December 2014 newsletter

Below: Girl Power Rosie & Charli Mirfin in action on Lake Kuratau by Zane Mirfin President’s Flyline

What a difference a month can make … from one of the best starts weather-wiseto a season for years, now to weeks of wet, cold and very windy weather, withrivers to the west running very high and often coloured.. November was simplythe pits … the fishing was pretty awful really! However despite the toughconditions, for those anglers keen enough to endure the rough stuff there havebeen some excellent trout about to catch.In a number of locations throughout the Nelson, Marlborough and upper WestCoast area, trout have clearly been feeding on mice and packing on some seriouscondition … and this looks set to continue. I saw a 7lber landed this week thatwas only 22 ¾ inches (58cms) long … a wonderful specimen.Normally we would be in the height of the Coloburiscus hatch, but except for acouple of days I haven’t seen many of them hatching at all. Whether this is to dowith colder water temperatures or not I can’t really say. However there havebeen some excellent hatches of Nesamaletus mayflies … a very active swimmingspecies, that are evidenced by trout making large sweeping movements whilefeeding. They are the devil to imitate, because it is almost impossible toreplicate the nymphs rising darting movement. Good nymph imitations are a flycalled the Feather Duster, or Norman Marsh’s Grey Darter, in sizes #12 or #14. Abead isn’t necessary because the fly is chased as it rises from the bottom of theriver … a fly with neutral sub-surface buoyancy is preferable to a rapidly sinkingfly. For a dry fly the Para Adams or regular Adams in #12 or #14 works well.Club night in November was well attended and our guest Ross Gigg had plenty oftackle and fly tying materials on show for members to look-over and try out.Instead of a club night at the Fish and Game Rooms this month we always haveour Christmas BBQ at Rabbit Island. Last year was a fantastic turnout and itwould be wonderful to have as many or more members along this year. The foodwill be great, the company fantastic and the Casting Competitions … intense. Somark it down ... December 17th is a must do … See you all there.Here’s hoping too for a dramatic improvement in the weather from now on …there are some stunning trout out there to be caught.Tightlines … Tony Entwistle, PresidentCover Photo: \"A promising lie\" By Bruce McLean 3

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

4 Blind-fishing pocketwater By Peter Baker

5November 2014 - Kids Fishing Pond success storiesFrom Left: Eva Strange 900gm; Tessa Strange 1100gm; Millie Bryan-Moran 700gm Cleaning fish -look at all the smiles on a wet day

6TIPS FROM TONY ENTWISTLEHandling Trout for Catch & ReleaseBy Terry KelsoHow to handle a fish if itis to be returned safely tothe river.Do you remembers thegood old days when wekilled almost everythingwe caught? If it was asmall fish it was thrownonto the riverbank, if itwas a good ‘un we wouldwrap it in wet grass andplace it carefully into thetackle bag amongst the roast beef sammies.Well eventually commonsense said that there was no sense in killing the smallfish and that it was far better to return them to the water – BUT hold on, there isthe right way to release a trout, and the wrong way.Tony Entwistle must have released thousands of trout in his guiding days and bynow he is very good at it. If I was an undersized trout I would far rather bereleased by Tony than anyone else.Here is a list of things one should do when releasing:Always wet your hands before handling a fish.Use a good landing net, it’s safer and will damage the fish less.Avoid squeezing a fish behind its gills.Keep all your fingers out of the gills, this is absolutely vital.Forceps or pliers are perfect to remove a small nymph rather than stubby fingers.Keep the fish in the net with some water passing over it, facing upstream, and ifyou hold it gently laying on its back it will surprisingly lie still long enough foryou to remove the hook. When it is time to wave goodbye to the trout you canturn it right side up and if it struggles put a hand over its head obscuring itsvision, it will lie passively. A gentle upstream movement is usually enough toencourage it to swim away semi sideways to deep water.Lawson Davey is sure that if all of the above were observed when releasing afish, the survival rate would go sky high.If it is obvious to you that for a number of reasons (known to yourself) the fish isnot going to survive be prepared to kill it.Our thanks to President Tony for this list of must do’s.

