Waiting for the fly by Brian Richards
Club ContactsExecutive:President: Maree Peter 5224166 [email protected] President: Tony Entwistle 5444565 [email protected]: Bruce McLean 5480066 [email protected]: Ray Day 5441245 [email protected] Editor and Webmaster: Graham Carter 07 8551833 [email protected] 021 02600437CommitteeRichard Breakspear 5419050 [email protected] Lawler 5489753 [email protected] Williams 5445996 [email protected] Jemson 7443123 [email protected] Richards 0274349165 [email protected] Stevenson 5469632 [email protected] and Greet New Members Ray Day and Pete LawlerFishing trips James Macdonald [email protected] 03 5403520Fly Tying Convenor no appointmentClub Librarian Cameron Reid 547 1197 [email protected] Master Richard Boyden 544 8028 [email protected] Sponsorship & Newsletter Advertising Ray DayClub Speakers: Committee membersClub Night Tea/Coffee: Maree PeterNewsletter Distribution: Brian Richards [email protected] 0274349165Life Members: 2007 John Willis 2012 Graham CarterPast Presidents: 06-08 Lester Higgins 08-09 Ross Walker04-06 Richard Boyden 11-13 Ray Day 13-15 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 5224166 if unsure. Any views or opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the committee, club or editor. www.thenelsontroutfishingclub.com
President’s FlylineWell the most important news for this month is that my new grandchild hasarrived on the 2nd of October, Harvey Jason Edward Moffat weighting in at ahealthy 8lb 2oz, delivered into this world, naturally I have just spent 2 weeksover in Melbourne playing Gran (very hard to come back to work but needs must)so - Home now back to reality.From what I hear the fishing has not been too bad for the start of the season.I did have the privilege to go out for a day with Tony pre-season and learnt a lotnot only about how I should be casting but also about the river and where to fishand where not to fish. The ‘Mot’ is not good if the cloud comes over, so I learntthat the fish just went off completely.I did manage to hook one in the morning but I have not mastered the art oflanding a fish on my fly rod yet. But I had not hooked one on the river with my flyrod before so was very excited about that (that was my problem to excited).We had a good day out, thanks so much Tony for your patience and advice.We have had the Search and Rescue to visit at our October meeting, the reportto follow in the newsletter, shame I missed that. We are always looking forpeople to report on the club events so if you are attending one maybe you couldwrite a report on it for the newsletter, it doesn’t matter if we have more thanone report on an event it all helps to filling up the newsletter with relevant bitsof info for our club members. And it does not have to be a long report a few linesis fine, so please step up and voluntare, your club needs you.I did see a few pictures of fish caught on the opening day so we will have a goodselection for the trophy’s this year.The Fishout ponds have been restocked for the coming season, to teach Youthhow to fish. Fish and Game have also run some ‘teach the parents’ how to fish,gut, and prepare fish so this will no doubt trickle down to the children tooThe ponds have trout and salmon in them. The trust will be looking for voluntaresto help out on days and nights this year so if you have a spare morning or eveningand wouldn’t mind helping out please contact Richard Boyden his number is inthe newsletter.We are looking at doing a corner evening in November, knots, leaders, lines,flies. And before you know it, it will be Christmas. That’s all from your gorgeousleader for this month.Tight linesMaree Peter, PresidentCover Photo: The cast by Ray Day 4
TWIZEL - A CULTURAL EXPERIENCEBy Bruce McLean“There's a golf tournament at Wanaka.” Pam announces. Never missing anopportunity. “How about I come down with you and after your golf we could stopoff at Twizel and catch a salmon or two”. Now there's a deal Pam couldn'trefuse. The idea of freshly caught salmon straight from the water to the platecould win the day, and it did.Opportunities are opportunities and having heard the amazing fishing reportsthrough the social media, we just had to go. My anticipation was building, torevisit the Twizel canals and fish for those huge salmon and trout lurking in thewaters was to me, like a kid waiting for Christmas.This time I would be ready. With a bit of luck, I “googled” Fishing Twizel and upcame a heap of videos showing various techniques on how to fish for salmon andtrout in the canals.There were videos on fly fishing, spin fishing, soft baiting, fishing with bait, andwhat's this fishing with bells!!!!I studied those videos and the various techniquesshown, I was going to be ready for what everopportunity arose, I would be prepared, bells and all.I bought extra gear, lures, flies, softbaits, hooks,lines and sinkers, of coarse the bells, the frozenshrimp for bait would wait until Twizel.Somewhere along the line I mentioned to Ray Day andPete Lawler that we were planning a trip south and six days of it would be