3 days of what was meant to be a 6 day crossing of the Ruahine Rangers but plans changed when Dodgy slipped on some rocks just before the second hut...
The first day was sunny and windy in the afternoon, plenty of fish seen early on but we were hunting at the time and didn't string up till after 10:30am with a cicada pattern and a small bead head hare and copper off the back.(0:21) At 11.00am I got a hookup off a average cast the fish tore off down stream requiring me to heavily side strain to avoid the over hanging tree on the way to the pool below, spooking the other trout and an eel in the pool a nice hungry rainbow was landed off the cicada.(0:50)
The deer were still out, a hind and a spiker were seen in the river but were unable to get a shot. A couple of fish were lost a long the way but at 11:50am another nice rainbow was landed.(1:36) This one really flew down river taking all my line and just leaving me with the backing.(on the nymph this time)
Not long after Dodgy shot a hind up on the river bank at about 40 yards, she ran into the bush where a second shot put her down.(1:53) Now with all of us having much heavier packs we carried on up river.
In the afternoon Josh found a Sage rod on the bank, it had no reel and was tangled in nylon but was in fine condition. We wondered what it's story was, had someone forgot it or dropped it in the river to lose it for good. Dodgy got on the board at 2:10pm with a fantastic jack.(2:42) Then at 2:40pm I landed another beautiful hen.(4:07)
Amazed with quality and condition of the fish we had landed Dodgy hooked up easily the biggest Ruahine rainbow I have ever seen,(4:26) the photos didn't do her justice.(we wanted to get her back as quickly as possible.) Only video of the release gives a glimpse of her scale and mass.(6:19)
More fish were seen on the way to the first hut but none took the fly. We got to the hut at 4:30pm had a feed and a quick rest before setting off on an evening hunt, 3 deer were seen on the large slip down river of the hut but was way too far to attempt a shot so we headed up river to look for something more likely but nothing was seen.
Next morning we went for a hunt up a side stream but there was little sign around and no deer were seen so Dodgy strung up the found Sage and we fished our way to the second hut. Only a hand full of fish sighted and one landed. (6:50) There was one trout that wasn't spooky and was holding deep in the pool that I probably could of got a hookup on if I changed the rig to bomb nymph with indicator but thinking that I still had 2 days of fishing to go I couldn't be bothered changing. The river was not as good in the section between the two huts as the pools were a lot shallower and largely full of gravel but this did make the gorge easier to navigate.
Just as we rounded the corner to the second hut Dodgy slip on an rock and went down and didn't get up. he said that he heard "a pop" so josh and I pushed on to the hut to drop off our gear then went back to grab his gear and him. At the hut there were three old bastards that had shot a eight point stag the night before. Two of them cooked us up an amazing feed for tea, venny goulash, fried potatoes, back steaks, capsicum, and red wine. After tea we pulled out the whiskey and sat around the fire and talked about past adventures.
On the third day the old boys asked the chopper pilot to come and pick them up and as Dodgy was not able to continue we hitched a ride out with them. Even thought the trip was cut short it was still two days of amazing fishing and hunting.
22 янв 2021