7WHAT’S A WET FLY?By Terry KelsoIt has become apparent to me that great confusion exists between the definitionof ‘lures’ ‘wet flies’ ‘nymphs’ and ‘dry flies’. So, just in case you are confusedtoo here’s a little something to create more confusion.Many years ago in the Northern Hemisphere, most fly fishermen used little wetflies tied on size 10 or 12 hooks. They also used little dry flies tied on 10, 12, 14,16 or 18 hooks. The wet flies were used with a sinking line cast across anddownstream. The wet flies sank of course, and they represented tiny fish. Thedry flies, used with a floating line, stay on the surface of the water and theyrepresent mayflies, stoneflies, moths, sedges, midges, bees, wasps - in facteverything that can fly.Now in New Zealand our fish in the big lakes (and small) live mainly on smelt,little transparent fish like whitebait, and these can be 7cms long. They also liveon bullies, bull-headed little fish that inhabit the weed and sandy bottoms of thelakes. Then there are the koura (fresh water crayfish).All of this food is bigger than the insect life that mostly inhabits the Europeanrivers and lakes. Therefore in New Zealand flies were tied on size 4, 6 and 8hooks - much much bigger than little wet flies. Today they are the WoollyBuggers in all colours, Mrs Simpson, Hamill’s Killer, Marabou and MuddlerMinnow. These represent smelt, bullies and koura. These big flies are also knownas lures, so a man might ask what fly or lure you were using.Those trolling in boats use very fast sinking lines with spinners on the end such asTasmanian Devils, Cobras and Tobys. None of these actually ‘spin’ but ratherwobble from side to side. These are also referred to as lures so you can seewhere the confusion arises.The trout probably refer to the stuff we use as Big Hairy Things, Little HairyThings and U.S.O’s (unidentified swimming objects).So, you have not mentioned ‘nymphs’ I hear you say!!!O.K. Well nymphs are the sub-aquatic stage of insects that will eventually crawlor swim onto dry land, and metamorphose into flying insects - these flying insectswe know well and we represent them with ‘dry flies’ and now you are back tosquare one.I could take this article a little further and cloud the issue, but I won’t. PHEW!!!

8THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!!!!!!By Bruce McLeanI’m amazed that at the ripening age of 74 years theDevil would even bother to sneak up on an old guywith yet another temptation.When, at a younger more youthful age, the thoughtof the “SEVEN DEADLY SINS” anger, greed, laziness, pride, lust, envy,and gluttony all held some sort of a fascination for me.Now this is not a confession but just setting the scene for what happened theother night.You also need to know that my ethnic background is totally Scottish. Not onlythat, my Grandparents who lived close by had immigrated directly from Scotland.So with all that Scottish influence on my young life it was all I knew and that’sthe way it was.That Scottish heritage moulded my life with so may aspects and made me what Iam today.But this story will only touch on two aspects of how The Devil Made Me Do It!!!!!The first is the result of inheriting that stereotype assumption about Scots beingtight fisted, having gorse in their pockets or just being tight assed with whatmoney they have!Another aspect of the Scottish life, I was brought up in, was Presbyterianism.This is the reason I know about the devil and probably why I have so little toconfess from my past, when it comes to the seven deadly sins, OR was it just alack of opportunity.Anyway back to the other night, it started off innocently enough just anotherNTFC monthly meeting. I had to get there early and open up the rooms astonight’s guest speaker Ross Gigg a Wellington Fly Fishing Club member and alsoa rep for a fly tackle distributor ... flyshop.co.nz needed to set up his mini shopof fishing and fly tying gear. Lee Dennis delighted in learning the finer points of testing a new fly rod Ross had all sorts of stuff for the members to get their hands on, waders, leaders, flies, fly reels, fly lines, fly tying instruments of all descriptions, cotton, feathers, dubbing material and of course a number of fly fishing

rods.Now the plan was that everything should be hands on and members could touch,feel and be encouraged to test out the rods which had been set up with reels andline.Having been there early and everything being in place for Ross’s presentation Iwas able just to have a feel of what looked like a very nice 5wt TFO 7ft 9in rod.Ross gave me a small reel, loaded with some line to complete the set up, readyfor that casting test.It was while I was doing this the devil appeared, not some horned creature with apointed tail and cloven hooves but a smiling face and encouraging words. As hisappearance wasn’t that of the generally depicted devil I’ll just call him TE.I told him then. “Keep away you’re tempting me“, he just smiled and said “Itlooks as though that rod was made for you”, and walked away.Well I took that rod, now it was ready for testing outdoors, and with my limitedcasting skills, gave it a go. It felt ok, but not what I was hoping for, maybe it wasthe wind, which wasn’t helping. With some disappointment, I handed it over to amate for him to try. Richard, felt the same, it wasn’t complete, something waswrong.TE remember him? Well there he was again!“Hey you guys let's try another line, same weight but a different brand?”suggested TE. Lee Dennis learning from Tony how to test out a new fly rod So we did just as the silver tongued TE had suggested!!! Immediately there was a noticeable difference, by putting the right line with this beautiful rod, the combination was transformed.Now I could feel the sin of lust or was it envy or was it pride welling up within, ifonly I could own that rod.Whatever was happening the Scottish heritage of deep pockets, frugal living wasstarting to fight back.“YOU HAVE A ROD, what’s with another?“It’s beautiful! It feels nice! I need it for those delicate presentations”“It’s MONEY!!”“Pete’s got two rods, Ray’s got two, Don’s got a hundred!! Why can’t I just haveanother one like them?”

