It takes 43 muscle's to frown and 17 to smile, but only 3 for proper trigger pull.
What more do we need? If we are above ground and breathing the rest is up to us!
Rule 1: Treat every firearm as loaded
Rule 2: Always point firearms in a safe direction
Rule 3: Load a firearm only when ready to fire
Rule 4: Identify your target beyond all doubt
Rule 5: Check your firing zone
Rule 6: Store firearms and ammunition safely
Rule 7: Avoid alcohol and drugs when handling firearms
During the winter in Western Norway the fish come in to spawn. The fishing can be incredable, I am mostly a net/ long ling fisher.
I put out two gill nets from my Kayak in the middle of Bergen. We pulled them in from a Dingy a day later, netting about 25kg in fish and 20 odd big crabs.
"Sixty percent of the time,it works every time"
Floundering with @ROKTOY his mini me and young lads from work!
Rushed the first drag went into early and two rays resulted but a couple of flats to boot, the young and dumb ones were keen to mix it up with they rays the more mature and street smart members of the team to leave them be and we would sort them! Which we did very gingerly as one of the old stinkers had done a right number on the net eventually got it sorted and the drag back in the tide. A few more fish then we set up for the flood.
The flood ran and I could feel fish hitting my end of the net whilst the short fella couldn’t feel a thing, hauled the drag in and his end held a good number of flats whilst mind had none…Go figure!
Young folk had a ball yarning laughing etc the cloud and rain buggered off and it was a perfect end to another epic adventure!
Nil durum volenti !!
Then up earlyish to catch up with @Joe Schmo, headed over a couple of hills and then dragged the poor bugger through gorse blackberry only find the track so overgrown it was impassable, back through the gorse and blackberry down another track to the river finally!
Not a great start, out onto the riverbed to a beautiful wee spot, Joe Schmo was geared up and set to fishing , I set to relaxing and watching a different style fishing being done ! Then at Matts insistence I geared up , tied on a lure from half way around ( cheers Matt) and bang I was on!
Matt did a solid job of netting the wee battler and we were on the board! Smiles all round, the next run and Matt fishes the drift perfectly and he’s into his first NZ trout (you bloody beauty) , He’s over the moon and so am I …then the day drifted away with a few miles wandered ,a couple of lures sacrificed to the fishing gods we each hooked on more fish but nothing made it to the net ! We saw a good number but clear water made them hard to fool.
Thanks Matt, for the company , not taking the piss out of bloody terrible casting display I put on, the wonderful set of lures , enjoying the bush bashing, showing me a different style of fishing , the great yarns…you will make a great kiwi !
Nil durum volenti !!
What a way to end the 2022 flounder events. That was a good fishing outing, Cheers @stingray.
We arrived in the middle of a small rain shower, so getting into wetsuits and into the tide was quite nice, the tide was warmer.
The weather cleared as the evening progressed. The first two rays were ominous but no, we were rewarded with a nice catch of flatties. A good number released including the largest fish caught for the evening. He had been chewed at some stage prior to meeting us and was quite thin so we put him back in the drink to fatten up for a later date.
The young lads that had accompanied Stingray were a hoot.
A little yarn back on ry land and we parted ways. I stopped off on the way home and fed the Penguin, who was stuck at work for the evening. Dropped off a few fish to the locals and crawled home for a late dinner of salad and pan fried Flounders.
I really wasn't very deep really...
Hunting fish
Lure recovery.
Re rigging
What a place to call home
Nil durum volenti !!
@stingray we were the best fisherman in the world for a total of 7 or so minutes and then things went steadily downhill
Thank you for the trip and the yarns and all the discussions on this and that. I will treasure the blood on my legs, my first sandfly bite and my first NZ fish forever!!!
Fished the lower Waimea (6min from where we’re staying in Hope) for the last two hours of light tonight. Scared a couple tiny trout, had one small follower, saw a 5 pounder cruising in the slack water and saw a dozen or so tuna and chased them around a bit. Almost kinda pretty out there in your country
Lot of people fishing at the fishing ponds tonight. Dog had a ball. I have been fishing further up than you and seen nothing, caught nothing............yet.
I would suggest have a look up the Lee river, Turn left at Brightwater follow River Terrace road over the bridge to Lee Valley rd
Last edited by mikee; 26-12-2022 at 10:37 PM.
Trust the dog.........................................ALWAYS Trust the dog!!
Outstanding Christmas fishing on the coast with the family over the last few days.
