Angling Report: Oct 2002 Lake Brunner Fly Fishing Report
October began well enough, with some superb spring days. On Monday 7th, I took time off to go fishing... landed one fish, of 5.75lbs. Tuesday 8th saw the first fish of the new season caught on a dry fly - one on a Royal Wulf, and another 3 on small midge imitations. Wednesday 9th, landed 4 trout in 35 minutes during my lunch break, all on a #14 Pheasant Tail nymph on a dropper under a Humpy dry fly. Life is good! :-)
October 12-13th
Kevin Gallivan dropped in for a taste of New Zealand fly fishing... arrived before dark, so we sneaked down to Cashmere Bay in the drift boat for an hour's fishing before dinner. Landed one fat hen fish of around 2lbs, which provided a wonderful sashimi entree.
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Kevin Gallivan with his 2nd New Zealand brown trout.
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Despite the blue sky, the day was cold, with a strong south-west wind, showers...
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| Seeking sheltered bays was the solution... |
...and Kevin landed 8 for the day, after a slow start. |
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Most were caught on a Mrs Simpson streamer fly, on a 7# sinking line.
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Including this beauty, the first of 6 fish landed on the 13th Oct, which saw hail, rain & wind, a little thunder and concluding with a wonderful sunset.
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The 15th was a nice enough day, up until early afternoon. We only managed to land one fish, lost several others. The wind became very strong in the afternoon and all in all it was hard work.
October 16th was a classic spring day, warm, cloudless, and a pleasure to be out in. Kevin managed to land a fish before lunch, first time in 4 days of trying. Large numbers of fish were seen, all apparently taking water boatmen.
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The first fish was taken on a water boatman, and a post mortem showed approx100 in the stomach. plus a couple of small cockabullies. After that things went downhill. Could not find any fly in the box that another of 20+ fish we observed feeding would take...
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After a couple of hours of frustration, we gave up and moved out into another bay - landed 4 in the next hour on a #14 Pheasant Tail nymph, plus one that took the orange Stimulator instead of the nymph, at an astonishing two rod lengths from the boat !
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Overall, 23 fish were landed over 4 days, in the full range of spring weather conditions. Very difficult in the mornings, with fish difficult to find, and showing little indication of feeding. Periods in the the afternoons when fish fed freely, and were easy to catch.
As they say... "Sometimes, it be like that. And some times, it be like that ALL the time!"
October 23rd-30th
Cliff Walker dropped in for a few days. For his 70th birthday, he'd decided to treat himself to a few days fly fishing in New Zealand, a long-time ambition. Having taught himself to cast on the lawn at home, a mornings coaching soon had him in the zone, as the following photos show. On the first day afternoon he landed 2 fish within a few hours of getting off the plane. The second day he did extremely well for a novice fly fisherman, and landed 5 nice big fish, not a bad effort for a gentleman who'd never caught a fish on a fly rod before! The weather forecast was for thunderstorms - we took waders & raincoats... it was hot and sunny but not a word of complaint was heard!
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23 Oct: Cliff hooked this one harling a fly line behind the drift boat within hours of stepping off the plane, and another not long after..
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24 Oct: This is his very first trout caught on a fly rod, casting unaided. It took a nymph.
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This bad boy took a nymph, and he weighed almost 5lbs... total for the day was 5 fish in the net.
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This is Cliff's first trout caught on a dry fly, another milestone for the day!
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25 Oct: Landed 5 for the day near Crooked River outlet, most on a Black Prince streamer.
26 Oct: Landed 7 for the day, Black Prince and Mrs Simpson streamer flies.
27 Oct: Landed 7 for the day, Mrs Simpson and Brown Wooly Bugger stream flies.
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Sheltering from the rain - Lady Lake - we had 4 seasons in one day again, with fresh snow on the alps before dark! Twice during the day we ended up taking shelter under the same Rimu tree for coffee and biscuits and a thaw out!
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Brilliant casting took this nice trout in the Lady Lake outlet - a big challenge for any angler! The outlet is deep and narrow - minimal room for back casts, and barely wide enough to row the drift boat |
The total for the six days was 30 trout in the net, and at least an equal numbers of takes that did not result in a solid hookup.
Angling Report: Oct 2002 Lake Brunner Fly Fishing Report
                                
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