NTFC Newsletter_May 2021

CLUB CONTACTS Executive Barry Howell 544 3069 [email protected] Michael Stevenson 546 9632 President: Jean Willis [email protected] Past President Maree Peter 547 6432 [email protected] Secretary [email protected] Treasurer 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 1982 Chappie Chapman 2007 Jean Willis 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: Ulrich (10) and Gebhard (12) Krewitt with one of Gebhard’s first pike, caught in a Westphalian pond.

Presidents Flyline Welcome to this month’s edition of our Club Magazine. It has been an impressive autumn to date but the drop in temperature over the last week has been a sharp reminder that winter is just around the corner. It was a magical sight on the morning of our recent frost to see a good dusting of snow on Mount Arthur. One thing that is always nice about a frost in Nelson Bays is we can always guarantee a warm sunny day afterwards. And for the most part, it’s also a smog-free day. We are also certainly being treated to some great colours of autumn. The attached picture was taken last week at a private property on Champion Road, a few hundred metres from the Disabled Riding School. A reminder to members, you need to book a place at the annual Club Dinner to be held on Saturday 12 June 2021 at the Honest Lawyer Hotel in Monaco. It is always a great night of fun and laughter. Places are filling fast and Don Clementson, our dinner coordinator, needs final numbers by the end of the month. Payment must be included with your booking as previously indicated, this dinner will be subsidised by the Club. There has been a great response to our prize lists with some special treats for the ladies as well. Do you remember the first trout you ever caught? We are welcoming stories and photos in the new section of the magazine profiling members and their first catch ‘landed’. We all started somewhere and I myself remember the thrill of finally getting ‘one in the net’ after a frustrating initiation to the sport. Please send your story with an accompanying photo to the editor We will be introducing a new section to the magazine called Buy, Sell and Exchange. As the name implies this will be a regular place where members can advertise fishing gear including clothing they want to sell to other members or likewise are on the lookout for good quality, late model items. The new section does not replace the Annual Club Auction night which will continue. The emphasis for the buy sell and trade section is for more members who have an item they would like to sell to another club member that does not necessarily fit into the auction criteria. It is also a great way for new members to pick up great bargains when setting up their kit. At the May Committee Meeting there was some discussion around the clubs annual subscriptions. I'm pleased to advise that the committee voted unanimously to hold our annual subscription to $40.00 with the magazine to be electronic only. Also a reminder that July is the AGM and Club Quiz night. And nominations for Committee are still open to everyone. That’s all from me this time around, enjoy this read, stay safe and warm out there as the nights get cooler and the days shorter. Tight lines.………………….. Barry Howell Club President

The Nelson Trout Fishing Club Can Not Function Without You. We urgently need nominations for the Executive and Committee to manage your Fishing Club through to 2022. The role of the Committee is to: • Administer, manage and control the Club • Carry out the purposes of the Club, and Use Money or Other Assets to achieve that. • Manage the Club’s bank accounts • Decide how a person becomes a Member, and how a person stops being a Member • Decide the times and dates for Monthly Club Meetings, and set an agenda for Those meetings • Deal with complaints as per the Club Rules • Recommend Membership fees The Committee has all of the powers of the Club, unless the Committee’s power is limited by the Club's Rules, or by a majority decision of the Club Membership. Members of the Committee shall serve on a voluntary basis and only committee-authorized expenses incurred in the course of the Club’s business shall be reimbursed. The Committee may appoint one or more Masters of Ceremony who will lead regular Club Meetings. Nominations are required for 8 roles: President Vice President Treasurer Secretary 4 Committee Members Email your nomination (see next page) to [email protected] The Committee meets at 7pm on the second Tuesday of each month at Fish and Game Rooms. Champion Road Richmond.

