Boys Fishing Trip 3...Third Time Lucky.

Over the last few days my Dad and I went trout fishing on one of the lakes in South Waikato, Waipapa. This lake forms part of the Waikato river, between the Maraetai hydroelectric dam, and Waipapa hydroelectric dam. Maraetai is the largest of the 8 hydro Dams on the Waikato river system, and Waipapa the smallest. The Waipapa section is also supplied by the Waipapa river, which starts in the Pureora forrest park, and flows eastwards out into the lake...

It is a stunning part of the country, and is only an hour away from Willowbrook. Here is a view of some of the park, from one of the highest bridges in the north island...

We had lovely weather. The lake was a flat as a millpond...

until you got up close to the Maraetai dam outlet...

 

Above: You can see some of the penstocks of the dam. 

Below: The penstocks during its construction in 1953

Fast flowing water...

The area is rich with native birdlife as well as fish. We saw a family of black swans...

you can hear the Tuis and other birds in the background over the swan honks...

This is the still pond where we caught most of the trout. It is just where the Waipapa river flows into the lake... 

Further upstream Dad showed me a waterfall that he used to hike up 30 years ago... 

  

We went harling in the water between the lake and the waterfall, as well as fly casting. We caught about 14 trout, 6 of which we threw back, and 8 we could keep...

  

Here is some footage of landing a small trout...

Bounty, Day 1...

On the first night we baked our trout. We seasoned them with salt, pepper, ginger, mustard, lemon, dill and capers...

On the second night we smoked our trout, seasoning them with salt, pepper, ginger, lemon, and brown sugar, before smoking them with Manuka wood chips...

Mmmmm. So, third time lucky, I finally caught some of these elusive trout. 

We are hoping to fit in some deep sea fishing around Christmas, before I leave for Dubbo.

Boys Camping Trip

After a pretty hectic few weeks, a mate and I decided we should go on a boys' fishing trip. 

I drove down to a small rural hospital on Tuesday and did a locum shift there, and then my friend met me there in the evening and we set off to commune with nature. We headed off to a small spot on the banks of the Whanganui river, about 30 minutes out of Taumaranui, which the local fishing store owner had recommended.

We found a good spot near the river to pitch our tents. I had borrowed a tent from a camping friend, which did not come with instructions and didn't at all resemble the traditional tent shape that I was used to as a boy scout. Erecting it was like the Krypton factor, but after wrestling with it in the dark for half an hour it resembled something inhabitable...

After getting our bearings we hunkered down for a slap up meal on the camp fire and a bottle of scotch. The evening passed quickly and soon we hit the hay. I slept well, but my friend awoke during the night to find that our camp was being rummaged through by some marauding wild goats! 

Above: We later found the pack of wild goats across the river, half way up a hill...

It was a cold night, getting down to a couple of degrees below zero, but the tents were surprisingly warm, which made outside rather bracing for breakfast.

Above: The early morning fog over the valley

Below: Getting up in the morning

 Below: One of the many frosty-morning cobwebs..

We then set off for an early start fishing. It soon fined up into a lovely day for it...

Above: Wading out into the middle of the river

Below: The view up the river from the middle

I tried several flies: assorted nymphs, various variations on a Wooly Bugger, and some glow bugs...

Alas, we didn't get so much as a bite. So by lunch we headed back to camp and scoffed some bacon butties for lunch (I'm not much of a Bear Grylls when it comes to food, so it was lucky we packed a little F&M styled hamper for the eventuality that we didn't catch anything.

Unfortunately it is illegal to sell or buy trout in New Zealand, so the only way to taste one is to catch it yourself.

In the afternoon we packed up camp and headed down to National Park to another supposedly good fishing spot there, but again no luck. We packed up and came home empty handed, but it was good to get away from it all for a day or two.

The Boys' Weekend...

Well, I finally took a weekend off work, my first in 6 months, and went on an overnight tramp with some mates...

We started off from Hamilton in the early hours and spent the morning fishing in the Tongariro River, which is famous for its trout...

Despite seeing quite a few fish in the river, we didn't catch a thing. - but then it was midday. Not having time to stay for a twilight fish we carried on south towards Tongariro, parked up, and set out on the Urchin Trail up over the Kaimanawa Ranges.

Dominated by the Kaimanawa mountain ranges, the Kaimanawa Forest Park encompasses a vast (77,348 hectares) largely unmodified expanse of native forest, shrublands and tussock grasslands. It was gazetted in 1969 and is managed to protect and conserve soil and water, native vegetation, wildlife and scenic values.

It lies south-east of Taupo and extends from Tongariro National Park in the west to the Kaweka Ranges in the east.

It was a blisteringly hot day.

Below: Lake Taupo in the distance, from the first summit.
The trail starts near to lake level.

It then winds its way up through stunning native bush...

before breaking out of the bushline into rocky alpine terrain...

from the first summit we hiked over the ranges below...

to the Waipakihi Valley river flats below...

After a long day's tramping, and a futile effort at stalking deer on the river flats, we settled down to a roaring camp fire and a rough meal of Fillet Mignon with seasonal vegetables and a bottle of Shiraz before scoffing down some creme brulee and settling in for a night of port and cigars under a cloudless sky enblazoned with stars (talk about slumming it!).

We forgot the marshmellows though!

The state forest is home to much wildlife, including Sika deer

and wild horses, known as Kaimanawa horses, which are protected.

for more information visit the Department of Conservation website.