NTFC Club Mag Oct 2017

Nelson Trout Fishing Club Issue -160 October 2017Read the newsletter online at: WWW.nelsontroutfishingclub.com

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Club ContactsExecutive:President Michael Stevenson 5469632 [email protected] President: Maree Peter [email protected]: Jean Willis 547 6432 [email protected]: Maree Peter [email protected] Breakspear CommitteePeter Lawler 5419050 [email protected] Jemson 5489753 [email protected] Richards 027 544 0274 [email protected] Clementson 0274349165 [email protected] Howell 5448867 [email protected] Furrows 5443069 [email protected] Sowman 0275519002 [email protected] and Greet New Members: Ray Day and Pete LawlerFishing trips: Looking for somebody to run this job Fly Tying Convenor: Michael StevensonClub Librarian: Cameron Reid 547 1197 [email protected] Editor Magazine : Richard Breakspear Newsletter Distribution: Brian RichardsTrophy Master Looking for somebody to run this jobClub Sponsorship & Newsletter Advertising: Needed Club Speakers: Committee members Club Night Tea/Coffee: Maree Peter Past Presidents:03-06 Richard Boyden 6-08 Lester Higgins 08-09 Ross Walker09-11 Dennis Ealam 11-13 Ray Day 13-15 Tony Entwistle15-17 Maree Peter MGP 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, or club editor. www.nelsontroutfishingclub.comCover page: …… Porn 1 By Don C

President’s Report November 2017With the first month of the season behind us and more settled weatherin the offing, we are all looking to get onto the local rivers. I have heardrumours of a couple of very nice being taken by club members so far andam anticipating entries into the trophy trout awards being submitted.The lack of entries in recent years is of concern because if more aren’treceived this year, we will have to consider retiring these awards. So beproud of your accomplishments (or blind luck) and fill out an entry.The Beginners’ Fly Fishing Course was a great success and all credit toTony Entwistle for running an interesting day. Feedback from theparticipants was very positive and encourages us to consider running thiseach year.I am pleased the Mentor Program has been restarted and our newermembers will benefit from the years of experience of some of our seniormembers. The reward goes both ways because the more experiencedfishers get a lot of satisfaction helping those new to fly fishing catch theirfirst fish or just improve their skills for increased success on the river.Michael StevensonPresident

Trip to Auckland with Extra’sI regularly fish the Tongariro often with friends from the Nelson Trout Fishing Club onan annual group trip. These are typically during August when everyone is keen to get awinter fishing fix. We typically all fish hard for a week often through inclement weatherand high river conditions.My son Jake currently 9 1/3 always asks when can I come dad? When can I fish theTongariro dad? He regularly comes on local trips around the Top of Island where he issteadily learning the art of fly fishing and casting. But he at age 9 is already aware ofthe Tongariro’s reputation and has seen plenty of photos of rainbow trout in varioushues from chrome hens to war painted jacks.When a weekend trip to Auckland to pick up a car came up for the Labour weekend. Itseemed the perfect excuse for a road trip headed South to see relatives and thenspend the bulk of free time fishing the Tongariro. Also the perfect opportunity to takeJake as company and to make good on my promise to take him to the Tongariro. Allwhile furthering him with his fishing and outdoor education.Now Jake is a fairly typical 9 year old lad built like a toothpick with two pieces of stringhanging from his waist that make up for legs! Fast as a ferret and some stamina too,but easily swept away in any running water that’s much above my ankles. Moreover,an 8 weight in his hands would feel like you or I swinging a sledge hammer all day.So a conundrum - how do you go about casting a light rod that will easily allow awhipper-snapper to throw enough tungsten that will get down to the lies of theTongariro’s rainbow trout?Well one answer I have found was to use one of my 9ft 5# rods matched up with anAirflo Skagit Scout. This line is 15ft head @ 180 grains and designed to roll castsurprisingly heavy stuff with relative ease. I rigged this up with a running line and weused an 10 ft extra fast sinking tip with a weighted nymphs and trailing glow bug. Wechanged the tip out when we fished shallower sections to intermediate.All Jake then had to do was execute his reasonable double Spey or snap T and throwout his already quite proficient roll cast. A few miscasts and timing errors here andthere and the odd melt down that required a calorie break and mental reset. :Cont