AND SO IT WENT ON!!!!!!! 10 Ross Gigg FlyShop Rep encouraging club members to find that bargain I was being tormented, and I could see TE smiling to himself. All the while, Ross was busy doing what he had come for, talking with members, explaining different products andmaking deals selling to willing buyers.Outdoors other members were giving all those rods a right work out, testing fordistance, testing for accuracy. Taking turns, casting with a purpose.Everyone was having a great evenings, anglers doing what they like best whennot actually fishing, talking trout and playing with fishing gear.Remember TE, I mentioned him earlier, was for some reason demonstrating thevery rod which was driving me crazy with Lust, Greed, Envy which could turn toPRIDE if only!!!!I was compelled, I had to approach that TE!!!I had to try that rod again. I DID!!!TE knew what had happened, he just grinned again and returned todemonstrating.Ross Gigg was happy, another sale. Thanks Ross a good night. A pleasure doing business with you. From the other 40 members who attended, thank-you for your visit. I still have to return home and explain to Pam my purchase. What would I say. Ross Gigg hard selling Chris Sherwood on the benefits of a new fly lineThen it dawned on me, I knew exactly who TE was, and all I said to Pam was“THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT!!!!”

Photos by Gebhard Kerwitt 11

12Previous Page: Top left: A nice BrownBy Takehito Maeda; Top right: #8worm imitation too small By PeterBaker; Mid left: Brown(orange)stonefly By Peter Baker; mid right;Come on, take the photo By PeterBaker; Bottom left: Beadhead Hare &Copper By Peter Baker; bottom right:Nice 3.1lb Lake Taupo Rainbow, byChas Perry.This Page: Top left: Billabong Fishingby Pete Lawler; top right: Pleaserelease me let me go, by Peter Baker; mid left: Damn the shadows by BruceMcLean; mid right: Not on the nose again by Peter Baker; Bottom right: TongariroDreaming Ike & Jake Mirfin in action on the lower Tongariro by Zane Mirfin.

13NELSON LAKES TRIP23 - 24 November 2014by James MacdonaldSunday, Nov 23Brian Richards, Chris Sherwood and James Macdonald headed south for St Arnaudafter watching the ABs dispatch the Welsh; our plan was to fish the Buller enroute.Soon after the Kawatiri junction, the river came into view; it was goinggangbusters and was not fishable. It was soon apparent that while I (James)recorded ~6 mm of rain the previous day in Ruby Bay, the amount that had fallenin the St Arnaud area must have been considerably greater.We decided to check out other options and took a look at the Wairau along theRainbow road, but it was running the colour of chicken soup. We decided to goon to the Branch/Leatham area. These were considerably cleaner. We spent theafternoon fishing the lower Leatham but did not see one fish. Branch & Wairau junctionMonday, Nov 24Brian, Chris & James headed back to the Branch river. We crossed the Leathamford and drove ~15 km upstream to the Grieg Hut. An hour of scrambling alongthe river convinced us that we would be better off trying in a more open area;navigating gorges when the river was running high was not an attractive option.So we headed back downstream to the Silverstream area and spent the rest ofthe day targeting a small number of fish that were spotted but could not be

convinced to take a fly; we tried dries (Love’s Lure), hare & coppers, pheasanttails, caddis nymphs, stoneflies, etc., etc.All in all, a tough couple of days due to elevated water levels and discolouredwater.\" Brian & Chris on the Branch Brian and Chris fish the Branch

