NTFC Newsletter_March 2021_draft_ajm_210325

CLUB CONTACTS Executive Barry Howell 544 3069 [email protected] President: Michael Stevenson 546 9632 Past President Jean Willis [email protected] Secretary Maree Peters 547 6432 [email protected] Treasurer [email protected] 522 4166 Committee Richard Breakspear 541 9050 [email protected] Kevin Nansett 545 2007 [email protected] Peter Lawler 548 9753 [email protected] Don Clementson 027 437 6019 [email protected] Tony Entwistle 544 4565 [email protected] Web Master Peter Lawler 548 9753 [email protected] 547 1197 [email protected] Club Librarian Cameron Reid 545 2007 [email protected] 027 437 6019 [email protected] Trophy Master Kevin Nansett Club Sponsorship Don Clementson Club Speakers Committee Members Club Night Tea/Coffee Committee Members Newsletter Editor James Macdonald 540 3520 [email protected] Life Members 2007 Jean Willis Chappie Chapman 2018 Richard Boyden Past Presidents 03-06 Richard Boyden 06-08 Lester Higgins 08-09 Ross Walker 09-11 Dennis Ealam 15-17 Maree Peter 17-18 Michael Stevenson 11-13 Ray Day 13-15 Tony Entwistle The Nelson Trout Fishing Club Meets once a month at: Fish and Game Offices, 66 Champion Road, Richmond Normally the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7:00pm Please phone (Barry’s phone #) if unsure Any views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the committee, club or editor Webpage: www.nelsontroutfishingclub.com Follow us on Facebook Cover Photo: Mark's first river day fly fishing New member Mark Jowsey with his one of 'catches' ... 5 takes on dry and 3 landed ... , 2 x 4.25lbers and 1 x 6lber. Photo by Tony Entwistle.

Presidents Flyline I am delighted as President to contribute to this new addition of our resurrected Nelson Trout Fishing Club Magazine. The magazine has been in ‘hibernation’ for some time so it’s great to see it back again. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank club member James Macdonald for his willingness to step up to become our Editor and get the magazine back on track. Unlike our previous Club magazines, this one will only be electronic format and posted on the Members page of the clubs web site. As 99% of our membership have access to this page on the Club website, this method still remains the most cost effective way of reaching our membership. Like any club magazine, no matter what the organisation, it will only survive and thrive if there are articles to write about. That’s why I am asking you all to support James and take the time to submit articles, views, photos, recipes or any commentary about any subject relating to the outdoors and fishing. If it’s wet, needs a fly or spinner, and swims in fresh water we want to know about it. The success of this newsletter will only happen if there is a wish and engagement by you guys and girls for this to happen. We are well into 2021 with Easter just a few days away. It’s been 12 months since we first experienced this new thing call Lockdown when New Zealand was turned into a ghost town overnight. We have all come a long way since then and I know that the Covid 19 Pandemic has had some affected on each of you or your family in some way. If you heard the presentation by our Club Fish and Game representative Jean Willis at a recent club night, Covid 19 has seen a big drop in overseas fly fishers. This is both a positive and negative affect for us. Positive that fisheries, especially the back country have not been flogged so much and negatively because the lack of numbers and international licenses sold has affected Fish and Game’s bottom line. Nelson Marlborough Fish and Game have seen one of the biggest drops in licences sales in the country. Reduced income affects what they are able to do for us, the license holders in the next financial year. July is our Club AGM and we are looking a replace some of the current committee with some fresh blood. Think how you would like to see your club be shaped over the next 2-5 years and put yourself forward to help achieve this. All committee members do a sterling job but we need some new blood to step up and assist us. I'm a great believer in succession planning and if we don’t have that committee leadership in the club we risk getting stale and irrelevant very quickly. Barry Howell Club President