But in not too much time he was able to throw out some decent loops with 4mm oftungsten and trailing may fly (there was a steady hatch on most of the day) or glow bugup to 60ft, mend swing and hang. Then repeat.With the intermediate tip this was particularly effective in the shallower runs andpocket water. In particular, at the top of Judges (Jake’s current favourite pool), and theback channels below the State Highway bridge.The result - he netted three good fish, lost even more (from an over eager strike!), puta big smile in his face and improved his confidence.Looks like I am out of excuses for not taking him on the NTC winter trip!And by the way - who should we bump into at the Judges pool while fishing. Our veryown Jean Willis and Chris Clenshaw. While Jake and I had the rest of the day to fish Iunderstand Jean and Chris had the week - lucky buggers!David Scranney.Editor: After speaking with David just after their Trip he said that “There is NO way heis going to teach Jake how to Drive a car”……hahahahaaaa OH NO..!! Jake’s 1st trout on the Tongariro

5 THINGS YOU SHOULDN’T DO WHEN NYMPHINGI would like to discuss the 5 things you should never do when Nymphing.We have all made mistakes when fishing with Nymphs; hopefully thisArticle will help prevent that in the future. 1. Smaller Nymphs, Don’t Be Afraid To Use ThemWhen Dry Fly Fishing most all Fishermen pay special attention to the sizeand colour of the Dry Fly Pattern. This should also be done whenNymphing.For some reason all most all Fishermen tend to grab the Largest NymphPattern in their Fly Box when Nymphing.I can understand this because, when you think about it you wouldnaturally think that the Trout would want a Large Nymph.You would also think that being in the water the Smaller Nymphs wouldbe hard for the Trout to see.Well guess what, this method of thinking couldn’t be the farthest fromthe truth.Trout And HabitTrout by force of habit are used to seeing Small Nymphs.Therefore, the Trout would be far more apt to take the Smaller Nymphover the Large one.When these Smaller Nymphs are in Abundance the Trout are moreselective….A Large Nymph will not look natural to the Trout.This beingsaid, it only makes sense when Nymphing to use the Type, Colour andSize of the natural NymphsTake SamplesTaking Samples is something that should always be done when you areNymphingTake the time and collect some Samples out of the Riffle of the Streamyou are Fishing. I am sure that you will find that the Smaller Nymphs willout-number the Large ones by a long shot!When Nymphing it is extremely important to match the Type, :cont

Colour and Size of the Natural Nymph that is most present in thewater. This may (and most likely will) mean that you will want to use size16 and smaller.2 Avoid Staying StationaryStaying Stationary (glued to one spot) is a common mistake whenNymphing.If you are in a spot for 10 minutes or longer without getting a Strike thenit is time to move on. Avoid becoming Stationary or Rooted to one spot.This will help increase your chances of success!3 Don’t Be Afraid To Change The NymphIf the Nymph Pattern that you are using isn’t getting you any Strikesthen Change It!!Just like remaining Stationary, another common mistake is not Changingyour Nymph when it isn’t producing Strikes for you.With most (if not all) Fishermen, we all have our favourite “go to” Fly.What every Fisherman has to realize is that not all Fly Patterns work100% of the time, this is true with Nymphs too. There will be times whenthe Fish just aren’t interested in that particular Pattern, make sure youchange it. Another thing to remember is that, just because they liked ityesterday doesn’t mean that they are going to like it today. Considershaking some plant life along the shore to see what the fish may beeating. Also pick up some rocks in the riffle to see what Nymphs arecrawling around. When Nymphing, another thing to remember is that theNymphs (type size and colour) may be different from one spot to theother.4 Get Your Nymph Down DeepWhen Nymphing you must Fish your Nymphs deep along the bottom.You may lose a few Flies because you are running along the bottom, butremember this is all part of Fishing! There has been many times where Ihave run a Nymph through the water without getting a Strike, I addedmore weight to my line and ran it through the same water and…Cont

BAM I got a Strike!!The solution was simple, add more weight to get myNymph down along the bottom, this is where I need to be.5 Use Very Little Line When NymphingI think the Hardest thing to do when Nymphing is detecting the Strike andSetting the Hook before the Fish discovers that it had been fooled. The bestway to detect the Strike and have a successful Hook-up is by Shortening theLine you have in the water. If you have 10 to 20 foot of line on the waterinstead of 30 foot, the likeliness of detecting a Strike (either by feel or StrikeIndicator), and then Setting the Hook, your odds of having a successful Hookup have increased dramatically!!With the use of less Line on the water decreases the amount of Slack in thatLine, therefore resulting in quicker Hook ups because the hook will come incontact with the Fish’s Lip much easier.This in itself will result in a quicker Hook up (most likely) before the Fish noticesthat this offering was fake and spitting it out!!Once you are able to Avoid these 5 “Most Common Mistakes In Nymphing”, youshould find yourself a more successful Fisherman.You should notice more consistent Hook ups, fellow Fishermen will ask you“how you did that”!!Get yourself in the habit of Smaller Nymphs, not remainingStationary, Changing Nymphs, Fishing the Nymph Down Deep, and Using LessLine, and you should find yourself landing more Fish when Nymphing. 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

