After what could be labelled a late start due to excess (fishing with Andrew) the boys hit the river running at about midday and managed to secure 10 good fish. This is something of a payback according to Matt who reckons he cast more than a thousand times during the previous evening rise and didn’t land one.They then had a short fish up river and got two more fish and retired to the local restaurant for sustanance. They head back to reallity today having had a fantastic week with lots of fish and humourous memories one of which was Matt trying to turn our guide boat outboard into a surface drive unit by not locking it down and booting it backwards only to have the outboard leap out of the water and try and attack their flash flyrods.

Guided Judy and Lyndon Forrest again today for day 4 of their back-country fishing holiday out of Spot X but unfortunately due to 20mm of rain last night the already dirty rivers were filthy today. Rather than trying my dirty water techniques which normally dig out the odd trout we went and did some relaxing lake fishing instead. Static nymphing a local trophy wild trout lake Lyndon soon lost his biggest trout ever before Judy managed to get us on the board with a nice two pound brown. In the end the fishing has to be described as slow but we only fished for 3 or 4 hours and the Forests really enjoyed the opportunity to let the legs recover for a day in very peaceful and scenic surroundings, and to practice their casting while still catching the odd trout.

Pictured here is Lyndon who finally managed to sort out the frustrating mad evening rise here – obviously kidding – as the water is filthy due do last nights heavy rain but I am sure his method and fly choice would have worked!

Tongariro Report

Barometer: Rising

Cloud/Wind: Clearing but a bit of wind

Water Temperature:

River Conditions: Filthy brown back country and don’t know about the Tongariro

Recommended Flies: 18 Sawyers and 14 black bead hair and copper tied with light grey hare underfur

Stayed home and caught up on paperwork and emails today and had this arrive from a friend June Duff whom I used to work with selling Real Estate:

A man was fishing.

He began his outing with a 25lb Kingfish on the first drop and a 20 lb
snapper on the second.

On the third drop he had just scored his first ever King Terakihi when
his cell phone rang.

It was a doctor notifying him that his wife had just been in a terrible
accident and was in critical condition in ICU.

The man told the doctor to inform his wife where he was and that the
he’d be there as soon as possible.

As he hung up he realized he was leaving, what was shaping up to be,
his best ever fishing trip.

He decided to get in a couple of more drifts before heading to the
hospital.

He ended up catching several personal bests, limited out on three
species and all in all, had his best days fishing by far.

He was jubilant….

Then he remembered his wife.

Feeling guilty he dashed to the hospital. He saw the doctor in the
corridor and asked about his wife’s condition.

The doctor glared at him and shouted, “You went ahead and kept fishing
didn’t you!

“I hope you’re proud of yourself! While you were out for the past four
hours enjoying yourself on the ocean, your wife has been languishing in
the ICU!

It’s just as well you went ahead and finished the fishing because it
will be more than likely your last!” “For the rest of her life she will
require round the clock care. And you’ll be her care giver!”

The man was feeling so guilty he broke down and sobbed .

The doctor snickered and said, “Just f*cking with you. She’s dead.
What’d you catch?”