August 2014 newsletter

Below: Wow got it. By Ian Hoskins

PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL REPORTIt has been a strong year for the club, thanks to the sterling work of yourcommittee and the work of many other helpers. I’d especially like to thank thefollowing for their work outside the committee; Lois Rutherford (castingcompetition and trophies), Lester Higgins (club suppers), Ian Sowman (BBQ-meister), Dennis Ealam (newsletters), James Macdonald (club trips), GrahamCarter (newsletter), Cam Reid (auction co-ordinator) and Terry Kelso (castingtuition). Your committee have all stepped up at various times and have madecontributions to a range of club events throughout the year … and it is gratifyingthat members have reciprocated with great support for these efforts. When youcan, please make the opportunity to convey your appreciation personally to allthose who have helped keep your club firing throughout the year.Thanks to the efforts of committee member Mat Williams, the Club now has anexcellent Facebook page, which is gaining an increasing following both frommembers and the wider public interested in what our club gets up to. WhileFacebook may not be every members ‘cup-of-tea’, it is not only an excellent wayto showcase members’ fishing successes but is also proving to be an effectiveway to put issues facing anglers in front of members. Hopefully, more memberswill begin to use it for other things as well, such as arranging fishing tripsamongst themselves or raising concerns with regards our local fisheries.James Macdonald again arranged a wonderful calendar of Club trips to aninteresting range of locations. These have been well organised by James andpretty well supported by members. Hopefully James will continue with thisresponsibility and I know he is always keen for ideas about prospective locationsfrom members. Committee member Scott Ingram did a great job of arranging afamily weekend to fish the lower Wairau, which was also well attended and maywell be repeated this coming season.We are very fortunate to have the skills of Graham Carter as editor of our Clubnewsletter and website, which continue to be the envy of other fishing clubs.Members have really stepped up this last season contributing a range of excellentarticles and photographs, helping form an excellent record of club activities. Ienjoy looking back over past issues on the website and seeing how well clubmembers have been doing with their fishing. Keep those contributions rolling in!Our club newsletter, is also made possible by the sponsorship and advertisingsupport of several businesses, both local and further afield in the South Island. Iwould like to acknowledge their support, thanking them for their financialcontribution, which ensures we can produce a worthwhile newsletter. Wheneverpossible, members should look to support our sponsors in return. Sponsorship is atwo-way street and we should not take it for granted.Membership has risen to 71 financial members and it is pleasing to see newmembers integrate quickly into various club events. We have decided thatsubscriptions will remain unchanged for the forthcoming financial year as the

Club is in a strong financial position, which also begs the question where weshould be / could be channeling these funds? Make your thoughts known to theincoming committee if you have some specific ideas.The Nelson Trout Fishing Club is now a member of the Federation of FreshwaterAnglers following their approach to us prior to our last AGM, with the $3capitation fee per member coming from your annual subscription. With theencouragement and support of the FFA the Club was able to provide theincentive of an Adult Whole Season Fishing Licence, drawn from those memberswho paid their subs by due date. This was a very successful promotion and yourcommittee has decided to extend the same incentive for the coming year.Club nights have seen some great attendances. The quality of our guest speakershas been excellent, and they have provided us with talks on a diverse range ofinteresting subjects. Several members answered the call to step up and speakduring the year, highlighting the high calibre of many of our members, somethingthe Club should be very proud of.Congratulations to all our Club prize-winners this evening. This is not only animportant way of recognizing the various ‘endeavours’ of members throughoutthe year, but also contributes a valuable part of our club history. Interestinglywe had no entries at all for any of the ‘fish’ categories this year despite reportsof some significant catches by members throughout the season. Entries in thesecategories have been increasingly hard to ‘elicit’ in recent years and while Iknow that it is problematic when members prefer to release their catch, many ofus do fish with friends, have cameras, carry a tape measure and use weigh nets.The Club is willing to accept records of trout and salmon caught and released bymembers when the catch can be verified by another angler.For next season I would ask members to find a way to document some of theirbetter catches into the club records, so that we can help resurrect interest inhighlighting the special fish members do catch from time to time. While manymembers don’t see sport-fishing as a competitive event (and I respect thatposition), I’d like to suggest that we think less of the ‘competitive element’ andsubmit entries more as a mark of respect for the special fish and the wonderfulmoments they contribute … without them our sport is nothing.In closing I would like to make mention of two special club members. Firstly, ourTreasurer Ray Day, who the committee has awarded this year’s trophy forServices to the Club. Ray epitomizes everything there is about a good club spiritwith his can-do attitude and infectious enthusiasm. He has kept the books ingood order, has looked after sorting sponsorship for the club, has made his homeavailable for regular Committee meetings and has always stepped up whensomething a little out of the ordinary has required sorting.Secondly, I would like to thank Secretary Bruce McLean, who is way more thanmy right-hand man. It is not lost on me that when I send a notice out to membersthe message sometimes doesn’t generate the response I might anticipate … butwhen Bruce sends out one of his ‘notable communiqués the club invariably

