Putting in the troutfishing 'hard yards'

First Day on a New River

It’s always exciting to fish a new river. However unless you have some expert advice on access and the best stretches, you usually end up wasting a lot of time in exploration. This is especially so when the river you want to fish is not mentioned in many guide books. This was certainly the case when I discovered the Glenroy River in the Buller region.
It was Christmas holiday time and the well-known rivers like the Blue Gray and the Maruia were getting a thrashing from the holidaymakers. When you fish the Buller/West Coast area, you normally don’t see too many other anglers. These areas are sparsely populated so there are not too many ‘locals’. As long as you are further than a ‘day trip’ from Nelson or Christchurch, you can normally assume you will have the river to yourself.
It is still amazing to me how we take this lack of anglers for granted. Unless you fish the Taupo region, no one expects to encounter more than a handful of other anglers during a day’s fishing. Compare this to what you read of fishing in the States, where hordes of anglers are clambering for the spot where they can fish for 9-inch trout. We just don’t give enough thought to the quality of the fishing we have here. This was emphatically demonstrated to me one day in Chicago when I was browsing in the Orvis shop. I overheard an angler recounting to the shop assistant how he ‘caught one that went 14 last weekend’. After all I had read about the size of USA trout, I was so surprised at the size of this fish that I couldn’t resist asking where had he got this 14 pounder.
“I was talking inches” replied the USA angler somewhat huffily. I hurriedly apologised and then explained the reason for my faux pas was that our legal minimum size was often 14 inches. No one would ever regard a 14 inch trout as a ‘trophy fish’.
“Oh really, where are you from?” enquired a very disbelieving angler.
“ New Zealand,” I replied and went on to do my bit for the tourist industry by telling him you could actually catch 14 lb trout in Kiwiland. Not too often, but it does happen.
So being used to having not much competition on the water, I had got a bit tired of seeing droves of holiday anglers everywhere. I thought I should seek out some new water. I drove over the tortuous Maruia saddle heading for the Matakitaki River, which is mentioned in the odd guidebook as having some good fishing in the upper reaches.
As I emerged from the beech forest onto the flat, there was a one way bridge. Crossing over slowly I looked down upon a stunning, clear green river flowing out of a bouldery gorge. ‘Wow’ I thought, ’that looks like good water’. I parked the car over the bridge and spied a sign that declared this was the Glenroy River. Tackling up did not take long and soon I was easing into the cold green water under the bridge.
First mistake ! Although the river looks beautiful at the bridge, don’t be tempted to try the gorge. Wading in the gorge is impossible unless the river is very low and the rough track along the ridge above peters out into impassable bracken after 20 mins. So having wasted an hour and considerable amounts of perspiration, I collapsed into the car and consulted my map. The next access above the gorge involved driving along to the junction of the road from Murchison and turning right up the Glenroy valley. The first obvious access was at the bridge over a tributary in the middle of a dairy farm. I skated my way down the slippery creek and arrived at the Glenroy proper. It was possible to fish down to the gorge but as there was only a few hundred metres of fishable water, I decided to head upstream. However after only a couple of fishless pools, the river went into a second gorge. This was fishable but looking down from the cliffs above I did not spot any fish, which was probably a good thing considering the clamber down the high bank that would have been necessary to get to the river. This reminded me again of the perils of fishing in rugged country on your own. I am not always as cautious as I should be in such situations. The prospect of falling and breaking a leg is a situation one must be prepared for when one ventures off the beaten track. So when fishing on my own in the backblocks, I have always equipped myself with some survival essentials – e.g.
Survival aluminium blanket – takes up only a tiny space but could be a lifesaver during an unwanted overnighter
Swiss army knife with at least a dozen devices
Waterproof matches or lighter
Medication you may need for an illness that strikes only occasionally
Small emergency first aid kit – bandaids, aspirin,etc
Sunburn lotion – there is a very good one available now that is a combination of insect repellent and sunblock.
The above does not take up too much room in your vest or pack and at least gives you some hope of surviving a night or two in the bush.
After half an hour of bushbashing, I managed to get through the bushlined second gorge and down to the flat farmlands bordering the now slower-flowing river. This looked much more likely water with farm paddocks on one side and bush on the other. The water was very clear and a lovely aquamarine colour in the deeper pools. The river was a mixture of long rocky rapids, with slower fish-holding water at the side and deep swift pools. Sneaking along the grassy bank, I soon spotted a good fish working in the secondary channel. In plopped the size 14 beadhead P.T. and a lovely 2 kg brown was soon lying in the grass. The condition of the fish was pretty good considering the river’s unstable reputation. That was the only fish I saw in the next kilometre or so that I had time to fish before having to call it a day. This confirmed information from other sources that the fish population is not high and that they average around 1-2 kg. But there is word around that the locals have pulled out some surprisingly big fish. However these may be from the headwaters in the Spenser Mountains so some serious tramping would be necessary. From observation of the banks in the lower reaches, the river did not seem as flood prone as the Matakitaki next door. During this visit, the rocks were slippery during wading – a sign that there had been no slime-removing flood for a while. However I found out later that the river suffers from snowmelt for long periods over summer. It also has had some big floods through it after copping a West Coast downpour that has made it across the divide. This was evident down in the lower gorge where there were some large log jams high up the gorge walls.
Crossing the river and scaling a scrubby cliff, I emerged at the road for the hour hike back to the car. It was seven hours since I had parked at the first sight of the river. In all that time I had probably fished for about one hour. Such is the cost of exploring new water. The only alternative is to hire a professional fishing guide. However I know from personal experience that guides do not like to take NZ anglers to their special locations as there is the danger that the local will pass on this choice spot to all his mates. They tend to save such areas for overseas anglers – especially the regulars who they need to ensure get their money’s worth. So unless you can persuade a guide you are from Finland, or you spend a lot of time in the local pub trying to find a friendly local, then you may as well get used to putting in the hard hours to explore new water. At least you always know where to head the next time!