fishingaround Twizel. The look on their faces said it all. It was only right we encourageRay and Erin to bring their Motor Home and Pete could come on down in hisToyota Troopy, bed and all. Apart from Heather who was heading over Oz way,to catch up on family, it was all go.Well what anticipation, everyone was rearing to get there, we had all heard thestories of salmon, big and small and trout built like tanks, this was going to be abrilliant trip.With the Days and McLean's converging on Twizel on the Friday evening fromdiffering directions and Pete arriving whenever, the week's fishing had begun.Our first day out to the canals being Saturday, there were people everywhere.Our planned possies were already occupied and while slowly driving along thecanal trying to peer into the water we were met with some very stern lookingfaces. 5
No worries we just moved on and settled into a suitable gap of about a hundredmetres. Not where we wanted to be but enough space and water for the four ofus to sling our hooks.Pam was the first to spot a fish “Come and look at this”. There it was, thestories were true, our very own leviathan of the deep! It was all Pam's just lyingthere waiting to be hooked. Well Pam cast to that large trout, in front of it,behind it, over it, under it, that fish knew all the tricks. How tantalising, howfrustrating, it would inspect the lure, it would move close, it would move away,it would move up, it would move down, it would move forward, it would moveback!!!!. “Don't worry Pam just try another lure, you'll get a hook up soon”.What luck no one else had seen this fish! It was hers for the taking!After watching for a few minutes I wandered off, no more than 10 metres andbloody hell!!!!!! There were at least a dozen huge fish some even bigger than theone Pam was targeting.Ray not being far away, already rigged up with his fly rod in hand, I called (wellin a muted sort of way, not wanting to give our secret away to anyone within earshot) “Ray here's your chance for a first day record”.All afternoon we concentrated on trying to catch one of those monsters, Pam onher spinning rod, Ray on a fly rod and me like wise, each of us trying every flyand lure we owned.Now these fish, a mixture of salmon, rainbow and browns just milled around.They milled, we cast, tried another fly but those fish just kept on milling. Not agood start to the anticipated record catches we had dreamt about!!!!!That evening during a constructive group talk, as you do after a glass or two ofour favourite tipple we realised that none of us actually saw anyone on thecanal, land a fish that day. Now with that thought and the fortification of ourdrinks we accepted, that today we had been guzumped by creatures with brainsno bigger than the tips of our little finger.Tomorrow's plan was agreed it would be the Tekapo Canal and again the promiseof salmon and maybe some for the freezer.To the Mount Cook Salmon farm we went, this time Ray set up Erin's line, bellsand all, for the chuck 'n chance option, baited with a shrimp, undoubtedly themost popular method being used in the canals. All the salmon we caught over theweek were enticed by the shrimp except for one I hooked and landed on asmallish softbait. 6
Ray and I went sightfishing along the canal'sedge, saw a few flightysmall trout about the 2lbsize. Again, we cameacross some monstersmilling around as werethe ones we fished toyesterday! Boy we mustbe slow learners, butfrom the discussions oflast night it was decidedthat for all the storieswe've heard about big fishbeing caught they must“drop their guard”, or make a “mistake” sometime. So once again we introducedto them every, fly in our boxes, trying to entice just one “mistake”!While doing this the teams luck was broken by Erin landing a nice eating sizedsalmon, so it would be salmon for dinner. Well done Erin, you saved thereputation of the trip, our first fish.Pete arrived that night, so next morning while the others fished for salmon heand I had a wander around Kelland's Pond and picked up a couple of nice trout. Itwasn't good for sight fishing with enough wind to disturb the water and a whitecloud cover giving us a spotting area about the size of a dinner plate, even so, itwas a good break from chuck n' chancing for salmon.Coffee calls! By now Ray and Erin's motorhome was becoming known as “TheCoffee Cart” the focal point for meeting when in need of that caffeine boost.During the morning the chuck 'n chancers had been successful in bagging a coupleof salmon, 8+lb being the best so far. So after lunch and another coffee hit, I stayed on, deciding to try my luck at chuck 'n chancing for salmon and my first time to deploy the bell. I soon discovered the thing about the bell. You need to understand that chuck 'n chance fishing for salmon isn't the most active form of angling, in fact there is little interactionbetween the angler and the shrimp baited hook. This is fishing of another kind.The technique is: Park up your vehicle comfortably close to the canal side leavingenough space for deck chairs, chilly bin etc. for a days relaxation.