responds very positively. Without Bruce’s significant effort your club would notfunction … this is no exaggeration. Bruce has been a wonderful help to me andthe rest of the committee. Not only does he work huge hours on behalf ofmembers, he manages to continue to do so with a smile and great sense ofhumour.I have enjoyed my year as your President. My style has been a little unorthodox,but you probably knew that it would be anyway. Bruce, Ray and other committeemembers have provided tremendous support and have kept me up to the mark.There’s a lot more to the job than I anticipated but with a lot of help and goodhumour from others, I have survived.Our Club is in excellent heart, I think… so let’s keep the momentum going.Roll on next season!Tony EntwistlePresidentCover Photo: A fish almost as flawless as you can get, caught locally byDanish angler Kresten Ovesen. Photo by Mike Kirkpatrick, winner of the JulyPhoto competition ANNUAL CLUB AUCTION 20th AUGUST 2014Thanks to Cameron Reid who will again be organizing our auction. Cameron is ready for your selling instructions Ways to help him out Pre list with Cameron any items you have for sale. Don't forget to clearly indicate your selling intentions. Is it a donation to the club or do you wish to have it sold on behalf of etc. Cameron's e-mail address [email protected] 5

Club ContactsExecutive:President: Tony Entwistle 5444565 [email protected] President: Ray Day 5441245 [email protected]: Bruce McLean 5480066 [email protected]: Ray Day 5441245 [email protected] Editor and Webmaster: Graham Carter 07 8551833 [email protected] 021 02600437Committee Scott Ingram 5441605 [email protected] Peter Lawler 5489753 [email protected] Maree Peter 522 4166 [email protected] Mathew Williams 5445996 [email protected] James Jemson 7443123 [email protected] and Greet New Members Ray Day and Pete LawlerFishing trips James Macdonald [email protected] 03 5403520Fly Tying Convenor Tony EntwistleClub Librarian Lois Rutherfurd 022 6010642Trophy Master Lois Rutherfurd [email protected] Sponsorship & Newsletter Advertising Ray DayClub Speakers: Tony EntwistleClub Night Tea/Coffee: Maree PeterNewsletter Distribution: Dennis EalamLife Members: 2007 John Willis 2012 Graham CarterPast Presidents: 06-08 Lester Higgins 08-09 Ross Walker04-06 Richard Boyden 11-13 Ray Day 13- Tony Entwistle09-11 Dennis Ealam THE NELSON TROUT FISHING CLUBMeets once a month at: Fish and Game Offices, 66 Champion Road, Richmond. Normally the 3rd Wednesday of the month 7.00pm. Please phone 5440066 if unsure. Any views or opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the committee, club or editor. www.thenelsontroutfishingclub.com 6

“It’s not a sin to spin”Chris Clenshaw talks about Spin FishingBy Judith PriceChris (it's not a sin to spin) Clenshaw, who sits on the fish and game council,shared much useful and easily understood info.During his presentation at the Nelson Trout Fishing Club’s meeting, on 18th June,this year. Fishing is definitely an art form, and Chris described the backgroundfrom theory to practice, from proven tips, techniques, technical expertise toindividual preferences and attitudes.Anyone can invest in the latest tackle, and clothing - some of which appear to beaimed more at the fisherman than the fish - and tell their friends they are goingfishing.But it takes time, patience and lots of practice to achieve consistently goodresults, and to become proficient at casting - 'chuck and chance' just doesn't cutit! The idea of 'going fishing' is to catch fish, and fish are smart.Chris focused on the basics - water depth and type, drift, clarity, weight andthickness of line, knots, types and effectiveness of various lures, suitable tackle,etc. All appropriate to location and conditions of the day.Stay as inconspicuous as you can, if you are practicing catch and release carry aset of forceps to facilitate quick and easy removal of the hook and get the fishback in the water as quickly as you can. If you see a spawning stream that is fullof debris, take note of location and advise fish and game.Learning and remembering the tips, techniques and technical expertise tried andtested over the years will make your fishing adventures memorable.There is much more - and the learning never stops.Tight lines! 7