Brian’s St Arnaud ReportFollowing-on from James Report of Sun 23rd and Mon 24th NovTuesday 25thAfter breakfast we all said good by to James as he was flying out to Australia thenext day for work commitments. Chris and I decided to put the porta botetogether and drift the western shore of West Bay. We only saw 5 or 6 fish whichwere small.We spooked most of them as the visibility was poor. At about 11am the rain wasvery heavy which made sight fishing even harder, so we headed back to thetrailer, took the boat apart and had lunch. Disappointed with our mornings effortwe decided to give the Buller a go. Again, the river was full and coloured as itwas on Sunday. We arrived back at the motel at around 5pm, a shower and winebefore we had tea.The other club members arrived back at various times with success and hard luckstories. It was good to talk to David, Richard, Graham and Ray and to get to knowthem a little better.Wednesday 26thMike Standishwhite kindly offered to take Richard, Chris and I up Lake Rotoroa tofish the D’Urville River. On arrival we found the river to be in flood which madeit unfishable, then over to the Sabine, which wasn’t much better. Mike droppedRichard, Chris and I off to have a look at the river further up. Chris and I walkedfor a good 1 ½ hours which took us further away from the river, verydisappointed we walked back to meet up with Richard and have a late lunch atthe bridge over the gorge. We had radio contact with each other and Mike on theboat, Mike was soon at the Sabine Hut to pick us up, the 40 minute trip back tothe launching ramp was quite choppy due to the wind change. After getting ourselves organized we had dinner at the restaurant.Again it was good camaraderie, good food. Prize giving for the heaviest fish,went to Richard Boyden. The most fish caught went to Richard Breakspear with 4fish, but the highlight for me was David’s landing a fish on a Copper John whichhe tied himself. Well Done David.In summary, I found the fishing challenging due to the river conditions. Exploringnew water was very rewarding.It was great having the opportunity to spend time our with club members.Thanks James for putting the weekend together.Brian Richards 16

Club Trip to Lake Rotoiti Area - November 2014By Ray DayWell first of all I must thank James for putting the trip together even though hehad to cut his time there short due to work commitments.Bruce and I paired up and took my ute and his boat up on Monday morning. Theweather was good so it was off up to the top of the lake to try our luck.We landed and had a fish around the lake edge the lake level was up a bit whichmade for a bit of wading in places, a few fish were seen but as usual were gonein a flash. My dream fish. But alasThe next step was a walk up the river where we saw a few fish which behaved asthough they had seen a few fishermen and showed no interest in whatever waspresented to them. Then while casting to a fish on my side of the river a verylarge fish drifted down the other side of the river then swung around and parkedin front of a log in the middle of the river so it was game on.Well between Bruce and I we spent about half a hour casting to it, taking turnsand changing flies with no luck, until it reached the stage that I think Bruce hadgiven up but I was pigheaded. 17

Ok you're free. By Ray DayThen while changing my fly again Bruce said put that globug on, Well first castand the fish grabbed it then my troubles started as the fish didn’t run much butthere was a big manuka tree laying in the river just below me. To make a longstory short I managed to stop it from getting into the tree but after what seemedlike 10 min it got its head down stream and with one flick of its tail broke theline BUGGER there goes the biggest fish I have ever hooked. It must have beenclose to the 10lb mark.Next day we fished the D’Urville river where Bruce hooked a good size fish whichbroke him off . I caught a couple of three pounders.Wednesday the plan was to fish the Owen but over night rain had turned the rivermuddy so the day was spent checking out the Murchison area with future trips inmind. Then a tourist trip through the Braeburn road to Lake Rotoroa. That night we all met at the local restaurant for a meal to swap lies and fishing tales. As Thursday was light rain we packed up and headed off back home. The end Thanks to all who went for a enjoyable time. Ray Day enjoying the Great Outdoors

Nelson Lakes Trip 2014By David CartwrightDay 1 of the fishing trip saw Richard Breakspear and myself visit Lake Argyle aswe didn’t have access to a boat and a couple of the rivers that we passed wereshowing signs of recent snow melt or the effects of recent rainfall. Havingspotted a couple of trout close to shore we set up our rods and proceeded tocast. With a cross breeze over my right shoulder it was soon obvious that mycasting skills needed urgent work. Richard was up to the challenge and much ofthe day was spent attempting to train a novice in the art of casting in the wind.A change of sides on the lake allowed for further practice with a lesser risk ofwrapping the fly around my head or into my back.The end of the day saw the score Richard two fish and David none.We arrived back at the Nelson Lakes Motel to catch up with the other tenants ofour shared cottage (our esteemed club secretary and the honorary treasurer).Sumptuous meals were enjoyed by all with enough combined food in the cottagefor at least a week without having to rely on our fly fishing skills.The same could not necessarily be said for the occupants of the adjoining cottagewho appeared at one stage to be trying to use the facilities as a giant smoker.Reliable reports indicated that Ray Day was on the look out for a very largebrown that had ungraciously swum off with his fly and a section of his leaderafter a battle at the top of Lake Rotoiti. Oh well there was always tomorrow! Evening meal with Club Members who went on Club trip, by Richard Boyden Day 2 again saw Richard and myself heading for Lake Argyle. The challenge for the day was to improve on the previous day’s casting efforts. The first few casts suggested to me that I should have stayed in bed!Persistence on Richard’s part saw some improvement as the morning progressed.This and a change of fly to a “Copper Don” (made by me following the Club’s lastFly Tying Group session) saw a change of luck. My first fish ever on a fly, a nicebrown gave me a good tussle until I brought it within close proximity of thelanding net. Unfortunately the fish decided to take a run around Richard andended up behind my back. The fly line which was entangled in my colleague’s fly

