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Birthday wishes (come true sometimes)
For a bit of context as to my surprise when my wife offered I go for a long weekend hunt early Dec (posted previously) was that for my 50th birthday mid September she gave me a hand written voucher for a chopper trip (to be my first) anywhere I wanted and time away from the family. Over the last few years getting back on board with the outdoor adventures and catching up on some of the hunting shows, there was a really strong temptation to head south and go chase some Thar and Chamois. But reality was this would require guiding. Not so the worry about finding animals, but to be able to read the mountains and be safe in there. The alternative option was to get into some new country up here in the NI and a few of the Kaweka missions on NZ Hunter really caught my interest. That and some of the articles posted on this site. So after quizzing a member of this forum a bit, the die was cast and with some comms with Chris at EKH a plan set and bookings made. My wife was a bit surprised at how cheap the flights were going to be so suggested I take a mate along too (I think this was as much to put her mind at rest with me being back country for a week). Well first mate who was dead keen had to pull the pin after his boss wouldn't let him go off grid over the period booked. Not deterred about going solo, I texted a good mate only 2 weeks out on the off chance he'd have the time. We'd just missed out on a catch up hunt last summer after he busted a wrist mtb'ing. Anyway a couple of hours later got text back 'Yep I'm in' Brilliant.
Giving Chris my hopes of mixing up some fishing, bit of bush hunting and hopefully a flycamp night or 2 up the tops he suggested Ngaawapurua for a drop off, then walk up to Harkness and weather depending hit either Te Rua or Te Puke tops for some above the bushline adventure. Done.
Leading up to fly in date, the weather had still been pretty changeable but the forecast looked on the whole really good. Fly in day and we got out to EKH for weigh in. There were a couple of sideways glances at how much gear we had between us, but my justification was I only needed to be really pissed off for one tramp between the 2 huts. The rest of the time we'd be travelling lite. A quick few pointers from Chris on the map as to where we should look and how to get there, then safey briefing and we were on our way. 2 deer spotted on the way in which was nice just to get a lock on their coats and this had us fired up for an arvo stalk to kick things off with. Not 20min in and we had one squealing at us just over a spur after the wind sent our still fresh hunting apparel scent its way. About an hour later crossing quite a bit of fresh hot sign I had one crash off below after we'd split up. Saw the white flash of it's behind as it fled. Well, at least we're in the right spot.
Next day was a fishing day. We'd spotted at least 3 fish in the pool right below the hut so I got sent in for first try since it was my birthday trip. An almost to the armpit wade at the lower end of the pool and a slow stalk up and I had one lined up feeding just my side of the current line. Cast one a bit short, add another 4ft of line. Cast 2 and bang I'm in. A nice conditioned hen of close to 5lb went back after a good tussle and we were both thinking this is going to be a busy day (haha).
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Well that was my last fish landed for the morning and my mate did land one himself. He was absolutely rapt having not waved a fly rod in anger for a few years now and having always wanted to fish the Ngaruroro since his younger days. That made me smile.
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Back to the hut for lunch then up the Ngaawapurua stream for the arvo fish. My mate had come back down the stream track from the hunt the day before and spotted a couple of good fish so we thought why not. Well this was a whole lot more exciting and with small water and needing your mate to spot the fish and call it's location quite often it really didn't matter if you were on spotting duties or holding the rod. A few close calls including one each dropped on the dry fly and we were wondering if we'd actually get anything to stick. Then my mate got led all round a pool after a solid hook up. At one point the fish wrapped his line almost the whole way round a big midstream boulder and was just about swimming into his legs. That one earned it's freedom easily. Walking up the track my mate spotted the front of a fish in fast water just the other side of a boulder. He waded in behind it and totally blind now to it dropped a rod length of leader over its head. Next second I see the whole head come out as it engulfs the fly, call the strike and its all one. A great scrap later and the fish of the day is in the net. Great way to wrap up day 2.
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Next morning was fishing downriver from the hut on the Ngaruroro. A cloudy overcast start didn't seem to do us many favours with the trout not particularly active until the sun finally broke through. Only fish of the morning was this recovering jack. I'd been casting across to a fish I could spot, changing dropper fly a couple of times with no luck. Then on one drift realised my dryfly indicator had gone. A rod lift and I was into this one.
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Not long after this we were back to the hut to pack up and clean up then face the grind up the track to Harkness hut. At one point we both had to scramble under a fallen tree with a bit of a tight squeeze and both managing to put our hand smack in the middle of a few young nettle plants. Some lovely tingling that night. A quick stop where the track dropped back down to the stream and at this point things were pretty much descending into Type 3 fun with close to 40kg on our backs and a warm day to boot. 5 minutes after getting on our way again and my mate swings his rifle up to his shoulder as a hind just off the track on a little bush face bolts to safety. If he'd been looking up instead of at his sorry feet he might just have had a chance. Finally we rolled into the hut glad to be there. And as we were sorting out our gear I realised my daytrip backpack that was rolled up under my big pack had come out at some point. Arghh! This kind of set up the plan of attack for the next day with a walk up the Te Puke track, sidle round into Magpie Creek and hunt back down to the track to head back to where we'd stopped on the tramp up as I'd definitely seen my daypack still attached there.