Hydro MonstersBy Alan Ballard 28Lbs unrealOn a Monday early in May, Pete Williams, Paul Gillespie and I set off for thefabled Mackenzie Hydro canals. After a 7 a.m. start and an uneventful drive, wearrived in Twizel in time to rush out for an evening fish … also equallyuneventful.Pete had booked ahouse in Twizel called“Moore Fishing’ whichwe highly recommendas it has all mod cons, isspacious and availablefor a very reasonabletariff. We were joinedthat evening by GavinJames, a fisheriesscientist fromChristchurch. For hell's sake don't fall in

First light next morning saw Paul and I at the junction of the Ohau and Pukakicanals, where we’d seen a lot of fish jumping the previous evening. This spot,known as ‘The Point’, is just downstream of a large salmon farm, so there is agood concentration of trout and salmon there. Even though we saw some largefish jumping they again spurned our soft baits. Pete and Gavin tested the watersa few kilometres downstream below the Ohau B power-station but also had noluck fishing with prawns and soft-baits.Paul and I moved upstream to the head of the Ohau canal where the water exitsLake Ohau through a short tunnel in a violent, turbulent cataract. There is apowerful eddy on either side of the outlet and looking over the rail I could seeglimpses of huge fish fighting the maelstrom as they tried to run furtherupstream. I wasted no time dropping a soft-bait amongst them and after a fewcircuits of the whirlpool it was seized by a good fish. The only way to land a fishhere is to get it to run downstream past the safety fence to more manageablewater about 100 metres down the canal. It’s a place that combines your fishingwith cross-country running and rock hopping! All went well and Paul netted a fine10 lb brown for me.Wednesday saw us again at the ‘Wall’ early. Paul soon hooked up on a good fishand after a boulder-stumbling chase for 250 metres downstream we both gaspedwhen we saw the fish in the net. It was a beautiful hooked-jawed brown withbronze and silver flanks covered in leopard-like spots, which pulled the scalesdown to an impressive 19 lbs. Later Peter and Gavin arrived and set aboutestablishing some new records. Pete caught the biggest fish of the trip, landingan enormous 25 lb rainbow that looked more like a tuna than a trout, while Gavinrecorded the longest chase of over 500 metres to land an 18 lb rainbow. All Icould manage that day was a ‘minnow’ of 7lbs, after breaking off on five otherlarge fish. Come Thursday we were back at the ‘Wall’ at first light where I quickly landed my biggest ever rainbow trout of 9 lbs. Feed a tribe

This was soon topped however by two other more substantial rainbows of 11 lbsand 18 lbs, along with two large browns of 14 lbs and 19 lbs. Being a slow learnerI had finally upgraded my line to 12 lb braid, which undoubtedly helped ensure Ieventually landed some ‘decent’ fish. That day, we also met up with the ‘canalguru’ Malcolm Bell of ‘Complete Angler’ fame, from Christchurch, who advisedthat he never uses less than 15 lb braid.Friday was another tough day and while we managed a few fish up to 8lb wecaught no more monsters, despite seeing some fish that could easily have been30 – 40 lb. Perhaps these leviathans were involved in some of our break-offs!We only caught three salmon on this trip. Peter landed a beautiful 6lber thatlooked as if it had just ‘come in from the sea’, I landed another chunky but uglyfish of about the same size and Paul landed a small one.Three tired, but happy and slightly dazed anglers undertook the long trip homethe next day. In total we had landed about 224 lbs of fish during the four days;an amazing experience we can commend to other anglers. Twizel is a greatlocation to stay, with plenty of accommodation, good eating places, twosupermarkets and most importantly … two good tackle shops. Early May proved agood time to visit the canals as our local season has finished and the weather inthe Mackenzie Country still isn’t too cold. All in a days work 10

