Boating New Zealand - July 2018

112 Boating New Zealand

F

or a variety of reasons ishing freshwater has kind of

fallen of my radar.

I’m no longer really up for the one-day missions

of the past, getting up in the early hours of the

morning to drive south for several hours, ish all day

and then drive back to Auckland in the dark. It’s also

harder to ind mates keen for this kind of caper, because they’re

all at similar stages in their own lives.

he truth is, I can seldom spare a whole weekend to go

ishing, and living in Auckland, a weekend is really what’s

required to access and enjoy good trout ishing. Unfortunately,

my wife is not especially charmed by Turangi, and since neither

she nor my daughter much like ishing, a weekend on the

river has limited family appeal. Suggesting a couple of days in

Rotorua has a better chance of success, but ishing has to it

around ‘family’ activities. Consequently, I hardly go freshwater

ishing anymore.

But a day on the Parana River during a recent family holiday

to Argentina has really rekindled my interest in ishing the

sweetwater. I thoroughly enjoyed the freshwater environment,

the smell of the river, the wildlife and of course the ishing,

though it was very diferent from home.

he target species wasn’t trout, or even carp, which I

sometimes catch in New Zealand, but golden dorado, a

spectacular looking, hard-pulling sportish that inhabits many

of the larger rivers of South America. I caught one, a small

The charms of freshwater fishing are often under-appreciated

• particularly in New Zealand – but rekindling the interest is
  definitely worth the eort, with bountiful rewards.

with JOHN EICHELSHEIM

THECATCH

Fishing the sweetwater