The Complete Fisher Forum

[Bazza]

continued from above ......

Always keen to taste local food when overseas & the night market in Koh Samui amongst several different
things tried grilled skewers of crickets, silk worms & grasshoppers ( locasts were out of season ) .... they were
nice & crispy but not a lot of flavour but apparently are very nutritious to the extent they may well be the salvation
as the world population continues to expand towards worldwide food shortages. Also tried durian again for the
second time which is reputed by many to be delicious but smell terrible to the extent many hotels have signs in the
lobby stating "No Durians past this point" which before knowing what they were thought "Wow that is definitely a
racist policy" as presumed it referred to a nationality. Must say on both occasions I have tasted durian I have not
noticed any particular objectionable odour ... maybe they had been treated or my sense of smell is not acute enough.



As mentioned a fishing charter trip was once again in common with many overseas destinations was very disappointing
& far from that shown on their promotional advertising material, with the first alarm bells sounding on noticing the size
of the tiny hooks on the rods provided. Nevertheless was a pleasant enough trip out at sea even if the fishing was pathetic
with only about seven or eight reef fish averaging 200 mm or less caught between about 20 anglers, nevertheless most
of the customers, even those that caught zilch appeared happy with the results & in particular an Asian guy who caught a
200 mm "monster" continued to relive the event constantly in between getting his buddy to take endless photos. The only
fish I caught I threw back as was only about 200 mm but in doing so earned the ire of the captain & deckhand who obviously
considered any fish regardless of size should be kept.







Having a monkey on your shoulder that would scarper up a coconut tree to fetch a coconut for you proved far more productive.





To be cont ......

[Bazza]

We were surprised to see how much building is going on in Bangkok & the variations of architecture.

As for the airport it is gianormous & is about to be tripled in size. Considering the length of the river boats
cannot help but wonder how they manage to turn them around.



The wiring in certain less developed areas is rather primitive however what we assumed were power cables
apparently are internet cables.

[Bazza]

The past month or so has been more of the usual regards fishing with the normal number of mishaps such
as Vinnie having his wagon stuck on a log on our way out over the sand dunes, after whitebaiting but were
"rescued" by obliging locals who towed us out.





An opportunity emerged for a group of four us that worked together nigh on 50 years ago but meantime kinda
lost touch to meet up for a reunion of sorts .... namely myself, Rod, Rods brother LLoyd & long lost Fritz who as
it happens now lives in a town, close to the Whakapapa river, where we regularly fish.

I drove the motorhome down on Tuesday enjoying several hours fishing then Rod & Lloyd arrived late afternoon
on Wednesday & once more I had managed to slot in several hours fishing prior to their arrival. Some of the fish
landed, particularly the browns were in reasonable condition with attractive colouring but would begin to turn
darkish after an hour or two for some reason.



We had a few (well more than a few actually) drinkies after settling in before enjoying a meal of roast chicken.



The sky was looking very ominous & adverse weather was forecast so was fortuitous the awning was up when a deluge
began & awning runoff provided a steady water supply also a pre rinse facility for the dishes.







Apparently there had been a rather severe earthquake that afternoon in the area we were in so text messages began coming
in to see if we were OK or even more dramatically had survived however in actual fact none of us had felt a thing although
Fritz next day said his wife had experienced quite a shake at their home.

Thursday late arvo Fritz arrived as arranged & after greetings & much back slapping, we all toasted the occasion with a bottle of
bubbly where upon the stories & reminiscing began to flow amongst much laughter. We had oysters pre dinner then a meal of
white bait fritters, prawns, fish fillet & freshly dug new potatoes accompanied by the beverage of individual preference.







Was a great time obviously enjoyed by all including Manuel a local identity who joined us later in the evening who was able to
contribute some great insights & interchange into the history of the area etc. which we all enjoyed & pretty sure he did as well.

Next morning we departed in our respective vehicles but would not have been a normal trip without a drama or two & this time
was no exception. Firstly could not find the spare set of keys for the motorhome, about a dozen in total of all sorts of peculiar
shapes & configurations that would be a nightmare to have replicas cut. Had arranged to meet Vinnie for a couple of days whitebaiting
staying overnight in the motorhome. At 3 20 am next morning I had the thought that the keys could be in my fishing backpack or
alternatively the front pack. Could not get back to sleep pondering on the possibility so the only option was to check if they were but
things only became worse when I could not find either of the packs .... oh such are the joys of getting old ! Figured might as well go
back to sleep as nothing could be done about the situation so put it down to rapidly encroaching senility & fell asleep.

