I better fish more as improvement is needed.

Regardless, it was another great day! Thanks Greig.

Some interesting features are found in these images, but sorry not fishing mugshots. Note the geothermal activity and waterfalls in the mountains. The sunrise image was taken two days earlier from Greig's back deck. The bottom image provides a glorious view of Mount Ruapehu with the Rangitikei Valley in the foreground. This photo was taken from the mountains near Palmerston North on the drive home.

Day 11 - The Whanganui River

Headed over the hill from Greig's place on Taupo to the upper Whanganui. Sven and Kunio joined us on this outing. The grey rainy skies were a sharp contrast to the bright crimson colors modeled on these large spawning rainbows. They rocked it today! It was an awesome day that I was hoping would not end, but darkness comes early during theses late autumn days in the Southern Hemisphere. Oh and by the way, the proof is found below. Rocks do float in NZ.

Day 10 - Tongariro River

Today's fishing fun took place on the famous waters of Taupo Lake's Tongariro River near the fishing community of Turangi. Fished with Greig, Andy, Sven, Grant, and Kunio. The boys were sporting the big two-handed spey rods today with plans of swinging flies in search of those browns and rainbows making their annual spawning run through these crystal clear waters. Conditions weren't ideal as we were hoping for a big push of water and rain to lure these behemoths out of the lake. Instead we were treated to clear blue skies and warm temperatures. We all managed to catch some fish and I'm happy to report another great outing with some super companions.

Day 9 - Lake Ota

I have fond memories of fishing Lake Otamangakau during my last trip to NZ in 1989. It was an afternoon in late December, when I launched a float tube and experienced a tremendous day sight fishing for large trout.

It is a great privilege to return today with friend Greig to fish this wonderful lake once again. Ota sits at the foot of Mount Ruapehu, an active volcano and the lone ski area on the North Island. Five pound plus fish are very common here. Greig and I stripped buggers all day. I loved it. Stripping streamers and buggers is on of my all-time fishing activities. All in all we landed nine trout in the boat including a 6.5 lb rainbow which Greig landed in the morning.

Day 8 - Urban Manawatu

Busy day with classes at UM in Missoula beginning. We're also off to the Lake Taupo area later in the afternoon for a multi-day trip with some friends. Work at the "Uni" was completed around 2pm. Quckly finished errands and was ready to fish by 2:45. We planned to leave for Taupo prior to 4:30 leaving plenty of time for an urban fishing excursion (45 minutes?).

At the end of Ruahine Avenue sits a small park with a great trail that I bike daily. It's a five minute drive from our flat at 160 Ruahine. Here sits several productive fishing runs. After making the short walk with my nymphing setup, I was pleased to see a great hatch of mayflies (March Brown looking) with fish feeding on the surface. With the tight timeline, today there was no opportunity to go back and retrieve another fly box, but the river smiled anyways yielding a couple of small fish. Conditions permitting, I'll return to this place next week to throw some dry flies.