Nelson Trout Fishing Club Nomination Form for Position of Committee Member Proposer I___________________________________________________________ (Full Name) Of__________________________________________________________ (Address) Nominate ___________________________________________________ (Full Name) Signature of Proposer_____________________________ date_______________ Seconder I__________________________________________________________ (Full Name) Of_________________________________________________________ (Address) Second the nomination of ______________________________________ (Full Name) Acceptance of Nomination I_______________________________________________________ (Nominee) Accept this nomination and agree that if elected I will up hold the committee guidelines and rules. Signature of Nominee ____________________________________date____________________ Email or hand completed form to [email protected] by 31 May 2021

THE NELSON TROUT FISHING CLUB Minutes of the committee meeting 11th May 2021 At Fish and Game rooms Champion Rd, Richmond Barry declared the meeting open at 6:58pm Attendance: Barry Howell, Jean Willis, Richard Breakspear, Don Clementson, Michael Stevenson, Maree Peter, Tony, Kevin Nansett Tony Entwistle, James Macdonald Apologies: Peter Lawler Previous minutes: Minutes of the April meeting, as previously circulated, be taken as read Richard/Michael carried Business, arising from the minutes. Nil Correspondence Email to Ray Grubb, chairman of the National Fish and Game Council inviting him to address our August meeting Website: Barry reports he has had a meeting with Peter re the website, Peter advises he now can manage the website remotely, and is prepared to review the website. Peter suggests this be done with the incoming committee as there will need to be changes to the address and contact lists. The website is to be amended for the correct subscriptions; the option of posted newsletter is to be removed. Treasurers Report Maree presented her report. Moved that the treasurers report be accepted Maree/Michael carried Club Nights 19th May Les Hill angler author (Club to provide $200 for fuel) 12th June Tip of the month – Don Clementson July Club dinner managed by Don Clementson AGM and quiz night

August Ray Grubb Chairman NFGC - Pending Club Dinner. Don reported on the progress of planning for the club’s Annual Dinner and advised he had more than $650 in prizes for the evening, including prizes for partners. Club members are to be reminded of the upcoming diner by frequent emails. Newsletter Newsletter editor, James Macdonald, was present at Barry’s invitation. Barry thanked James for his work on the newsletter. The newsletter is to distributed by email and be available via members page on the website. Website to be amended to remove the option of postage. It was suggested that the newsletter should contain a buy sell and swap section for members. General Business. Membership list to be updated and distributed to the committee - action Tony Next meeting 8th June 2021 Meeting closed at 7.40pm

A Day on the River with Johnny Gummer – Zane Mirfin (reproduced from Trout Fisher, Vol 176, with kind permission from Peter Storey) You could actually believe that you are a pretty good angler until you watch 23 year-old Johnny Gummer fish! Johnny is a fish-catching machine and it was my very good fortune to be a paid-up participant at a Motueka River Euro-Nymphing Clinic co-hosted by Johnny Gummer and Tony Entwistle (www.tonyentwistlesflyfishing.co.nz) on 25th January. Euro-nymphing has taken the fly fishing world by storm and the various iterations of this angling method have their origins in the world of competition angling. Johnny is one of New Zealand’s most successful proponents of the method, successfully competing at Regional, National and World Championship levels. Johnny Gummer examines his euronymphs Johnny demonstrates the euronymphing technique to the group on the Motueka River with Tony Entwistle (left) looking on It really impressed me that Johnny knew many of the world competition experts, fishing with and competing against them. Johnny even knows world champion Howard Croston of the UK and regular contributor to English magazine ‘Fly Fishing & Fly Tying’. I’m a great fan of Howard Croston’s Euro leader designs and Johnny could fully explain the development of these leader types including their advantages and disadvantages. By the end of the day I was fishing Johnny’s “Kiwi” rigs. For the record, Johnny is a passionate, talented, knowledgeable fly angler who has thousands of hours invested in competition angling which has made him the analytical, tactical, and creative guide / instructor that he is today. Best of all Johnny is a great guy, with an easy manner, and huge doses of modesty for such a skilled angler. You can check out Palmerston North based fishing guide Johnny Gummer on his website www.altitudeflyfishing.com or watch him fishing on You Tube. Our eight course participants met up at 7.30am outside McDonalds in Motueka before driving to the river nearby for an induction into “Kiwi-Nymphing” as Johnny calls it. With waders on, it was into the river to learn everything we could about the new nymphing method which included confidence flies, casting technique, style adaptation to water type variation; vertical, horizontal, coil and dry fly sighter presentations: presentation angle variation, fly leader presentation, strike detection, animation techniques / induced take techniques. We tried several different reaches of river, with both forehand and backhand casting situations. It was awesome. It all sounds complicated, but it wasn’t with Tony & Johnny as instructors. The info came thick and fast and everyone wished they could absorb all the wisdom shared with us. Here’s what I learnt:

1) Use much lighter tippet with euro-nymphing because you are fishing closer distances, have no fly line on the water, and don’t need to strike hard to hook fish. Johnny advises 5x and 6x as standard. 2) Use the right size bead weight for the water you are fishing. Experienced anglers like Johnny can look at the water and know exactly what size bead will have intermittent bottom contact dependent on water depth and current speed. 3) Casting position is highly significant. You fish up and across for optimum drag-free drift in faster currents after positioning your body to best advantage relative to your target area. 4) Line control and manipulation are everything when you are fishing at a micro-level. Johnny’s level of effort and concentration on the water was impressive. Being tall, lean, and athletic, he could wade into places to fish that most of us wouldn’t dare. 5) Casting with nylon always must always be elliptical casting, and nylon only casts 180 degrees, so you need to strip in and shorten your line between casts. 6) Johnny introduced us to a new “Spanish Knot” which has less friction during tying making for exceptional strong dropper knots. 7) Bright spot tags on nymphs can be trimmed dependent on water colour and fish sensitivity. Johnny even ties flies with specially tarnished tungsten beads for “stealth” fishing. Check out some of his killer euro patterns at Category Three Flies (www.category3flycompany.com) 8) There is no need to use a flyline for euro nymphing if you are outside of dedicated fly fishing areas – just use light 3x nylon to have improved indicator “hold-over” at medium distance. 9) Use heavier tippet for streamers (perhaps 3x) and Johnny educated me on some special competition strategies, including streamer fishing with a 4.5mm tungsten bead fly as a ‘deadman’ weight to skitter terrestrial dry flies in tricky pocketwater. 10) Best of all Johnny & Tony re-energised my fly fishing enthusiasm by teaching new skills and tactics to work on and refine. More flies to tie too. Maybe I’m living proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Don Clementson - Eurocaddie Zane, Johnny & Tony At days end, we all headed to the Moutere Inn for a well-deserved cold beer and debrief. Everyone agreed it was a great day out and we all left buzzing with the potential for “Kiwi-Nymphing” in rivers around New Zealand. Don’t miss the opportunity to attend one of these euro nymph clinics if you ever get the chance.

Gebhard Krewitt – an early fish The attached picture does not show me with my first fish, but it is the first picture that shows me with a caught fish. I think I was just 12 years old at the time. That was the age you were allowed to fish in (West) Germany. My brother Ulrich, on the left side in the picture, is 2 years younger than me and was not allowed to fish officially. But he was also very obsessed about fishing and we went fishing together for many years in our youth. To fish in Germany you had to have the Federal Fishing License (Bundesfischereischein). For the Federal Fishing License you had to sit 20 hours in the smoky back room of a pub and learn how many scales a fish has and that an eel is also a fish but has no scales. This was followed by a theoretical and practical exam. For the practical exam I had to cast a spin fishing rod on the parking area of the pub ... With the federal fishing license you could then apply a day pass or annual permit from the various water owners. The fish in the picture is a pike that was just the legal size. I caught the pike in a pond in Westphalia on a rubber frog, which was jerked on the surface of the water. I was very proud of my fishing equipment at that time and therefore I still know exactly what it was. The rod and reel were from the company DAM (Deutsche Angegeräte Manufaktur).The rod was the model Tegernse and 2.10 long and the reel model Quick Finessa 330. Rod and reel were made to pull the biggest pike out of the water. Unfortunately, I still own neither the reel nor the fishing rod.