Had a good day whitebaiting & Vinnie had prepared a tasty pre cooked curry.



Fished the next day as well albeit was not as productive as the previous day. We set off for home mid arvo but I had to stop for a rest
as was ultra tired & at risk of dozing off at the wheel. On arriving home there were two messages, one saying my packs had been packed
in error into Lloyds' car & the other a call from Manuel to say he had found the motorhome keys which was all the more amazing considering
he found them where the motorhome was parked that three of us had thoroughly searched every square mm ... or so we thought.

That was two problems resolved but after a very mediocre days fishing Tues with the chart plotter & sonar malfunctioning the anchor winch
refused to work on the final haul so am now faced with having to try to fix it ... hoping it will not be anything too serious & only be a loose
connection or suchlike ... even so will still need dismantling which is fairly tricky.

Whoever defined a boat as being a "hole in the water that you pour money into" was bang on!

[Bazza]

The previous mptorhome carried a 10 ft. aluminium boat vertically on the back, so set off with the idea of doing likewise on
the new one. However it soon became obvious that the same arrangement would not be practical this time round as rear vision
would be obscured with both the mirrors & rear camera. Therefore after much deliberation decided an inflatable boat, if space
could be made to store it internally might be the best option. Thereafter followed much deliberation on how best to fit everything
in conveniently & to this end the local Burnsco & in particular the young lady manager were very obliging regards taking endless
measurements & even a test packing. It was eventually established that space, at best would be very marginal nevertheless it was
decided to purchase the 3 mtr inflatable in the hope a refit of the existing storage space would achieve the desired result.



The next step was to rip out all of the rear seating, bed & structure in order to facilitate a customised refit. Although onever small exterior
panel door existed it had been realised another much larger one would need to be fitted on the opposite side so as to create a storage
"tunnel" with ready access. What had not been realised however is what a major task that would be as not only did it need to align with
the smaller door opposite, but also the maximum size was determined by the space between the coach work steel framing. It was a tricky
situation but somehow or another managed to get things to work albeit with less than a mm to spare.





Was feeling rather pleased with myself having overcome that hurdle when a mini disaster occurred that would considerably upset the work
schedule .... namely ..... had a reversing camera fitted but unknown to me it had a left/right mirror function even tho imo it defies reason
to think of any possible use it might be to be able to view in a reverse image. Nevertheless it does have such a function which some how or
another had been switched over meaning as I was backing out to the road it was showing plenty of clearance but of course that was the other
side that was showing on the screen, consequently hit the corner of the spouting on the house gouging a cut in the bodywork of the luton
area of the motorhome.





Was a lengthy process of trial & error but amazingly enough all the floor panels as well as the oars, pump & trolley were made to squeeze into
the storage under one of the bunks.



With just enough space left to individually store the oak dining table ( made from two single re shaped bed ends ) & pole.



Space to store the motor & miscellaneous fishing gear, tackle, rods etc.



Motor in storage box



Have purchased a largish storage box to be fixed to the rear & supported off the tow bar to carry things such as fuel, anchor,

rope, 2 stroke oil, freshwater flushing buckets etc.




m/forum/

[Bazza]

A visitor from South Africa asked to go fishing ... he now thinks every day out here
produces a limit of good size snaps plus ky, gurnard under balmy weather conditions.

Chose not to disillusion him with the actual reality.

[Bazza]

It is that time of the year again with ultra hot days when we eat, drink ( far too much ) & make merry
until the next morning that is.



the next day ( boxing day ) we went blow carting on the beach where it is possible to get up to 70 kmph
or more if the conditions are right.





That night camped at Pouto which is a rather isolated area rich in history & altho not far from where we often
boat fish on the opposite side of the Kaipara harbour it nevertheless is a 3 1/2 to four hour drive to reach Pouto.
The road ends there & to go further requires 4wd purpose built all terrain vehicles or as in our case 4wd quad bikes,
but even they can get bogged down at times which is merely a matter of digging the wheels free, providing it is
not in any of the areas of quicksand.





Guess the likelihood of the occasional mishap is to be expected given the challenging type of terrain.





In the 12 km or so of inner coast there are 43 ship n shipswrecks mostly from the late 1800's to the early 1900's when
impatient skippers chose not to wait for the assistance of the harbour master & found themselves negotiating a treacherous
bar then having to contend with a 8 to 10 knot harbour current at times along with fierce winds that drove them aground
on shore, hence the general area is known as "The Graveyard" The most recent tragedy was about 2 yrs ago when the
charter boat Francie was swamped with the loss of 8 lives & only 3 survivors.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/99060637/fewer-kaipara-boaties-crossing-graveyard-bar-since-francie-tragedy






It is a rather addictive activity illustrated by the fact this entire family of six each had their own quads.



An elevated view of Pouto with the rather formidable South head of the harbour entrance in the background.



Had been hoping to launch the small inflatable that I had spent a considerable amount of time adapting the motorhome to
accommodate it for the first time but it soon became obvious that given the potential of a mishap then Pouto was not the ideal
place to do so. Consequently decided to backtrack about 30 mins to Kellys Bay which was far less hazardous & was pleased to
have a gratifying catch rate on the two occasions I went out whilst camped there.





The next decision was where to spend New Years eve & finally opted to do so at Kai Iwi lakes. It has been probably 30 years since
spending time there & fondly remembered it as three sand dune lakes, one of which had Bemuda like white sand with delightful coral
blue water that held fantastic clean tasting trout & unless there was a group overnight activity, only ever had a handful of people
visiting.

Therefore it was rather disconcerting to find hordes of people, a couple of dozen large boats, heaps of smaller craft & umpteen jet skis
not to mention the mobile food / drink stalls operating ....... sad indeed.



Rather than endure the final leg of the homeward journey in the stress full holiday traffic spent the next overnight stay in the far more
relaxing environment of a freedom camping facility at Port Albert less than 1 1/2 hours drive from home.

[Bazza]

Scroll down opening page below for a vid clip of the aforementioned Kai-iwi lakes to
illustrate how a once peaceful isolated locality has been ruined from becoming over popular :-

http://www.kai-iwi-lakes.co.nz/

[Bazza]

It is a long since posting to this thread mainly due to puter problems which I thought had been resolved but having just composed a lengthy post complete with pics it all suddenly disappeared into cyber space just as it was about to be posted.

Therefore in this instance I trust that admin to save me the trouble of rewriting to allow a link instead.

http://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/mohaka_topic130790.html

Cheers Barry

[Bazza]

For her birthday I shouted our younger daughter & husband a stay in a rather unique remote location
15 km into exquisite native forest from any road accessible only via old logging tracks. It consists of
3000 acres of native forest within a huge forest that was once milled up until the 50's for timber but
fortunately that was halted in time to preserve much of the pristine beauty plus it is set on the banks
of the upper Whanganui river that holds good stocks of wild trout & is relatively seldom fished due to the
remoteness.

Bow hunting is allowed mainly for wild deer, pigs & goats etc & I was kindly given a leg of wild pork
plus a smaller piece that provided two meals.



The cabins whilst not luxurious were built by two enterprising brothers who fell then milled the timber
onsite as well as custom forming various profiles such as beams, doors, cladding also tongue & groove
using only a bush saw & routers solely reliant on power from a generator. Nevertheless the whole complex
compliments the surroundings perfectly. Libby & Steve were given a Suzuki 4WD to negotiate the bush tracks
with Danny one of the owners showing the way in another & I was kindly invited to come along for the ride.
Having seen such a slice of paradise am looking forward to a stay there in the spring.



On the first day of their stay & for the trip in it was raining so I was concerned that Libby & Steve may not be
able to fully appreciate the views etc however the following day was perfect & Steve even hooked into a nice
trout. They understandably wishing they could stay longer when Danny returned at a prearranged time to escort
them reluctantly back to civilisation.



Bush tracks :-





A typical view on a fine day :-



The icing on the cake for Libby & Steve was that they had it entirely all to themselves.

[Bazza]

A couple of months ago I was fishing in much the same location when the boat began to
swing around in the opposite direction to that which the tide had been holding it then
after awhile swung back again. Was rather puzzled as to why it had done so until all was
revealed after pulling the berley pot up to find the mesh had been shredded which indicated
a large fish, most likely a shark had taken a fancy to the contents of the pot & had tried to
swim away with it.

Recently a couple of boats were sw flyfishing in little more than a metre of water when a
large fish ( could well be the same one ) tried to eat a berley pot one of the boats had down.

By sheer chance the occupant in the other nearby boat had a vid cam running which caught
the entire following event caught on camera.

Please excuse the expletive but probable most of us would utter something similar had we
just witnessed something so dramatic.

After opening to link scroll until the video image appears then click the "play" arrow.

http://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/kaipara-reports_topic96514_page24.html

Altho the guy calls it to be a bronzie it has since been identified to be a great white !

[Bazza]

Usually Autumn can be rather hit or miss type of SW fishing butt this time around we are
enjoying it consistently excellent in numbers, size & condition.







Maybe we have just been lucky even if on one occasion I wasn't ... was picking up one of the larger
fish for a photo when my thumb instead of going into the main gill plates slipped into a sub gill instead.
Despite the number od fish I had caught over the years I was not aware they even had sub gills or the
fact they were razor sharp but was about to find out when suffering a 10 mm cut to my thumb which
gushed blood even after being dressed resulting in blood everywhere eventually, creating a scene
reminiscent of the "Chainsaw massacre" movie.

[Bazza]

Last week my brother & I went on a fly fishing trip in the motorhome.

Was an enjoyable 5 or 6 days & comparatively productive despite the uncertain
weather forecasts as well as the rivers being fairly high & coloured.

About the 4 th. day we were parked riverside on the Whirinaki on a farm property.

Like most old coots of my age after retiring to bed I usually need to take a couple
of "comfort" sessions during the hours of darkness.

Was outside attending to the matter in hand ( no pun intended ) whilst admiring
the superb vista the galaxy turns on such a crisp, frosty clear atmosphere well
away from city lights.

Whilst admiring the spectacle & even noticing a couple of shooting stars became
aware of one particular star that was 3 or 4 times the size of the next largest &
whilst focussed on it was amazed to see it was definitely not only moving across
the night sky but it was flashing off & on at approx. 5 sec equal intervals.

I shouted to my brother to come & have a look but being thin blooded from living
most of his life in Queensland was reluctant to leave his mountain of bedding,
clothing etc. instead claimed he could see it from the window on his side of the
motorhome but that turned out to be a distant farm house with an outside light on.

Meantime after traversing about 1/3 of the constellation in maybe 5 minutes or less
the flashing light of the unknown object switched off & did not come on again.

It did not look remotely similar to any satellite I have seen & most definitely was
not a plane, or at least as we know them ... so what on earth or elsewhere was it ??????

[Bazza]

Opted to make the most of the last few days of the 2018/19 freshwater fly fishing season by taking off in the motorhome intending to fish the Whirinaki & Ruakituri rivers.

Early Thursday morning having travelled thru Kaiangaroa forest in patchy fog it became particularly thick on the long downhill stretch leading towards Murupara considerably
limiting visibility when a stationary object began to appear in the middle of the road about 30 metres or so.


When it was seen to be a car upside down at right angles in the centre of the road with a guy standing in front of it I instinctively hit the brake pedal. Was then the motorhome
developed a mind of its own failing to respond to ant steering direction & realised it was instead sliding on ice

..... bloody hell ..... was I going to smash into the guy standing there who was in the process of lighting a ciggy which strangely enough remember thinking was probably not
the smartest move considering the up turned vehicle was probably spilling petrol.

Anyone witnessing what then transpired would have no doubt thought "Gee that guy really knows how to handle an ice slide" but in reality I wasn't the slightest bit in control,
more like in the hands of fate thing the best I could hope for would be a collision or to roll over.

But no ... miraculously enough the wheels on the passenger side dipped into a semi culvert then rode up the bank lurching this way & that managing to miss the obstruction
by a hairs' breath.

Escaped with nary a scratch to the motorhome with the only casualty being the crockery set that had ended up in a shattered mess on the floor.

Other than the nights being well below zero temps everything from thereon went according to plan but given a narrow escape from disaster opted not to go on to the Ruakituri but to spend time on various locations of the Whirinaki instead & needless to say will have the greatest respect hereon for icy road conditions.i

[Bazza]

Having over the years provided overseas anglers from maybe a dozen or so countries a very affordable
NZ fishing experience with accommodation, guiding, transport & meals etc. included.

These are entirely on a non commercial basis at fraction the cost of any other alternative ventures.

Schedules & itinerary totally flexible & can usually be adjusted to suit but generally require a minimum
of 3 or 4 weeks to be worthwhile. Altho emphasis primarily would be freshwater fly fishing a limited
amount of salt water fishing can also be involved.

Travel, accommodation & meals etc. via motorhome which can often provide many exclusive riverside venues.

The freshwater 2019 season for most waters finished on June 30th & reopens on Oct. 1st which is when
it is envisaged is approximately when a trip would be scheduled less a couple of days perhaps SW fishing.

Expressions of interest or requests for further info welcome.

Cheers Barry

[Bazza]

Been awhile since I visited so good to see the forum is still going strong &
a lot of familiar names.

Hi to all.