(^24) FLYLIFE
A TOUCH OF TROUT
Leading into this trip, Lucas con-
vinced me to leave one day aside to
try some of the local trout fishing. I
nearly regretted this, having been so
fired up from the kingfish action and
craving another day. But I decided to
stick to the plan.
Local trout guide Julian Danby
picked me up from my hotel in
Tauranga and in less than an hour
we were walking up a stunning lit-
tle creek. Sadly, our enthusiasm was
equalled by two local anglers who had
the same idea for the long weekend.
They beat us by twenty minutes —
ironically neither party had fished that
‘secret spot’ for months. They were
kind to us, letting us claim a chunky
rainbow in the next pool before we
bailed out for plan B.
“It’s all good mate, I know a pilot
close by who can chopper us into
another river.”
Well that sounded pretty exciting.
To that point I’d never used a chopper
in New Zealand.
It seemed too easy, and for a last
minute option proved to be the right
move. Derek our pilot was all too
happy to save the day, and flew us
into a stunning piece of water in back-
country Rotorua.
It was a strange feeling to be in the
middle of the wilderness throwing dry
flies at eager rainbows after such an
intense day on the kingfish. But it was
also a revelation about how amazing
this area is — kingfish and plentiful
trout all within an hour of each other.
A dozen trout, 3 to 4 pounds on dry
fly, and Derek returned to collect us.
Julian and Derek fuelled my imagi-
nation as they talked about other far-
flung rivers worth flying to when I
have more time. “There’s bigger fish
and more of them.” They certainly
had my attention.
I couldn’t be any more satisfied
with my four day North Island expe-
rience. There are probably very few
other places around the globe that
can offer a world class saltwater and
trout fishery in such close proximity
as Tauranga and the Rotorua district.
Somehow it took me many years to
get back to the North Island, but that
will no longer be the case.
Special thanks to Lucas Allen of
King Tide Salt Fly, and Julian Danby
of Rotorua Trout Guide Limited for
putting this amazing program together.
FL
A long hike made easy.
Northern Kings... continued
Julian with the first trout of the day.
Julian releasing a feisty rainbow after an energetic fight.
lu
(lu)
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