Above left: That's big; above right: Twizel Jaws; below: Twizel canal

Second place in July Photo competition was the photo by Peter Baker \"Brownmeets the dog\"The Distant Browns of EmeraldTony Ling wrote this article, and to make sense of the opening to the story -he wrote it for a magazine called 'Fly Fishing and Fly Tying' (UK) as that'swhere he saw a review of the DVD (The Distant Browns of Emerald) he featuredin and that is what this story is about...Today I found myself staring at a review of the DVD ‘The Distant Browns ofEmerald’ in this magazine. It’s ironic because a year ago I was living the dreamof embarking on a wilderness trip with Mike Kirkpatrick which now features onthis DVD.Having been to New Zealand before a number of times I found Mike as I trolledthrough YouTube watching clips of epic adventures in New Zealand in the earlyhours whist minding small children. Now here was a man promising somethingdifferent. Very different. A true wilderness experience. I just had to have it.‘Are you fit?’ queried a voice from the other side of the world when I madecontact. ‘No, I mean really fit, otherwise we cant go!’ hmmm ‘Can you carry a25kilo pack for four or five hours through the bush…….’ I will be I promised.

Hell, no Kiwi was going to put me off. So I set out to get as fit as I could. I mean,how hard could it be! A few months later I left London in sub zero temperaturesand 24 hours later called my wife from a car headed from Auckland to Taupo in20 degree heat at 7 o’clock in the morning. She was not amused! I, on the otherhand, was wired.First stop was Poronui Lodge just out of Taupo and an appointment with therainbows in the mighty Rangitikei River that I’d had in the diary for 12 years.I’m not sure there’s a better lodge in NZ than Poronui (www.poronui.com), runby the remarkable Eve Reilly and I can’t imagine there are many better guidesthan expat Pom Sean Andrews. His idea of an adventure had me swimming agorge, clambering up and over a sheer cliff and spending a day taking rainbows to8lbs from a river no more than 5 yards wide. In any other circumstances, thetime I spent there, with over 50 fish in the net in four days and a barrel load oflaughter along the way would be worthy of a gushing article on its own. However,it was just a warm up for the main event. Just to get my hand in! Tony Ling with a cracking brown from a trip he'll long remember'A tanned, fit and smiling Mike Kirkpatrick picked me up at Nelson airport and weset out on a day of getting to know one another. First stop the extremelypleasant Century Park Motor Lodge to drop off my kit. Yes this rod, not that one,not those flies, nor that leader and off we went. It was immediately apparentthat my relationship with Mike was going to be different to other guides.He was his own man, not having to mind his p’s and q’s for the sake of a lodge.He was Mike. Take him or leave him. He sized me up as we fished for theafternoon, caught a couple of fish, walked far enough for him to be sure that Icould handle the outback experience and laughed enough in the car on the wayback to both look forward to the next four days. It’s quite a daunting prospect to

be heading off into the no fly zone, some 60 miles from the nearest civilizationwith a man you’ve only met for a day. People thought I was mad to do it and mywife referred to it as my ‘Brokeback trip’ but here we were ready to go!Well, nearly ready. Get a good meal he said and be ready for the 4am start nextmorning. I didn’t tell him that I had aggravated the medial ligaments of my rightknee a couple of days before because nothing was going to stop me from gettingout there into the wilderness. Next morning came rather too quickly for my likingas Mike picked me up in his fishing wagon to head off from Nelson on a drivetowards the west coast. Time flew by as it inevitably does when you’re headingout on a trip, and the countryside become more rural and more breathtakingwith every mile, culminating with the spectacular coastal scenery of the westcoast at the top of the south island. It’s hard to imagine more beautiful countryexists.We drew up at a remote airstrip to be greeted by our pilot who found it hilariousthat I should be worried about whether it was safe to leave my wallet and phonein the car. This is NZ mate, not London now, get in and don’t worry yourself! Halfan hour later the great pilot was gone and Mike and I were alone in thewilderness, the location of which I’m sworn not to reveal. No one can fly intothese specially created zones. You want to fish, you’ve got to walk. ‘you look abit apprehensive’ Mike smiled as I sat with my pack strapped to my backwatching the helicopter recede into the distance and my senses start to take inthe fact that we were now alone some sixty miles from the nearest otherhumans! I’d wanted this badly. Real bad. Now it was here staring me in the faceand I was truly apprehensive to put it mildly. Anyway, here we go….Four hour stroll to the campsite. No problem! Ahem! Have you ever carried apack of 20 or so kgs? Have you ever forded a river with that pack on your head?(A river that can sweep you off your feet with one false move that you willtraverse several times that day) Have you ever walked through bush with no trail,save those made by deer? Have you ever scaled a near sheer cliff face with apack trying to pull you backwards off it? Have you ever scrambled up and down aravine following someone you’ve just met up a valley with no discernable tracks?No? You should try it sometime because that is what it was like on the way inthere. Tough like I couldn’t believe. Head down, just follow Mike, he knows whathe’s doing. Ignore how much your back hurts, and your legs and your lungs. Justcarry on regardless. Drink when he drinks, stop when he stops, eat when he eats.I was pushing myself hard and could believe that I’d lose the 4kgs Mike had saidI’d drop. I could tell it was no picnic for Mike either, weighed down by an evenbigger pack, but we were going to get there (wherever it was) as close to thetime he came in here with one of his mates and that was all there was to it!Four or five hours of this tramping later and we forded the river and came to acampsite that looked like it had been made by deer hunters, just above a pool inwhich we could see eight specimen browns feeding and holding station. It wasn’t