The setting up of your rod and tackle is simple enough, decided by personalpreference, some choosing a weighted running line and others a ledger type setup, baited with frozen shrimp. Before casting, attach the bell to the tip of yourrod, it's there to remind you that you are actually fishing when or if you have astrike. Cast, set your rod in a suitable holder and relax. Your choice of relaxationfrom what we saw were many and varied. Sitting in the sun, watching TV,reading, drinking, coffee, beer or whatever, and sleeping seemed to be thepopular choices.Pete in the meantime had seen enough of chuck 'n chance fishing and headed offdown to where the Ohau Canal surges into Lake Benmore hoping to cast a fly. Bychance stepping from the Troopy right before his eyes was his very own leviathanof the deep. What luck! Will this be the fish to make a “mistake”? Sure enoughwith the second cast right on the nose, that huge fish took the tiny Flashbacknymph. Oh hell, this giant of a fish is off, the line is stripping fast, it's nearingthe end of the fly line, this needs some added palm breaking!!!. #!%** hisknuckles received their first whacking from the furiously spinning knob!! Whatthe hell, it's like a freight train! About thirty metres out a huge Brownie leaptfrom the water trying to dislodge it's “mistake” of the day. The main line gone, itneeds more breaks. Again #!%**^ Pete's knuckles took another pounding fromthat vicious flying knob, this time breaking the skin, the trout had gained thefirst blood.Now the backing was flying off - this fish has to be stopped, now wishing hehad used a heavier rod and not his 5 weight! Pete was desperate, even withblood still flowing from his knuckles, and in pain, another attempt at palming that reel had to be made. Successful, with no whack from the knob his palm was on the reel. The need for care is crucial, the braid backing, streaming out at that speed can cut through the skin. Well that's exactly what happened, remember that song “The First Cut is the Deepest” well not exactly, that just came to me, but it was deep enough to add more blood to the previously whacked knuckles. Pete's battle was over almost before it began, asthe backing line came to it's end the knot held, enough stretch in the line andthe hook dislodged from that trout's jaw. What agony, not the whacked andbleeding knuckles, nor the cut from the braid backing but the loss of such atrophy!!Pete's return to the Coffee Cart was a hapless sight to behold, with dejection onhis face, his bleeding hand loosely wrapped in a hanky, waving it in the air, ashe gesticulated his encounter and loss. To make matters worse while Pete wasstill relating his story two of the chuck n' chance rods had hook ups, the bells
were ringing, Pete's hanky was flying, still telling his story. The scene before myeyes was surreal, it reminded me of some Morris Dancers I once saw, if you canimagine that, bells and hankies in all directions, here it was again!!!.With the salmon cleaned and stored the afternoon was becoming a bit boring.The fishing had totally stopped, no bells ringing and even the conversation waslacking the usual zest of lies.Recalling those Morris Dancers I jestinglysuggested let's give it a go! “Give what ago?” was asked. “Morris dancing of coarse!”I answered. “We all have hankies and we allhave bells. Lets put it together and have acultural experience, let's have a go at MorrisDancing. Reluctance at first turned toagreement, it was an opportunity to putsome culture in our lives.Bells were collected from the rods and clipped to our socks. Out came thehankies, with Pete's brightly coloured with blood. It wasn't long before weovercome our timid shyness and soon had the Morris Dance steps and twirlsgoing as we imagined they should be. What a sight to behold, right there on thebanks of the Ohau Canal a performance of rather impressive Morris Dancing.It was great, a newly found freedom, as we brought our version of culture toTwizel. Waving hankies, ringing bells, high stepping to the rhythm of life what amarvellous sight to behold.Shame we couldn't put the rest of the costumes together, hankies, socks, bootsand bells was all we could find.Believe it or not, there's at least three ends to this tale I could have used!!!!!! Can you pick who's who? 9
BRAG PAGES
BRAG PAGES
BRAG PAGES
