Golden yellow blazing red,
Autumn came then Autumn fled.
In it’s place Winter drear,
but westward ho not often here.
There now, I’ve at least satisfied the title of this wee tale.
For as long as I can remember, The Coast has had rather a misguided reputation of being rainy at all times. Now you’ll understand there can’t be a rainforest without a modicum of wet stuff, but, and in my opinion, this attitude toward my chosen region is somewhat inaccurate, because many people have visited during school holidays, which have traditionally happened around Autumn and Spring when the rain forest gets it’s drink. The rest of the year is surprisingly (for non locals) pleasant. I might just hazard a guess that many who decry our weather know little about our favoured location having never been here. Does that sound a bit parochial? Well yes I do work part time at the PRO!
Winter is so good over here, I can take the 4 metre Silver Frog out to Lake Brunner and enjoy the warmth across the middle of the day and have quite good fishing. I mentioned this to a mate, who was enthusiastic enough to join me on an expedition recently. This chap emanated from an island right the way across the other side of the world and in his earlier years took the adventurous choice to HITCH HIKE to New Zealand in order to seek his fortune, find a wife and go a-fishing. The West Coast is a great place to achieve all 3 of those intentions and while he achieved them, there are a number of other objectives he’s also notched up.
Now if you’re of sound mind and body, want to be employed and have no intentions of taking over and converting us to some “ism” or other, come one, come all. Matey managed to hitch rides as far as Singapore, but as he said, New Zealand happens to be an island, so he had to take alternative means to complete his epic undertaking. We’re pleased he did, as he’s added much to our region, while selectively subtracting from our extensive trout population.
So back to Winter fishing. Lake fish typically will head towards inflowing rivers and streams in preparation for spawning and I’ve seen good numbers of fish grouped around the mouths of creeks ready for the off. However at this stage they’re not that interested in a fly, unless you’re a bit lucky. But not all trout head away from the lake into the rivers to spawn and if you like what I call a floating stalk, good sport can be had in the Winter months, particularly after a frost when we get blue and gold days, with warmth from about 10.00am until around 3 in the arvo. After that the sun dips out west and the colder temperatures make themselves felt.
On this particular day we decided to arrive lakeside when the sun had warmed things somewhat, so set out at 0800 hrs, driving up the valley and into the thickest fog I’ve seen for a long time. This didn’t worry us as it’s more often than not, the harbinger of a very nice day out on the lake and so it proved to be. Yes it was cold for a start but as the sun crept higher, the temperatures followed suit and the mercury slowly rose. Even though the Yarmy had not been out of the shed for far too long, it fired up after a couple of attempts and we chugged away to investigate some interesting backwaters. The lake was up a bit, which allowed us access into areas we’d normally ignore for fear of grounding, but it had been even higher judging by the water marks on the reeds.
The first fish slunk away on being sighted, so we carried on poking about in nooks and crannies until we were back out on the lake proper. We saw another one but it rushed off as it had something important to do elsewhere, then suddenly the indicator disappeared and it was fish on, then after some vigorous zooming around it was fish off. Such is life-for that trout anyway and you’ll know it’s called “fishing” not “catching” and so your honour I rest my case! I was happy to row and get Matey into good spots and although there wasn’t a mass of fish about being Winter and many were away chasing their partners, there were enough to pique our interest every now and again.
Conversation flowed as you’d expect and the topics ranged widely, but the old rule applies, what’s said in the boat stays in the boat. Anyway if I divulged some of the stuff we’d probably be sued.
On we went, at times blind casting, then targeting a rise, or a fish we could see, but the low sun made conditions a bit awkward for sight fishing and then our persistence was rewarded when the hare and copper nymph was taken, the indicator went under and it was game on again. I netted it for him and it was photographed and after hands were wetted it was released to fight another day. All up we probably saw 8 or 9 trout and hooking up twice kept us both happy and that is what fishing is all about, because you don’t have to kill and eat everything you catch do you. Lunch was enjoyed in a quiet corner and true to tradition a fish appeared when we’d started eating. Yes it did a magical disappearing act. So we had a most enjoyable day out on the lake in Winter sunshine and only 1 other fisho trolling about and not near us as we haunted the edges and sedges.
I was born in Canterbury but we chose to live this side of the Alps and in my very young years in Christchurch, experienced plenty of cold winds and rain, especially when getting about on the pushbike. Plenty of people on The Plains said “It rains all the time on The Coast.” That is of course quite the misconception, as while those on the eastern side of the island labour under cold southerly quarter winds and rain that can mizzle for weeks on end, by the time said draughts climb the Southern Alps, they’ve shed their moisture, lost their puff completely and the western skies are blue with sunshine aplenty.
You could describe those misguided people as being under a meteorological misunderstanding, or maybe, after their uninformed comments, it’s just poetic justice.