where Mike had been aiming for but it would do! Music to my ears. I slumpeddown and took the pack off and drifted off to sleep. When I woke up an hour orso later Mike had set up camp and was getting our gear set up. I asked him for aplaster for my cut finger to which he replied’ here you go princess!’ and I felt aninch tall.We fished a little that afternoon and caught some nice fish, recovered, built afire and settled in to the adventure. The beginnings of a change were starting tocome over me. The food tasted better from an open fire, the flames werewarming not just my body and I was starting to hear what was really going onaround me.I wasn’t so changed to ask myself ‘what the hell am I doing here, why aren’t I ina lodge?’ the next morning when I woke stiff as a board. No time to dwell on thatas we started the day with an assault on the fish in the Breakfast pool. Mike is aphenomenal guide. The best I’ve ever had the privilege to fish with, and I’vefished with some good ones. He can be tough though and not amused if you makethe same mistake twice or just don’t listen or execute. He sets high standards forhimself and quite rightly expects his clients to live up to them. I was on a crashcourse, trying to learn as much as I could as quickly as possible. My success andfailures being magnified by the fact that they were being captured on film, whichwas definitely a first for me, and initially somewhat daunting! We ended the dayabout an hour upstream of where we had started, having fished just about everykind of water conceivable. I was happy, more confident. I could handle this. Iwasn’t even too unhappy about the ravine we had to cross to get back to camp,even though it was the nail in the coffin for my aching muscles.Buoyed up by a great fire, hot food and a near perfect day we watched the dusksettle in quickly and soften up the majestic scenery before darkness dropped inon our little world. As we sat by the fire it seemed to connect us to each otherand this special place. A deep bond between us was quickly forming. The sort ofbond that is impossible for anyone who hasn’t enjoyed such an experience tounderstand. Just the two of you, in the middle of nowhere, relying on eachother and soaking up the privilege of being able to be the only humans withinmany a mile. There is something indefinable and indescribable how being in sucha place can both exhilarate and calm ones soul at the same time. The icing onthe cake was the stars. With no light pollution we were treated to a sky full tothe brim of constellations shining so brightly that the effect was almost dizzying.As we gazed up in awestruck wonder we realized that this was the icing on thecake. At once we were both overcome with a sense of how tiny is our place inthe universe and yet raised up with the majesty at being part of it all. It reallywas an almost unworldly experience.‘When one is hunting, the air has another, more exquisite feel as it glides overthe skin and enters the lungs, the rocks acquire a more expressive physiognomy,the vegetation becomes loaded with meaning…the axis of the whole situation isthat mystical union with the animal, a sensing and presentiment of it that