BRAG PAGESSitting in a bar having a couple of drinks after a great days fishing with an oldfishing mate. I casually pointed towards two old drunks sitting across the barfrom us and said: “that’s us in ten years from now”. He said: “That’s a mirror,dipshit!”The Agony of AgingOn the morning that Daylight Savings Time ended I stopped in to visit my agingfishing friend. He was busy covering his penis with black shoe polish.I said to him, \"You better get your hearing checked - you're supposed to turn yourclock back\". 13
Cobb Reservoir & River – October 19-21, 2015By David Cartwright & James MacdonaldSix club members attended the first trip of the 2015/2016 Season in mid-October: Dave Cartwright and Richard Breakspear (one day); Alison & TerryKelso, Richard Boyden and James Macdonald (three days).Episode 1: Richard’s and Dave’s big day out: Given an unfavourable weatherforecast and some other commitments, Richard (Breakspear) and Dave decidedthat it was worth a one-day trip to meet with James and the other happycampers at the Cobb River on the first day of their trip. Neither of us had been tothe area so we were looking forward to a look-see. A well maintained gravel roadled us up through the forest and past the Hydro plant to the Cobb Reservoir. Itwas only then that we realised just how exposed the area was. Wind drivenwhitecaps big enough for surfing greeted us so no stopping there and onwards tothe river. Several potential spots were visited before finding a semi-protectedsite with several fish seen. While struggling with strong gusty winds and a bitterlycold wind chill factor, we had a visit from James who had just arrived in hisshorts. The others followed a little later before retreating to the hut to staketheir claims for that evening and to seek shelter from the winds. While Richardpersisted in his pursuit of several nice fish, Dave quickly reverted to a spotter’srole given the difficulty he had casting under such conditions. Over lunch in theshelter of the car we noticed some snow mixed in with the rain. When the cloudlifted briefly we could see fresh snow above the tree line – great fishing weather.Unfortunately the wind would not let up and, despite James using his expertskills and catching several fish, Richard and Dave caught nothing but a good doseof windburn. That afternoon, as we headed back over the hill, we both agreedthat it had been worth the visit to scope out a new fishing area for the future,however not if the weather forecast was predicting strong winds in exposedplaces! We did not envy the happy campers who were to spend the next two daysin the area with similar conditions forecast.Episode 2: Richard & James on the Cobb River – Day 1: While Alison, Terry andRichard (Boyden) went on a mission to gather firewood for the Trilobite hutstove, James set off to find out how David and Richard (Breakspear) were doingand listened to their tales of “torture by wind”. He moved on to a camping spotwith a BBQ, parked the truck beside the river and set up his rod. After walkingless than 10 metres along the bank, he spotted a trout parked behind a boulderand hooked it on second cast; a very pretty, two pound rainbow was netted. Hewalked further along the bank towards where David & Richard were fishingbefore finding the pair hunkered down in their truck planning to leave. By thistime Richard (Boyden) was trying his luck in the Cobb River below the TrilobiteHut, also battling the wind. James carried on upstream, catching another 2 lbrainbow in a rapid until the vegetation closed in on the river. Returning to histruck, about an hour after he had left it, he took a quick glance at the boulderwhere he had caught the first trout earlier. Well, blow me down, it was back (or
another, identical one was back) and he flicked his nymphs out to see if he couldget another take. The trout duly took the same #16 black nymph it had takenabout 60 minutes earlier, which was a bit of a surprise. Maybe some rainbowsreally do have low IQ?Back in the hut, Alison & Terry had a good fire going, which was very muchappreciated by all. Overnight most people felt the cold, even though they hadreasonable sleeping bags.Episode 3: The Cobb River – Day 2: It was still very windy, but Richard andJames decided to fish upstream and Terry set off for where the Cobb riverflowed into the dammed lake. During the day, Richard and James must haveseen about 50 rainbows, many of which were still spawning aggressively. Weavoided casting to these