Back Country Fly Fishing

Friday we were up early getting ready for another fly fishing day. We left Trout Beck with our guide Jason and headed southwest into the Tongariro National Park. After about 45 minutes in the car, we parked and got onto his 4-wheeler and began the 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) treck into the mountains. It was a tough ride over rocky terrain with 3 of us. In addition to trying not to fall off, we were also busy ducking and leaning trying to keep from getting branches in the face. Once we made our way well clear of civilazation, we unloaded and headed down to the Whanganui River. We bushwacked for about 45 minutes trying to find a way down to a great pool in the river we could see from above, but it was to steep from all angles, so we backtracked a bit to a more accessable area. We did see a huge wild mountain goat though, which was interesting. Once the fishing began, it was only a matter of minutes before Dave had hooked up and landed 4 fish in the first pool. 2 were small rainbows and 2 were larger rainbow between 5 and 6 pounds. They were great fights, 3 of which headed quite a ways down river and gave Jason an extra hard time to net. Jill was busy following along with support, encouragement, and most importantly cameras. We spent the next couple of hours working our way up river where Dave got a couple more great Rainbow trout. Along the way we saw several blue ducks, which are highly endangered in New Zealand, so it was a real treat to see them in the wild. We stopped and had a picnic lunch on the riverbank and then went back at it. A couple more were caught after lunch, then it was time for the final cast on a rainbow we saw feeding on the surface. Dave casted a dry blue blowfly, which landed perfectly and floated right over the huge fish. The trout came right to it and sucked it in. Dave struck and hooked up, then after a moment the fish was gone. The hook just wasn't set good enough in the trouts mouth, so Dave didn't land the huge fish. It was however, a great last cast and hookup on dry fly. We then trecked back to the bike and headed in. We had such a fabulous day on the river in the middle of a beautiful place. It is so amazing to be so far away from everything and enjoying the surroundings.