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Easter Fishing In Kurow
Wendy Gallagher - 04/05/01
Easter holidays in New Zealand are a time of mass migration,
and I'm not speaking of geese. Yes, it's when many New Zealanders pack their
bags, grocery shop at the last minute as if planning for a disaster of some
kind, and pile themselves and their families into the car for a last blast of
summer and outdoor activity before the onset of winter.
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Kurow Holiday Park sits on the back door of the Waitaki River
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My choice of destination was Kurow, which is situated in the Waitaki Valley.
It is about three hours drive south of Christchurch, and is close to the
amazing hydro dams and turquoise coloured hydro lakes, Benmore, Aviemore, and
Waitaki. I would be camping at Kurow Holiday Park which sits right on the back
door step of the mighty Waitaki River. I hoped to catch some trout.
My husband Pat and I along with our American visitor Eric, and AJ our trusted
doggy companion, arrived at the Holiday park around 9:30pm in the dark.
I checked in with Ron at the office and grabbed the key to one of their
tourist cabins, often nicknamed the honeymoon cabin, or luxury cabin because
it is like a miniature home away from home complete with double bed, stove, TV
and its own toilet and shower. We settled in comfortably and made an early
night of it so we could be sure to rise early to make a good start on the
fishing.
The next morning we arose, ate a quick breakfast of tea and toast and
arrived out on the river around 9am. I believe hardcore fisherman may scoff
at this time of day, thinking that you have to be up at the crack of dawn to
make the best of it. My companions and I, however, prefer to take the
leisurely approach.
We arrived at our chosen spot, a good accessible place for us because, being
only amateurs we did not have waders up to our chests, but only wore the
standard kiwi oudoor fare of jeans, bushshirts, swannies, and gumboots. We
all claimed our positions along the stony shore. The morning felt cool, and
the sky looked grey with low cloud around the tops of the dry brown hills.
The water level seemed quite high and flowed quickly, but the icy green water
looked clear. Not bad conditions for fishing at all.
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A misty morning on the Waitaki River
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When I fish, I stand there and soak up the environment. I listened to the
birds and the river, and noticed how the poplars had changed from having
their branches covered in deep lush green leaves from when I was last there
in February, to scarcely covered bright yellow. The atmosphere is peaceful
and relaxing. Fishing is a great way to get out into the fresh air.
I cast up river with my brand new, never before used spinning rod, a belated
but welcome birthday present from my brother, and as I watch my line sweep
swiftly downstream and begin to think about winding it in faster so that I
don't get snagged, I feel something take off with my line. I hear the
familiar zzzzz of the line as it's drawn out and in the next instant I spy
what has taken my lure. It's a small but very greedy trout. I wind him in
slowly yet gently following him downstream as he swims. Pat has seen that
I've had a bite and comes to lend a hand. We land the little guy who happens
to be about a half pound in weight, Pat carefully takes out the brown
tasmanian devil lure from his mouth, we put him back, and he swims strongly
away hopefully to grow up into a big fish.
I felt pretty happy about hooking the little tiddler, but it proved to be
just a warm up to what I connected with on the next cast out. My heart had
started to beat at normal pace again, and Pat had walked back to his fishing
position to cast out when I felt a bigger pull on my line. My heart quickened
as the adrenaline pumped through it. My rod bent over and my line started to
sing that old familiar song. The fish jumped. What a beauty! His white belly
shone in the just begining to shine sunlight. I started walking down stream
once again trying not to slip on the algae covered rocks and trying not to
fill my blue skellerups to the brim. As I walked trying to hold the weight on,
I could hear Dad's voice in my head giving good advice, and Pat also giving
instructions and encouragement from downriver.
This fish put on a good fight. Time seemed to have slowed down. For a moment
the fish stopped pulling and I feared he may have wriggled off, but no, he
was having a rest before zooming out toward deepwater once again. My arm felt
like it was trying to hold a huge lead weight but the fish slowly came in
closer and closer. I dipped my rod down and then took up the slack as I
lifted it back up; the fish started to tire. I wound my way through a
willow right on the edge of the water and nearly scratched myself to pieces
as branches whipped round my head. I could see Pat with the net in hand. He
waded out in his 4x4 gumboots and slipped filling one of them halfway with
water. Oops. Pat waded out a lttle further, the fish could be seen within
reach. Pat stretched out as far as he could and slipped the net safely around
the fish almost falling in at the same time. We waded back to shore and had a
good look at my gilled and scaly catch. He was a four and a half pound rainbow
trout, a rather handsome striking fellow with bright pink, silver and mossy
greens running down his body. This one's a keeper.
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Catch of the day
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We walked back up the shore to where Eric waited; everyone stood grinning,
mine the biggest of all. The cameras came out and the photo shoot began and
all before 10'oclock. We had been there less than an hour. There was no other
fish action that morning, but I didn't mind. In fact the rest of the weekend
produced very few fish. Eric and Pat only hooked a couple of small ones which
were caught then released. I proudly showed my fish to anyone who wanted to
see it back at camp. Mum told everyone she knew, and somehow I got the name
'Waitaki Wendy'.
I had done my share of the catching and had my fun. Thanks to my brother for
choosing the Mitchell Spiderpro spinning rod, and thanks to my Dad for lending
me his wonderful smooth casting Shimano Stradic reel and sharing his supply of
'tazzy' lures. Also thanks for kindly filleting the fish leaving no bones.
Eric, a chef by trade, later made some extremely tasty fish cakes with three
of the fillets; the other half are in the freezer.
Later in the week after we had all gone home Dad fought and won a battle with
a 14 pound salmon. Wow! That's what I'd love to catch next. I guess that will
have to wait until next season when 'Waitaki Wendy' rides the river banks again.
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