OBSERVATIONS on FLY FISHINGI and seven other trout club members went to Twizel for four days high countryfishing.I have fished there previously with the club members last year,I was driver for Mike Standish White so knew the area well.This year I took my new Smartwave boat which is customised to myspecifications, as I like to fly fish lake edges. It gives me access to where otherscannot walk.Near Lake OHAU is a small lake called Middleton and this a gem of about 100acres and has a stock of rainbow trout and is safe to boat on in high winds ofwhich we had plenty,70k plus on three days.On day four after blizzards and snow to within 200mtrs of the lakes, Mondaywas overcast and a 20k breeze so onto Lake Middleton to fly fish.The wind was constant creating foot high waves and no hatch of damsel anddragon flies, with no possibility of seeing a trout rise but not deterred I decidedto try my skill.I cast a size 14 Black Gnat on a 16ft leader and 90ft floating fly line plus backingon my reel, a 20 yard cast downwind from my anchored boat.I watched for a result, in these conditions you loose sight of the fly and quicklythe indicator, also in conversation with another fisherman he observed that hethought fish were aware of the boats presence from 25 yards, so I used thewind to my advantage, the ripples want to drift your fly and line away so I feedmore line from the rod tip in small snakes and as it drifted fed more line, afterthe 25 yard mark you are in the fish zone.You have to have total concentration on your line and if the wiggles start tostraighten set the hook.FISH ON, if not keep paying out line. :cont

At times I had the whole fly line plus 15yards of backing out before a strike. Theresult for 5 hours fishing was 9 takes 9 hook up 8 netted and released and 1dived into the weed and broke off.I find attention to detail pays dividends, after each release I wash and dry thefly to remove any fish slime a then reapply Floatant to the fly and indicator topresent everything perfectly to the fish.This method works just as well from a lake shore if you have the wind behindyou.JUST try this some time it does work.Lester Higgins. Beginner’s Course 2017On the 5 November the club held a Beginner Fly Fisherman’s course.Run by Tony Entwistle, the course offered a comprehensive introductionto the basic knowledge to give beginner fly fishers a solid foundation onwhich to develop their skills.Who could resist those eager young? facesPhoto of participants (sorry I didn’t get everyone in).

The course began with a demonstration of how to put a fly rod togethercorrectly and selecting a reel and line and progressed to which knots arenecessary for putting together a leader with a tippet and hook and wheneach know was most useful. Participants were given lengths of cord ofvarying diameters to practice with.Once the students had their heads full of knots they were hustled off tothe sports field for some casting practice before lunch. They managed toget thru this even though the wind was a bit strong. :Cont Sessions after lunch were videos demonstrating where to look for fish,how to spot fish and how land and properly release fish. There also a partabout trout food (the important insects), how to choose flies for your flybox and a reading list with reference to the club library.Tony often referred to the club President when discussing what not todo or how to do things wrong. During these moments he often looked likethis. : Cont

. Beginners Class: Tony in deep thoughts Re the Presedent.At the end of the day, the students were unanimous in their appreciationof what they had learned and how the material was presented. MichaelStevenson & Richard Breakspear sat in to give any assistance that Tonyneeded ( not really) Always learn something from the Master TE Inaddition the club raised about $200 for the Youth Fishing Trust.Thanks To Tony for giving up his time & putting this and many otherprogrammes together each year. THANKS

Paul Mills NZFT & Anton DonaldsonGreat early meeting with Paul NZFT & Anton Pro Team (from over the Hill) .Paul came with a boot full of Tools & Big Boys toy’s to play with. The FullRange of Sage Rods fly & Salt , All of different weights & Reels set upwith Rio lines. This was with a BBQ & light refreshments. Then headingback to a full meeting and the club rooms.Paul talked through the range of Rio lines shapes types uses etc. Also acouple of video’s on how & where they made & the quality controls thatin in place to make sure that we get the best. Also the full range of otherRio products.Then went on to talk about the Sage Rods in detail Length weights typesetc.After that there was a Q&A on the many questions members wanted toask. This was a Great night, If you didn’t turn up you missed out onsomething special……. Thanks Paul & Anton