fish and James had only two small (1-2 lb) fish to showfor the day’s effort.Meanwhile, Terry had caught a nice rainbow at the river mouth within about 20minutes of commencing to cast. Shortly after this, feeling severely buffeted bythe wind, he and Alison retreated to the hut. We made an effort to stock thestove with some larger pieces of wood to provide us with more heat overnight,which seemed to help. At dinner that evening, Terry was awarded the “Fish ofthe Trip” prize, which involved components from two countries, NZ and NorthAmerica: (a) an ABs flag for his Subaru was used for the wrapping of (b) an anti-bug “No-bite-Me” soap, guaranteed to be effective “on Black Flies, Mosquitos,Fleas and Ticks”. Wonder how it goes with Nelson Lakes Sand Flies? The soap ismade by Sallyeander of New York State, USA, and was sourced in NW Ontarioearlier in the year.Episode 4: The Cobb River – Day 3: It was still very windy (a familiar refrain).Richard and Terry were determined to give the Cobb river one final go, whileJames returned to Ruby Bay. Richard finally broke his duck with a rainbowcaught near the confluence of the river and the lake. Before too long, however,they finally capitulated to the elements and decided to return toRichmond/Nelson.To sum-up, ghastly weather hampered the fishing but a convivial time was had bythose that stayed in the Trilobite Hut.Cobb River photos, page 16: Top left: Dave and Richard (Breakspear) stalk CobbRiver rainbows; top right: Spawning rainbows, Cobb River; 2nd left: Richardbattles the wind; 2nd right: this trout took the same fly twice in an hour; 3rd left:James on the Cobb River; 3rd right: James nets a rainbow, Cobb River; bottomleft: Terry hooks a Cobb rainbow; bottom right: Terry's beached rainbowPage 17, top left: Terry's Cobb rainbow; top right: Richard (Boyden) casts into apool on the Cobb River; mid left: Richard's Cobb Reservoir rainbow; mid right:Terry receives the ‘Fish of the Trip’award, Richard & Alison look on; bottom left:Go Abs; bottom right: No-Bite-Me-soap. 15
17
Land Search and Rescue New ZealandBy Peter WilliamsIn October we had an evening with the Nelson Search and Rescue. Their websitedescribes their organisation as follows:“We are a national volunteer organisation which provides land search and rescueservices to lost, missing and injured all over New Zealand. Our volunteersoperate in suburban, urban, wilderness and rural areas including regional andforest parks, shorelines and caves.Our unpaid professionals offer their specialist search and rescue skills free to thepublic 24 hours a day, 7 days a week via the New Zealand Police and the RescueCoordination Centre. In 2014/15 they donated nearly 20,000 hours to rescueoperations and spent over 76,000 hours training for rescue operations.”There are 3,000 trained search and rescue volunteers who are members of 61local groups covering the length and breadth of New Zealand. Six members of theNelson team described the way they operated which I can paraphrase as follows.When a call for help is received, it goes to the “Incident Management Team”(IMT) who process all information coming in from all directions, such as adescription of the lost people, their equipment, their plans etc. They thenorganise the search and process all the information coming in from the field,e.g., photos of foot prints.At the beginning of the search, a “corridor” through which the persons are mostlikely to be traveling is followed. Special attention is paid to “track traps”, e.g.,mud and signs of broken vegetation. These signs, or “clues” can be very subtleand we were shown that way they used horizontal light to detect foot prints.Importance is placed on “transfer”, the movement of material by the soles ofshoes for example, to places where it would not normally be, e.g., mud on grass.“Clues” can be very subtle, e.g., if only one sweet wrapper is found, and theperson is known to have a whole bag, then they may have enough sugar to seethem out for a while. This kind of information is all fed back to the IMTWe were shown the very extensive kit in a HI VIS jacket-come-pack carried by atleast one of the searchers in each team. This enables them to meet a wide rangeof situations, including camping out. And, most importantly, the searchers safetycomes first!A lot of discussion centred on PLBs and the like. PLBs are now very small but theycost $600 and the batteries are expensive to replace after 5-6 years. Rollos hirethem for $30 for the first 7 days and then $2 day after that. A good optionperhaps.And if you don’t have a PLB and it is an emergency, always try 111 first, even ifyour cell phone appears flat. To avoid this, small chargers can be bought.If you get lost, stop and think, and if it is only a small party, stay together. Askyourself when will I be missed? For us fishers, it is important to tell someonewhere you will be going, even for the day!Many thanks to leader and trainer Andrew Allan, Neil Whiteside, Richard Walker,Ian Brown, Darryl Bennett, Louis Standfield. 18