Nelson Marlborough Fish and Game Council meeting Blenheim 16th March 2021 Jean Willis has summarised the recent Council Meeting: There are currently three reviews of Fish and Game currently being undertaken. The Ministerial review, resource allocation review, and the review of pressure sensitive fisheries. (Back country fisheries). The committee undertaking the Ministerial review is due to present its report on the 10th April. This committee, made up of experienced environment court judges, has looked at all functions of Fish and Game and will be making recommendations as to how governance and management of Fish and Game can be improved, as this report is wide-ranging the two other reviews are on hold. National Council Chief executive. The search is under way for a CEO to replace Martin Taylor who resigned suddenly last December. It is anticipated that this role won’t be filled until July; in the meantime Paul Shortis is acting CEO on a short term contract. Paul is an experienced Fish and Game Councillor, company director and a recent chairman of the National Council so does have the qualifications for the role. MPI 1080 report The Ministry of Primary Industries has undertaken to do research on contamination of trout by 1080 in areas where 1080 has been spread including river beds. The experiment involved taking some 20 fish out of the Travers River 3 days after the 1080 drop and analysing the fish for 1080 or 1080 products. The initial report, September last year, came back saying no 1080 was detected in the fish, but more detailed and sensitive laboratory test are to be undertaken. To date Fish and Game have not received those results. Licence income NMF&G income has taken a big hit thanks to COVID-19 and very few non-resident anglers. Our region is the most adversely affected in the country, income down by 15.7%, compared to the national income drop of 0.2%. This means that some of the work programs will have to be curtailed. This is a loss of $63,000 of income or approx. 1500 less licence sales. Trustpower’s Wairau River Consent The council has been advised that Trustpower is to apply to renew their resource consent for the Wairau River canal based power scheme, which expires in June this year. The council is seeking advice on how to react, as the current consent is acting as a restriction on water allocations from the river Jean Willis Councillor

Me, The Rod, The River, The Fish – Michael Stevenson I was born and raised in Southern Oregon in the Western United States. I was lucky my parents hunted and fished throughout the year so my outdoor education began at an early age. I caught my first trout sitting atop my Father’s shoulders when I was just 6. Whilst fishing was fun, if what we caught was legal to keep, we kept it to help feed the family and we fished for just about anything in the water that was big enough to eat including bullfrogs. My younger brother, Pat, was often my partner in crime in the chase. We used spinning gear almost exclusively often with bait like worms, insects and fish roe but spinners and lures were occasionally on the end of the line. My finny targets ranged widely from trout and salmon to catfish, crappie, bluegill and largemouth bass. Trout season usually opened in late April and was the cause of a sleepless night for many young anglers. We would be up and on the road long before sunrise to get to a mountain lake to be there by opening time, an hour before sunrise. The fish were almost exclusively planted rainbows or their progeny although some small streams held introduced brook trout or cutthroat. Brown trout were rare and hardly ever caught. A 58 cm brown from the Wangapeka that weighed 7 Making a long cast on the Karamea RIver pounds above the Crow hut The most exciting fish I angled for had to be Chinook (Quinnat or King) salmon. They are big and powerful and we fished for them when the spawning runs went up the rivers to spawn. The main run was in spring and summer but there was another in the fall that usually had bigger fish. The fishery was tightly regulated even in the 1960s but we managed to catch quite a few anyway. Pat and I were known to our classmates parents as “Those boys who catch all those big fish”. We fished the Rogue River as teenagers but after my parents moved to the Oregon coast, I would visit in the autumn and fish the Chetco River for the fall run fish. I saw my first fly rod in action when a friend of my Father’s decided to hike into some high mountain lakes. This was in the late 1950s and the roads and trails were less developed. My Dad insisted the friend could not go in alone and I was despondent because we were to go fishing and I was sure I would not be included. To my delight I was told to go to bed early if I wanted to come along. Once we arrived at the basin (there were 6 or 7 lakes) the two-man rubber raft needed inflating and I got the job. Once on the water, my Father’s friend used a cane fly rod while we had our spinning rods with plastic bubbles to cast our flies. I noticed the other man caught just as many fish as we did. Some years later, I found out my Dad actually had an old production cane fly rod and Pflueger reel. I taught myself the basics of how to cast from articles in ‘Outdoor Life’ or ‘Field & Stream’ but still relied on spinning gear for 99% of my fishing.

A beautiful hen rainbow from the upper Success on the upper Wairau Rangitikei River Largemouth bass were exciting because they would take surface as well as subsurface lures. In my mid 20s I had a heavy fly rod made to fish for steelhead (sea-run rainbows) but never used it for that plying it instead on largemouth bass with streamers and woolly buggers but a large deer hair frog was the pattern I used most. I still remember watching it sit quietly on the water, giving it a twitch and seeing a hole appear under the fly as a big bass sucked it in. I used that heavy rod for trout because I didn’t’ have anything else, the old cane rod having become useless. The planted rainbows didn’t seem to mind and I enjoyed watching them rise to the few flies I had. I didn’t get really involved in fly fishing until I moved to New Zealand. Battling a big brown on the Motueka 14 pound kingfish from Golden Bay When I first came to New Zealand, having married a Kiwi woman in America, I lived in Napier. I had brought my spinning gear and the one fly rod I had with me hoping to catch some of the huge trout I had read about in the magazines. With a young family and a new job, I couldn’t get out much and I struggled to find someone to show me the area. I went with one acquaintance to the Esk River but my little spinners were ineffective. An older man at work told me to fish a large nymph in the Tutaekuri River in the morning when the brown beetles hatched in early November. By following his advice I caught my first two NZ trout (rainbows) the following Saturday morning. The fish were only

16” and 18” but they were the largest trout I had ever caught on a fly rod. I continued to fish the local rivers, Tukituki, Ngaruroro in addition to the Tutaekuri catching rainbows up to 5.5. pounds without improving my skills much if at all. I was transferred to Nelson in the middle of 1988 and had to start all over again learning the local rivers. I was lucky to have good fish numbers in the Maitai and Wakapuaka (Happy Valley) streams at the time but again struggled to find someone to take me further afield. Eventually, Peter Williams from Landcare (and a member of the NTFC) took me to the Motupiko and Rai. I gradually expanded my knowledge to the Motueka and got my first graphite fly rod in the early 1990s. I took advantage of a casting clinic run by Mike Weddell (from the UK but living in NZ). Beautiful brown from the upper Karamea Plus I got to know Tony Entwistle when he owned the Hunting & Fishing franchise in Nelson. I still wanted to improve my skills and managed to find the money for Tony’s River tactics 3-day course and some additional casting tuition. As I learned more about the local rivers, I fished the Motueka, Riuwaka, Rai and Opuri, Wairau, Buller, Mangles, Tutaki, Owen and others in the top of the South Island. My personal life had changed dramatically. I was divorced from the mother of my children in 2000, remarried in 2006 and widowed in 2013. I was still working full time and took advantage of being on my own to do a significant amount of guided fishing for the next 5 years. By now I had good skills and certainly needed them as trout numbers declined. I am still on my own and get out on the water as often as I can. I enjoy mentoring other members of the Trout Club to help them improve their skills and learn where to go on our local streams. Finally, fishing for me has been and remains a joy and, at times, a refuge from the craziness of everyday life. When I am on the water, the world shrinks to four things…Me, The Rod, The River, The Fish.

Club Trip to the Motueka River, 7 March 2021 One for the smoker – Zane Mirfin Kevin Nansett – Gebhard Krewitt Charli Mirfin hooks up – Zane Mirfin Charli gets it in the net – Zane Mirfin

Mark is happy – Zane Mirfin Tony & Mark – Zane Mirfin Richard Boyden & James Macdonald- Gebhard Krewitt

From the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers: How Can We Improve? We are looking at ways we can better serve the needs of our many Members and Affiliated Clubs. If you have any suggestions on the way we can improve either the Website, Social Media or Newsletter, please let us know via a feedback page on the website at https://nzffa.com/your-feedback-and-advice- needed/ - anonymous messages may be left. Accolades are of course also welcome. In particular, how can we improve our effectiveness in representing you, the nation’s anglers? If you do want us to contact you, then please provide contact details and let us know in your message that you could like us to get in touch. We look forward to your comments NZFFA Executive Behind New Zealand's '100% Pure' Image lies a Dirty Truth | Foreign Correspondent; See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_mrSrvlFlQ According to Zane “Members may be interested. Compelling viewing. I’ve watched it three times. It’s a ‘Holy Shit’ moment for NZ.”

Club Trip to the Wairau Valley Trout Hatchery, 21 March 2021 Club members met at 8:30am at Fish & Game’s Champion Road office to drive to the Wairau Valley Trout Hatchery and Freshwater Crayfish (Kōura) farm, owned by Ormond Aquaculture. There was time after lunch for a fish on the Wairau, Branch, Leatham or Argyle Pond. Club Members visit the hatchery Breeding Stock Luke removes the adipose fin Kōura

Kōura Michael’s Leatham rainbow