automatically leads the hunter to perceive the environment from the point ofview of their prey’ so began a chapter in the most excellent ‘Trout Hunting’ byBob Wyatt with a quote from Jose Ortega y Gasset.Never have I felt that more than the second day of our trip. We had to be upearly as it was an hours hike to get to where we finished the day before and thetemperature was so hot that the trout were off the feed by mid afternoon. Upearly we stormed up the river and into the day. Starting in the cool of themorning as thin light fought its way down into the valley, we fished on throughsweltering heat and an almost hurtful glare and by the end of the day we wereglad not to need the headlamps we had brought in case sunset beat us back tocamp.We had fish to dries, light nymphs, heavy rigs. Big fish. Bigger fish. Smaller fish.Fish of completely different markings, colours and shapes from the same stretchof river. Fish that took a long time to fool. Fish that wouldn’t take. Fish thatwere far too strong in the fight. Fish that conformed to the classic sterotype oftake and fight. You could almost say we fit a lifetime of fishing into a day.Magically telescoped into a microcosm of everything this sport is about. Theywere not easy to get to take and each fight was a drawn out epic of intense,nerve jangling confrontation. Real battles often ending several hundred yardsdownstream of where they started. You couldn’t have scripted it better, nomatter how much you tried.On the way back to camp we walked side by side, rock hopping down the riverthat had been so good to us. As we navigated a particularly tough stretch ofboulders I managed to fall headlong in a cartoon style tumble that even tookMike’s breath away. However something had changed in the princess of only acouple of days ago. I just got up and carried on as if nothing had happened. Butsomething had happened. I had found something lurking inside myself and it hadquickly burst out to fill me with a sense of adventure, resilience, and dare I sayit, toughness. I was in many ways a new man.That evening our bond of mateship deepened to the point where it could evenwithstand the debate about whether Jonny Wilkinson or Dan Carter were the bestliving out halves in the world! We were sated and in that rare harmony ofperfection with ourselves, each other and nature that can only come fromexperiencing success on a trip like this. We lay back beside the fire and watchedthe stars fortified by the warmest of inner glows.Three days ago I had wondered what I was doing here. Now I wondered why I wasabout to leave! We broke camp early with that sadness that dogs leaving a placeyou love, a place which has really got into your soul and moved you, hangingaround us like a bad smell. We were sated and fulfilled. At one point on themarch back Mike called me forwards to look awestruck at the shapes of whatwere clearly two huge fish in a pool hundreds of feet below the hilltop route wewere taking. I looked at him and wondered, but even he didn’t have the desire at

the end of our trip, and we carried on vowing to come back another time, butneither of us really thinking that we would.A very angry wasps nest that we disturbed hastened us on our way. There isnothing quite like a swarm of disturbed wasps taking it out on you to make youforget the danger of running down a near vertical drop with your pack on. Evenso I managed to get stung a number of times, one of the blighters actuallygetting down inside my shirt under my pack. Ouch. Thank heavens forantihistamine! To be honest I scarcely noticed and we just carried on with thatindefinable spring in our steps. We made good time back to the pickup and fishedfor a few hours but without intensity, just messing about and using the time for abit of fun. We were done.We made quite a sight as we pulled into a diner for a huge meal but people justlooked and smiled. They probably see a fair few people in this state out there!Our long drive home saw us relive the trip, laugh long and hard and sing along toall kinds of nonsense in that demob happy way that you never would normally do.All too soon we were back in Nelson saying goodbye. The trip over and done but afirm new friendship made and a love of wilderness fishing kindled deep in mysoul.Mike had said that I’d be able to walk through town having done something fewothers could manage. Now Nelson is a real outdoor town and the next day I waskilling time before my flight, mooching around in the rain (the only rain in twoweeks!),looking for presents for my wife and kids. I went into the outdoor centreto buy a map of where I’d been and got into conversation with one of the guides.When I hinted at where I’d been and what I’d just done he admitted that indeedrespect was due! 24 hours later I was back in London. Shattered and in a foulmood. I was almost depressed to not be out there in the wilds of New Zealandwhere I had felt truly at home and where my soul had been touched bysomething special, even for such a short time. I had come back a changed man!If all of this sounds like the sort of adventure that you’re after I cannotrecommend it strongly enough. I am no superman, nor super fisherman. Far fromit on either count! I got myself quite fit and did the trip even with strainedmedial ligaments. If I can do it pretty much anyone can! If you don’t fancy goingthe whole hog Mike does day trips to the plentiful rivers all over the top of thesouth island and great fun they are with wonderful fishing aplenty. He is a specialguy and a wonderful guide. In the four days we spent together he improved myfishing immensely and I would challenge anyone not to have a wonderful andpotentially life changing trip with him. Check him out atwww.latitudeguiding.co.nz or check out the video reviewed last month. If itdoesn’t get your juices flowing I don’t know what will!As for me. All I can say is ‘I’ll be back!’ 17

Top: River Dancers; middle: Sabine River; below: River Dancers Coloburiscus Mayflies 18



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