fishing jacket and wrapped around me resembled a complex macramé pattern.As we attempted to untangle the line and to net the fish, it gave one last kickand spat the barbless fly before disappearing back into the depths. Richard Boyden Winning Brown Trout 5 pounds - using a size 16 dry fly - Travis River By Richard Boyden Later in the day we fished close to shore and I was privileged to hook my second nice brown for the day. Richard meanwhile had again demonstrated his fishing skills by catching severalmore brown trout plus one small Rainbow.We returned to the cottage to be regaled with Ray and Bruce’s efforts on theD’Urville River running into Lake Rotoroa. They trekked through the bush andalong the river for some distance chasing fish. On the way back to the boat atthe end of the session Ray realized that he had left his net on the river bank,however, having had a tiring day he decided that it just wasn’t worth the effortto struggle all the way back to collect it. When they arrived back at the boathowever, Bruce had a change of heart and very kindly offered to make the returnjourney to retrieve his good friend’s net. (Having taken off his own fishing jackethe realized that he had also left his net behind!)Day 3 provided difficult conditions for all. Overnight rain had swelled a numberof rivers in the area and this was accompanied by strong, gusty winds throughoutthe day. Wind burn and wind knots were the order of the day but at Richard’sinsistence I persevered with my casting efforts and felt more comfortable byday’s end. Two strikes were enough to keep up my interest whereas Richardagain showed his fishing prowess by landing two more fine fish.The group met for dinner that night and an enjoyable time was had by allincluding Robert Leslie and partner Jenny who had arrived on the previous day.The prize for the largest fish was awarded to Richard Boyden for his five poundbrown on day 1. The honour of “most fish caught” went to Richard Breakspear (asterling effort considering the amount of time he spent coaching me).With the weather closing in overnight, we packed up the next morning andheaded for home, tired but satisfied following an enjoyable trip. Many thanks toJames for arranging yet another successful Club trip.

Upcoming Club Trips[1] Hanmer Springs - JanuaryFishing options include rivers (Acheron, Clarence) and lakes (Tennyson, Tarndalearea, etc.)[2] Lake Brunner - Feb or MarOptions include the lake itself, streams and rivers flowing both into & out of thelake, Lake Poerua, etc.If you are interested in attending either of these trips, please respond to JamesMacdonald (at [email protected]) and indicate what dates would work for you.Halloween was here!A man is walking home alone late one foggy Halloween night...when behind him he hears: Bump...BUMP...BUMP...Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog he makes out the image of anupright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him.BUMP...BUMP...BUMP...Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quicklybehind himFASTER... FASTER...BUMP...BUMP... BUMP...He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in,slams and locks the door behind him.However, the casket crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket clappingclappity-BUMP...clappity-BUMP...clappity-BUMP...on his heels, the terrified man runs.Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, the man locks himself in.His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps.With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door.Bumping and clapping toward him.The man screams and reaches for something, anything, but all he can find is abottle of cough syrup!Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket......and, the coffin stops .A little boy got on the bus, sat next to a man reading a book, and noticed he hadhis collar on backwards. The little boy asked why he wore his collar backwards.The man, who was a priest, said, 'I am a Father.’ The little boy replied, 'MyDaddy doesn't wear his collar like that.'The priest looked up from his book and answered, ''I am the Father of many.'The boy said, ''My Dad has 4 boys, 4 girls and two grandchildren and he doesn'twear his collar that way!' The priest, getting impatient, said. 'I am the Father ofhundreds', and went back to reading his book. The little boy sat quietly thinkingfor a while, then leaned over and said, \"Maybe you should wear a condom, andput your pants on backwards instead of your collar.\" 21

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