Just had a blast, heaps of laughs, fun & sun !
Eating the spoils of our efforts every night. The stuff my dreams are made off.
Hope you all had a good one too
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Its not what you get but what you give that makes a life !!
Got to the bay yesterday, boat was gone so tidied up the section!
Out this morning fished the flood , cod were stuffed with chain plankton and fat as! We all managed to snag a keeper brim each as well, so with the crew in high spirits I took my chance to get underwater….down on a new bit of turf found a rock that had being basically split in half with a crack running the length (6/7 meters) and the depth of it also 3/5 meters. Snagged an unlucky victim on the top of the crack , then snuck in on two more holding tight on the other side got the first one with a bit of luck and chewed air and battled with the second.
Not huge crays but glad to get a new mark to hunt.
Back up the coast dropped a burly and hunted snapper and gurnard …half an hour of full flood tide then it pettered out , nothing but hot sun !
Nil durum volenti !!
The big finish!!!
As most would have already know Joe Schmo is visiting, so with another couple of txt messages we were up for another wander around the district!
Pick the bloke from overseas at a reasonable hour and with the chance to meet other forum members we headed for spot B, arrived to find the lake still very full and discoloured, but with the place nearly to ourselves we set to chucking metal , plastics , and all sorts of creations into the tide.
In due course @kukuwai and lads arrived and whilst most of us set to yarning Kukuwais youngest set to chucking lures in every spot he could access , then changing colurs and doing it all over again. His big brother had a more studied approach and went straight to bait fishing , along with dad eventually. Matt and I chucked this and that into the stained water…then with neither baits or other contraptions getting the trouts attention , Matt and I went for a explore, up the road past other very relaxed fishermen/ and ladies we wandered still no current as the dam was full to overflowing, but the further we went the clearerer the water got!
Matt says hold up ! “ I just saw a fish “ …out of the truck we piled and hang on not one but three …you beauty!!
Out with gear and into it , every cast ignored..they were cruising past lures , soft baits everything…back to the truck for a bit of a systems check…into my tackle box of wonderful ideas re rig and back to these damn trout…the first few ignored ( we think these maybe hatchery fish that haven’t seen natural tucker ? ) then we found a beauty cruising up the bank underneath our feet , it wandered out to the middle of the canal and disappeared into the murk …
Matt had the dropper / bubble already positioned in that drift …but was enjoy the surroundings, the quiet , the bird sound ,the ….STRIKE Matt STRIKE ….I calmly and gently encouraged as the bubble disappeared for the third time. Matt did and to his credit damn near got the whole rig on the bank…damn
Undaunted we gathered ourselves as another target drifted into view , this time it went like clock work …bubble in trout wanders up the drift …bubble disappears after what feels like a lifetime, Matt gently lifts the rod and WE ARE ON! A short but explosive battle we had it in the net …you beauty! Photos , handshakes and smiles all round! ..back it goes ..
Perfect let’s do that again well not 50 meters up stream another target , Matt is now on his game cast ….wait …dip …lift… ON …this time Matt will have none of this mucking around and does a fantastic version of the “Mcknight winch “ the trout goes aerial twice gets some slack line and is gone …damn…
We wander the water course , with Matt pointing out a shaol of what we are pretty sure we’re 4 inch long elvas …almost clear juvenile eels . Then the wind puffed and that rippled the water ruining the sight fishing. We tried another bit of water to no avail …
Back to the truck and running out of time we caught up with the Kukuwai clan , to find they had landed not one but two of the 500 tagged trout , plus another fish …bloody well done under testing conditions!
So more yarns ,photos , ideas swapping , plans made and advice shared! To top it off we were visited by the local ranger for a license check and yet more yarns and ideas and info …what a bloody great morning out.
We missed the @Shearer and would have loved to chew the fat with him..
So with that I bid Matt / @Joe Schmo farewell for now..
he’s heading south ..so if you have an evening or morning spare…give him a PM and see if he’s available for a look around…he does have few family commitments and couple of appointments pending …but Matt is well worth the effort ..if only for a yarn even better for an adventure…he’s a doer not afraid of gorse , blackberry or waist deep water ..
Cheers Matt . Thank you for the tackle but more importantly the tactics and different styles of chasing fish…see you on the next go round!
Joe
Couple of photos to follow! Memories I will treasure!
Nil durum volenti !!
Primed for the hunt
Got em
The lake high and soupy
Didn't phase or stop the Kukuwai's ...bloody legends
Nil durum volenti !!
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