Delaware Bay Access Petition – Zane Mirfin Please review and sign this petition: https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/petitions/document/PET_109660/petition-of-peter-ruffell-on-behalf- of-delaware-bay-access We only have until the end of June to get as many e-signatures as possible. I know we are a trout fishing club but most of us also have small boats and go saltwater fishing with our families. This is why safe access to Delaware Bay is so important and why we need all fishers, fresh or salt, on deck to man the lifeboats. The Delaware Access Group has been active for at least 5 years, and we’ve encountered all sorts of skulduggery from Nelson City Council along the way. The Access Group was formed and members chosen from approximately 600 members of the recreational public who attended two public meetings a few years back. The guts of the issue is that the Wakapuaka Estuary launching site is the only safe boat launching access site between Port Nelson and Okiwi Bay in Marlborough. This access site is highly valued by recreational boaties and fishers but hostile actions from Nelson City Council mean traditional access rights are under grave threat. This issue is all about our loss of outdoor rights, resources , and opportunities and we welcome the help and assistance of our outdoor friends and allies from around New Zealand. Please feel free to disseminate this link widely to whoever may be interested: https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/petitions/document/PET_109660/petition-of-peter-ruffell-on-behalf- of-delaware-bay-access Jean Willis recommends viewing the film Artifishal - The Fight to Save Wild Salmon: https://youtu.be/XdNJ0JAwT7I

Tip of the Month – Don Clementson Don asked us what was our favourite fishing hat. He asked us if we would ever consider the following: ……. With large sunglasses, so all fish look greater than 10 lbs Don’s personal favourite is an old, sweat-stained cowboy-style hat, like this one: In case of rain, Don keeps a goretex hat in his pack, this one made by Outdoor Research:

How Fish Swim Reprinted from Science Vol 302, p. 1511-1512 Submitted by John Hayes (Cawthron Institute)

A Fishing Life – Don Clementson On a recent trip to the Motueka River I was fishing a spot that I haven’t been to for a while. I used to fish it a lot way back in the Sixties. It has changed a bit like most of our rivers. I can remember fishing it with my first fly rod. It was a second-hand cane rod and reel with a greased line that had to be dressed regularly. Cobb Valley around the late sixties, basic gear in those days, bag A recent Club Trip to the Motueka and home-made net Fishing gear was limited in the Sixties so there wasn’t much of a choice on the market. I can remember when I got my first fibreglass rod and plastic-coated line. None of those fancy tapered lines and space age rods in those days. Cobb Valley with a bit more gear wearing waders. I must be getting old

I started making my own flies when I was about 15 and soon after that the world famous Copperdon was born on which I catch 90% of my fish; but that is another story. I am up to version 10.4 now. I can remember when I was at High School an expert fisherman from Taupo called Con Voss came to teach us fly casting and from then on my casting improved and also my catch rate. I was brought up in Motueka and lived within biking distance of the Motueka River so that was where I spent a lot of time. Biggest trout this year – 9lb on an unnamed river At that time most of my fish were around the 2-3lb range and the ultimate catch was a 5lb trout; you were really someone if you caught a 5 pounder! It didn’t take long to get around town if a 5lb trout was caught and if you wanted to know who caught it then you asked the local grocer. When I got my licence the world was my oyster. I could travel further all the way up to the Baton & over to the Riwaka. In the early Sixties my father started trout fishing so that was how I got into it. We travelled a lot to the Cobb River and up to the Travers and Sabine. The road to the Cobb wasn’t as good as it is today and it took us 2.5 hours from Motueka. It didn’t go as far as the river so a lot of walking was needed to get to the water but there were lots of rainbow trout so that was the incentive. In the early days you hardly saw another fisherman; we mostly had the rivers to ourselves. The fishing was great. On the Baton with a nice 8lb trout. That pool is not a pool anymore, just a fast run typical of a lot of our rivers.

It all went downhill when the overseas anglers arrive and the lodges opened up. That put pressure on the rivers but with COVID here that has changed for the good. I am a bit of a hypocrite because I started part- time guiding in the late Nineties for a few lodges and B&Bs. I also worked for Tony (Entwistle) and Zane (Mirfin) on their Strike Adventures team for a while but in the end I saw the light and decided to give it away because it interfered with my own fishing. In the last few years I have been mentoring club members because I know how hard it is to learn to fish for trout. We all go through the phases of trying to catch the biggest trout and then trying to catch the most trout but now I just go and catch trout and when it is Beer O’Clock time I stop. Dissect Trout Surface Feeding Behaviour Submitted by Richard Breakspear





Fishing in South Africa – Luke Swart Humble beginnings Since I can remember, fishing has always been a part of my life. As a youngster of probably no more than 4 or 5 I would often go with my dad and grandad to the rivers and the streams near our home in the then old Transvaal, attempting to catch some Kurper (a type of freshwater bream) or Carp using worms, maize porridge or bread. This fishing was always done in the conventional hook-line-and-sinker manner with varied success. It was only later in life that I discovered the marvellous world of fly fishing. The first couple of years were mostly spent trying to catch some Highveld Trout with an approach of casting a sinking line and stripping a Woolly Bugger or something similar. As Johannesburg and Pretoria are not really renowned for the constant cool weather needed to sustain trout populations our options were pretty much limited to catching farm- reared stockie Rainbows from man-made ponds, seldomly over 2lbs. Early Days It wasn't until I was about 25 that I discovered that there was an alternative to catching these unimpressive farmed trout, totally out of their natural environment. The alternative came in the form of a tremendous river fish, the Labeobarbus Aeneus or Smallmouth Yellowfish as it is more commonly known. Best of all was that this fish occurs naturally in the Vaal river not too far from where I lived at the time. Swapping the sinking line for a floating line and the Woolly Buggers for Nymphs and Caddis patterns we set off to attempt the curious art of Czech Nymphing and wading through rivers and streams, something we were not accustomed to at all. Smallmouth Yellowfish George casting for largemouth yellowfish, Orange River Camping gear Dad into a nice smallmouth yellowfish

Vaal days After some trial, error, many a scraped knee and eventually a great guiding session by a renowned Yellow Fish fundi we finally got the hang of it. Wow, what an epic journey had begun! For the next 5 years or so every other summer weekend was spent chasing yellows on the Vaal river with my dad and my best mate George. We had some amazing times catching good numbers of smallies and every now and again hooking the very elusive Labeobarbus kimberleyensis or Largemouth Yellowfish as they are better known. These fish don't just have large mouths, they also have large bodies, growing to some very impressive sizes with the record Largie caught weighing in at a whopping 22.2 kg! George with a smallmouth yellowfish Camping in the desert Our mode of transport Luke with a nice smallmouth yellowfish Orange River As time went on, we became more and more proficient in the art of Czech Nymphing and with good numbers of fish being caught on a regular basis we decided to look for some serious adventure. Basically since we've started our fly fishing journey we've been hearing reports of guys catching excellent numbers of good sized fish on the Orange River in The Kalahari. This would soon become an annual trip for us. Once a year, we would venture out to the Kalahari Desert to fish the Orange River for 5 days, camping as we drift down a stretch of river I can only describe as magical. From first light we would fish, either nymphing for Smallies or casting big streamer flies into deep pools for those brute largemouth yellows. Screaming reels were at the order of the day... EVERY SINGLE DAY! As this is basically an African desert days tend to get hot, sometimes scorchingly so with temperatures soaring well into the 40s! Luckily for us a good amount of \"hydration\" was always at hand which quenched our thirsts and sometimes provided for some entertaining wading, or shuffling as we liked to call it. Evenings were spent around the fire reflecting on the days that were and wetting our appetite for the days that lay ahead... During late nights we would often have a bit of fun with some monstrous catfish we would catch on some more heavy tackle, using whole fish as bait.

Although I miss those days in South Africa I now find myself \"living the dream\" in what is portrayed (and rightly so) to the world as a fishing Utopia. With so many memories yet to be made I feel grateful to be here and can't wait for those magical moments to roll around... Escape from the scorching heat The Orange River Shuffle George with a largemouth yellowfish Luke with a largemouth yellowfish