Denis catches his first trout  - April 2008

As you may have gathered from elsewhere on the web site Denis has taken up the arcane art of fly fishing. Kindly guests and our operation manager’s patient husband have taken him on outings to varied local river or lakeside fishing spots where he has practiced his casting with limited success. (unless willow trees and branches are counted) With the odds heavily in favour of the fish his only strike to be reeled in was a fish so small it was hard to see how it had got itself hooked!

A week before, one of our guests, Mark, had a great day fishing with Jake. See photos and results below. For Mark's description of his day click here.

A few days later Denis accompanied Gavin, an Australian guest on a fishing trip guided by Jake. They headed off to the top of Lake Wanaka, into the boat, and set down at the mouth of the Makarora River. While Jake and Denis were chatting to a local identity who had pulled up his dingy and taken time off fishing to saw up some driftwood for the coming winter Gavin was casting from the Lake edge at some promising splashes. Before the others had put their rods together he landed a very lively 2.5 lb rainbow.

Handing out polaroids to improve the sighting chances Jake led the party up a branch of the braided river keeping well inshore to not spook the fish and pointing out at good 7 or more prospective catches for them to try on the way back down stream. With Jake spotting the fish and directing the casting Gavin (a very tidy caster) soon had his fly taken by a feisty rainbow that gave him plenty of fight and some spectacular leaps. When finally coaxed into the net by Jake it was found he had taken the hook too deeply and was cut so he was kept for eating.

Now it was Denis’s turn and with some encouragement he finally got his casts into the zone Jake indicated to be pleasantly surprised by an immediate strike of a very decently sized trout. His arm was feeling the strain by the time he got it close enough for Jake to deploy the net, the wily trout had other ideas however and just as he was being coaxed into the net he made a great leap and broke free. Denis thought it a fair outcome. The next fish he hooked was not quite so smart and was landed and weighed at a good 3 plus lbs before being released to fight another day. Gavin’s next catch was another fierce fighter and after a lengthy battle it broke the line with a spectacular jump.

Thanks to their guide an excellent day's fishing, food for the chef, and a new angler to tell tall tales of one that got away and the one that didn't’t.

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