Nelson S&R Richard Walker ofMembers Andrew Nelson S&R showingAllan, Neil a group of membersWhiteside, Darryl techniques usedBennett, by outdoors whenGebhard Krewitt tracking missing persons, by Gebhard Krewitt The amazing contents of Neil's pocketed Hi-vis day jacket, by Gebhard Krewitt 19
Hot glue whitebaitBy Peter WilliamsOctober-November is white bait time in the lower rivers and trout love them.I reckon many so-called smelt patterns are too bulky to represent white bait,though there is no denying their success.Recently I’ve been using a very simple and quick method of making whitebaitimitations that have a resemblance to the “silicon smelt”.They consist of nothing more thana few strands of tail, in this case Iuse white calf tail which is stiffand shiny, and a body of Mylarwrapped around the hook shankover a layer of pale tying thread.You can dab some black markerpen near the eye if you want,before the glue is applied. Thebody is covered with hot glueusing a mini-glue gun with atrigger. I start on the top at thehead and work towards the tail,then turn it over and do the sameon the bottom of the hook.No need to do the sides because the glue runs down anyway. A revolving vice isbest. The same pattern can also be covered in crystal araldite which is moredurable but this takes longer to dry and one has to keep turning it.Red PerchBy Fred FrahmThis year I'm gonna have a go at the Redfin Perch over on the West Coast. Iunderstand they have very tough scales, are full of bones, and hard to fillet.Sooo, I googled \"how to clean redfin perch\" and this is the best site of the bunch.Perch are good to eat, and a fun species for getting the kids hooked on fishing -and look at the size of them. Even if you have no desire to target them, I heartilyrecommend the following site, if only for the educational and entertainmentvalue. You may change your mind about them.How to clean redfin (English perch) - YouTubeEasiest way to clean a redfin, by pulling the head,skin and gut all out in one hit.By Bigyellatime.com.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opTnahD5fMw 20
Page 10 - Top left: Baton Jack - 8 lbs by James Macdonald; top right: Baton Jack- Week 2 by James Macdonald; 2nd left: The fly that hooked an 8 lb Baton Jackby James Macdonald; 2nd right: As the rain clears by Tony Entwistle; 3rd left:Distant fisherman by Ray Day; 3rd right: Easy fishing by Ray Day; bottom right:Elation By Ray Day; bottom right: Fish Lake by Brian Richards.Page 11 - Top left: Fishing the Rai River by Terry Kelso; top right: Great day onRiver by Huw Thomas; 2nd left: Here's Looking at You Kid; 2nd right: Hooked On byRay Day; 3rd left: Listen carefully by Gebhard Krewitt; 3rd right: Measuring Up byTony Entwistle; bottom left: Nice start to the new season by Tony Entwistle;Bottom right: Pelorus River with no luck on the day by Terry Kelso.Page 12 - Top left: Begining to show some skill by Gebhard Krewitt; top right:Best Ever on an Opening Day 10.5lbs by Tony Entwistle; bottom left: DaveCartwright lining it up by Gebhard Krewitt; bottom right: Fishing a backcountryriver by Gebhard Krewitt.Page 13 - Top left: Richard Boyden on the Mot by James Macdonald; top right: TELaying the Line By Gebhard Krewitt; 2nd left: TE Saluting Madam Presedent byGebhard Krewitt; 2nd right: TE show that its easy by Gebhard Krewitt; bottomleft: The Boyden Flick by James Macdonald; bottom right: There is a catch by RayDay. 21
'Sporting chance by Michael Stevenson 22
23
All mechanical Repairs All service by qualified Technicians New tyres W.O.F for cars, trailers, motorbikes, tractors, dumpers Restoration work undertaken - Courtesy car available Also selling Retro Tin Signs Ellis Street Auto Repairs 104A Ellis Street Brightwater 03 5424035
Search
Read the Text Version
- 1 - 24
Pages:
