As most of the streams and rivers are a beautiful shady of milk chocolate brown and nearing the top of the banks I have been venturing north to Rocky Mountain National Park in search of clearer and calmer waters.  A week ago I ventured up [...]]]>

Late Spring at Dream Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park

As most of the streams and rivers are a beautiful shady of milk chocolate brown and nearing the top of the banks I have been venturing north to Rocky Mountain National Park in search of clearer and calmer waters.  A week ago I ventured up with the intent of chasing some greenback cutthroat in Dream Lake.  Foolish I know, but the ranger at the entry station said it had opened up enough to cast.  As I hiked up to the lake my doubts began to grow as I looked down into the tree and rock wells and say almost 3 meters of snow.  However when I got up the lake, there certainly was enough open water to make very short cast too; unfortunately the water was only inches deep.

Mildly disappointed I hiked the two miles back down to the trailhead and started back towards town.  Along the way I saw a stretch of water (I do not know the stream name but it is almost certainly a tributary to the Big Thompson) that looked inviting and pull to the side of the rode.  In the first hour I landed 14 brown trout.  To make things better these were the first fish of the year to be taking flies (a size #18 Adams in my situation) on the surface!  In  three hours I landed around 30 fish in a 50 yard stretch of the stream; it was glorious.  None of the fish were particularly large, primarily around 7 inches plus or minus a few.  And all but one were brown trout.  Nonetheless I had a fantastic time.

Rocky Mountain National Park Brown Trout

The following weekend, on the Saturday before Memorial day, I returned to the same spot to try my luck again with the sky was clouded over and the temperatures were in the low 40′s.  There were just a few flies coming off the surface but none of the fish were interested.  Unwilling to beat myself up trying to convince just one trout to feed up top I tied on a #16 beadhead pheasant tail and started taking a few browns off of the bottom of the stream.  The fishing was not as fast as the previous week however I did have a bull moose, complete with velvet covered antlers, wander through.  He kept his distance and the world was pleasant for about 15 minutes until the cars on the road noticed him; the 15 minutes had 20+ cars with people rapidly encroaching on the moose (and me) to get better pictures.  Eventually the moose had enough and hightailed it back into the woods.  With the moose gone the automobiles quickly departed and I had another hour of calm.  In all I managed to bring in one greenback cutthroat along with about a dozen browns.

Rocky Mountain National Park Greenback Cutthroat Trout

On my way out back to my truck I had the only real negative of the trip when I ran across a women and her son fly fishing a bit upstream from me.  I stopped to say hello and query how they had been doing.  The women responded, aggressively and with a heavy New Jersey accent, that they were fishing with a guide who was just upstream.  When I responded “so what” she informed me that if I tried to do anything to her or her son she would scream and the guide would come to “deal with me”.  Shaking my head I replied that “it is no fun being afraid of anything and everything in the world” as I walked off.

23 inch Boulder Creek Rainbow

When I first [...]]]> This afternoon I decided to enjoy the relatively warmer weather to go chase little trout in Boulder Creek with my 3-wt Orvis Superfine (though I still used thin wool fingerless gloves).  I did not find little trout; I found this fine looking 23 inch specimen of rainbow trout.

23 inch Boulder Creek Rainbow

When I first started fishing, I saw a few midges coming off of the surface.  Even though there were no takes on top I had to try; I much prefer dry fly fishing.  Unsurprisingly I did not catch anything.  About fifteen minutes I spotted a good sized fish actively feeding.  The shadows, angle, and reflections were causing me difficulty in estimating the size and I did not think the fish to be over sixteen inches.  For over an hour I went through almost a dozen flies and increasingly lighter tippet until I settled on a bead head caddis on 6x fluorocarbon tippet.  I pulled the fly away from a small rainbow a few times and figured this selection was it.  A few more casts and I had the perfect drift to my large shadow.  The trout took the nymph and I was incredibly surprised at the size of the fish when it left the water.  The first thought to cross my mind was why did I think 6x tippet would be a good idea.  Thankfully the line held and many minutes later I landed the Boulder, CO monster.  Of course I had a hard time getting it into my net and had a few long breathes to ensure the line did not break.

I then cursed myself for bringing only my iPhone; when leaving home there was not even the faintest thought of catching something this size.  I had to beg a passing by college student to stop for a moment to take some pictures (thank you very much young lady).

I had never caught or seen a fish in Boulder Creek much more than 15 inches before, much less anything of this size. Landing this monster certainly made my overcast and dreary afternoon.

23 Inch Small Water Rainbow Trout

It has been almost half a year since Katie and I returned from our New Zealand honeymoon and in remembrance celebration I am posting the last piece of our four part adventure. After the painfully long flight into Auckland we met an old friend for a tour of the city. [...]]]>

View at Hosking Farm

It has been almost half a year since Katie and I returned from our New Zealand honeymoon and in remembrance celebration I am posting the last piece of our four part adventure. After the painfully long flight into Auckland we met an old friend for a tour of the city. The next morning, still confounded from the flight over, we headed to Ahipara for a week of surfing.  Returning to Auckland, we took our time to casual tour the city and the harbour. While we certainly enjoyed exploring a new city and learning a new sport, our excitement for the trip was highest heading into Rotorua to try our hand at mountain biking.

Killer Black Swan

Katie had asked if we could stay on a farm while we were in New Zealand; uncertain with the low quality of websites advertising a farmstay I opted for the one with pictures of massive brown trout, the bed and breakfast at Hoskings Farm just outside of Ngongotaha.  I cannot say that all B&B’s near Rotorua are run by one of the uniquely pleasant and heppy ladies I have ever met, have a beautiful house surrounded by meticulously kept gardens, and fields of curious cattle and sheep; the 120 acres at Hoskings Farm certainly did. Oh, and I forgot to mention the really big trout.  Really big.

Our host, Trish Hoskings, was a vibrant lady who dotted over her gardens and her guests.  Always full of suggestions and eager to offer food from her garden, Trish made our stay truly delightful.  Trish introduced us to her massive country garden, and assortment of chickens, lambs, and cattle; her pride in the land was evident.  On our first tour of the grounds we met the amusing young cattle as they would follow us to the gates between fields, hoping to get a free trip to the fresh grasses.  We amassed some impressive views, though the pool of massive trout under the bridge was edged out by the epic sunsets.

Rotorua Mountain Biking

As difficult as it was, we left the farm and ventured into Rotorua to hire (that means rent in “American”) mountain bikes for three days.  At Bike Vegas ran into a shop guy from Eugene, OR and scored a pair of modified Haro Mary XC 29ers; the front derailleur was removed, leaving us with the middle ring.  The shop guy assured us we would not need any more gears for redwood forest where we would be riding; he proved correct.  We loaded the bikes and headed over to the Whakarewarewa Forest trails with a quick visit to the New Zealand of Walmart to buy some cheap shoes. And no, I have no idea how you pronounce Whakarewarewa…

The locals claimed the Whakarewarewa Forest has some of the best riding in New Zealand; having nothing to compare and with our epic experience, I cannot doubt the claim.  The forest contains more than 70 km of trails interconnected by fire roads (that means even more available riding distance beyond the 43.5 miles of trails).  The trails were primarily flowy single track through densely treed woods; better yet they were all one way so you never had to hold back in fear of a crash.   Maps were scattered through the area, the trails were well marked off the fire road, and a smattering of water stations were available.  The was not major amounts of climbing (at least compared to our Colorado trails), but if you wish to get in more riding with less fire road climbing you can take a shuttle.

View from Riding Down Split Enz

While we did ride during the week, we very rarely met into other riders on the trails.  Those we did meet, primarily Australians whom were quite pleased that nothing in the forest was going to kill them, all exposed the same excitement as was on our faces.  The trails were phenomenal and I hope to have a chance to return and properly chronicle all of them; our last ride took us down Split Enz, continuing on the Pondy trails, and finishing on Old Chevy.  The fire road climb was long and we passed a few groups of Australians before finally reaching the trailhead for Split Enz.  The trail is tightly built with fast flowy curves swooping through huge trees.  As difficult as it was to stop, it was well worth it to see the gorgeous views.  Upon being dumped out to the Pondy system we had some slower, gentler grades of curves with moments of downhill speed.  We came out on Old Chevy, an up and down trail with more fast curves.   All combined, these trails were the single favorite ride of my life.

Fly Fishing a Spring Creek Near Rotorua

On a ski trip in the Colorado mountains shortly before we left for New Zealand I fell ill and spent a day perusing the fly shops in Summit county.  At the time, the only travel fly rod I possessed was a Fenwick 5 piece 5-weight that my father had built in the 1970s; I needed a better rod.  I picked up a fast action Sage FLi in an 8’6″ 4 piece 5-weight with a Sage 1850 reel for $200 on clearance.  Like most fast action rods the FLi can really punch out a lot of line, however I was more interested in the backbone to handle large New Zealand browns.

The country is fiercely proud of their fisheries and go to great lengths to protect them by restricting what gear you can bring into the country – I took the rod, reel, hemostats, leaders, and tippet material figuring I could buy everything else in-country.  I picked up about two dozen flies, some floatant, and some split shot before heading into the water. From the top of the steep banks I spied a plethora of browns and rainbows, ranging in sizes from around 12 inches to the largest trout I have ever seen in my life.  Along with the impressive size, I have never encountered such a concentration of large fish – it felt like walking along a fish hatchery. The New Zealand trout however were a lot smarter than their counterparts raised in American hatcheries.  My first challenge was hot to approach the fish; with the high banks I could not easily drop in behind them and spooked quite a few trout in my attempts to do so.  Eventually I made my way in and started working upstream.  Notice I have mentioned nothing about waders; I had none.  The spring creek was cold.  Very.  Cold.  Of course after a few minutes my feet and legs had gone completely numb so it no longer mattered.

The first day I spotted a few feeding fish but was unable to get them to take.  The next day, after a brief consultation with the fly shop, I purchased some 7x tippet and headed back into the water.  With the smaller tippet I was able to coax a mid-sized rainbow into taking a midge on the surface.  Unfortunately I discovered another flaw in my system – I had no net and the steep banks offered nothing to work the fish onto shore.  After a solid fight, the rainbow broke off as I unsuccessfully attempted to land him. I continued the trend with a few other small fish, breaking them all off before I can land them. Then it happened; I hooked a massive brown easily approaching 30 inches. The fish pulled me up and down the stream for well near 10 minutes before beginning to slow. The first time I got her close enough to touch the fish took off for another minute of sheer running; the second time I started to get my hand under her when she sprinted again and broke the line. I will definitely need to return for a rematch.

New Zealand Café

So what about the town and food? On our way into town we stopped for a bite of lunch – we ended up at a quaint, garden covered café.  The food matched the gardens in quality – fantastic!  In Rotorua each day we would eat a late lunch and pick up some bread and brie (with Trish’s garden vegetables) for evening snacking.  Given my love for lamb chops, I was amazed that it was the end of the trip before I finally had a rack of lamb.  With the outdoor activities, food was an afterthought though everyone we spoke to in town raved about the culinary options.  The town itself was very attractive – it was definitely a touristy/outdoorsy town but with the friendly New Zealand atmosphere.  Hot springs were on the edge of town and afforded a pleasantly casual stroll.  The lake bordering Rotorua was gorgeous but apparently the black swans are killers…  We heard that there were tons of outdoorsy activities to do but limited by our time and endurance,  we stuck with mountain biking and fly fishing.

Unfortunately our trip had to end and after two weeks in country we began our journey home.  On our way back to Auckland we stopped in the minuscule town of Tirua; they have the quintessential tourist trap in form of a massive corrugated metal sheep. We initially pulled over for the i-SITE visitors center but wondered into the Big Sheep Wool Gallery. One of my goals for the trip had been to acquire a new fly fishing hat, while I had successfully found a suit and a cycling jersey it appeared no hat was to be had. But then I was saved by the metal sheep! I found a great and airy Selke hat, just what I was looking for; Katie acquired a warm lumberjacks hat.  With our heads covered, we boarded another Air New Zealand flight for home (and failed attempts by three different flight attendants to get my entertainment system to work).