Well the hunt wasn't all that inspiring. Plenty of fresh prints to start along the track but into Magpie and most of the sign was pretty old with only the odd smattering of fresh sign here and there. Regardless the wind really wasn't helping much. On the nose for 10-15min, then side, then quarter tailwind. A quick backtrack once on the track and we were on our way back to base. Me looking for my daypack, my mate looking up a lot more this time for a silly deer. We did come across this at one point which was great to see.
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Which led us just off the side of the stream. Google tells me it's a Stinkhorn Mushroom. Never seen one before and there were 4 others within a meter of it.
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Back to the hut at about 5pm for an earlier dinner and we were contemplating options. Of which with the wind blowing steadily downstream across the flats didn't seem to be much for the evening. Just before 7pm it looked to me as if the wind had finally blown out so a short stroll down to the chopper pad and as I looked across the creek below couldn't believe what I was seeing. A deer, head down in the grass had come out for an early dinner. Ducked straight down and was already thanking my lucky stars it hadn't been head up when I walked down there. Kicked off the crocs and ran back up the hut interrupting my mates cup of tea as he could tell straight away what was going on. Grabbed the rifle and snuck back down then the belly crawl to the edge of the helipad and peeked over. It was just a few minutes of waiting for a perfect broadside then squeezed off the shot. One leap forward and he was down. Although not feeling I'd really earned this one my mate did point out we'd been on our feet pretty much all day. Super easy being right there and a big bonus for me as I really wanted a nice summer skin. So a carry between us both back up to the meat safe and my mate now invigorated went off for an evening wander down the now calm flats. He heard a few moving around behind him up in the bush but saw nothing. Meanwhile I was feeling a bit better about the +2kg (of salt) I'd carried in my pack the day before to treat the skin.
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Next day was another fishing day. I'd read there could be trout all the way up to just below Harkness hut and we'd seen one rising not too far away on our tramp up. We headed back to that pool and what followed was a good 3-4 hours covering about 300m of water. Seemingly a fish every 10-15m whether it be in a small pool/hollow or sitting mid current. Super super fun. For those of you who don't chase trout with a fly, it really is a lot like hunting, but a lot more on your terms and equal mix of tension and relaxing. The beauty being once you find a fish, you can just sit back, take your time and work out the approach. But often you'll only get one shot at it. Mess it up and the fish is gone. So in that regards not unlike a stalk. It's just when you find a few fish you get another chance, and another and another to redeem yourself :)
At the top of the long stretch my mate hit a bend pool with at least 2 fish in there and for some reason not being spooked by him or his many fly changes. I peeked around the corner a bit and found a nice fish mid stream in some slow water. A couple of casts with a tiny dry and I managed to nail the drift and was rewarded with a lazy rise to suck the mayfly down. Lifted the rod and it was all one. Now for those who haven't been up these parts the any rock bigger than about fist size is a potential slip hazzard. Even the dry ones it seems. So when this fish took off downstream and through 2 sets of rapids all I could do was keep the rod high and follow as fast as I could. My mate handily netted this in the pool he'd been fishing. I went off back down stream to where we'd dumped our bags and gear to get some lunch and by the time I came back up my mate was just landing one of the other fish. Hence both pics have the same background.
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I was feeling pretty knackered after a sleepless night the night before after the excitment of getting the stag so went back to the hut for a bit of a rest and left my mate to explore a bit more water downstream. He ended up landing 3 more and losing a couple so was happy with his day out.
The plan had been to get up to Te Rua tops for an overnighter but the forecast kept deteriorating and it was obvious this wasn't going to happen so my mate suggested we see if we could get an early pick up. A couple of messages later across the inreach and Chris said he'd be happy to come get us just after midday the following day (one day earlier than planned) weather permitting. This allowed a morning stalk for my mate and time to pack up. I tagged along as an extra pair of eyes and binos but all he found was a couple of fresh gut bags. A week earlier and he might have been in luck. The flight out was in some pretty heavy rain and a bit of a detour I think to get out but all good and pretty straight forward.
So with that, the birthday wishes of some back country trout and a nice Sika summer skin were well and truly ticked off. And the big bonus on top was a great few days catching up with an old mate. Actually the bigger bonus was a couple of days later when the wife suggested I could make this an annual trip :) Well I guess while the legs are still working it'd be silly not to consider it.
Stay safe out there people.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers
