Recent fishing

As I write this post I can see all the way from the town to Mounts Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe & Tongariro, Lake Taupo is so calm, only being disturbed by the Wednesday evening sailors.
The Lake has been remarkably calm over the last two weeks enabling us to fish in any location. We are often constrained by a strong South Westerly to Jerusalem or Acacia Bays. At night the lights of the town have been reflected from the lake especially when it has a mirror like finish. Sunsets have been absolutely stunning
Fishing on the Lake has been mixed, finding trout has been hard work although we have been fortunate and usually caught one or two decent fish on each Charter. Lures which have been successful are Spotty Gold, Traffic Light & Baby Brown.
The season  is winding down after Easter both in the B&B and fishing visitors, time to do some maintenance work on the boat and house.

Skipper

Five Fishes (Two Loaves)

Five fishes (two loaves) A trip to one of my favourite waters in the U.K. produced one of those memorable fishing days that stick in your mind for a lifetime. After visiting several customers during the day including farmers, dairies and coal merchants, and dealing with the multitude of problems that the recession had brought about, I stopped at one of my favourite lakes. In deepest Suffolk there is a small trout lake that is always a delight to fish on an early August evening, plenty of warmth in the sun and in the distance a lone combine harvester whirring away in its own cloud of dust, slowly traversing a gentle slope. Only a small lake of two acres it is just over 18 feet deep so the fish have a large volume of water in which to hide but the owners have built a few small jetties on the banks with adequate space between each, there is a lovely lodge with tea & coffee available. This particular evening I had already been well fed and watered so straight to the lake with my best fly rod. There were four cars in the parking bay so I had competition! A quick scan of the banks revealed the whereabouts of my neighbours. I was hoping for an evening rise but a stroll around the lake revealed blanks, one fisherman had been at the lake for 3 hours without so much as a hint of a take. My favourite spot was taken so I opted for a quiet smoke and a relaxed half hour. Still no fish appeared, time to have a try where others had failed, I attached a black chenille on a 12 hook to a slow sinking line. Counting down to 30 seconds I had a sudden pull, fish on, Heads turned from the other fishermen, they suddenly woke up. Within 2 minutes I had my first fish of the evening, possibly the first out that day. After putting a nice meal in the bag, I cast again thinking that the disturbance might have scared off any other trout in the vicinity, but no, a second take and fish on again. Two fish in consecutive casts. One of the others walked to my spot to see what magic fly I was using, he decided to watch my next cast and sat well away from my backcast. BANG third fish on, soon in the net and my new-found friend could not believe my luck. I looked around and realised I now had an audience of five, the original anglers plus the owner of the fishery, they stayed at a sensible distance to watch, I could hear a murmer of bag limit (5) My fourth and fifth casts each brought a trout to the net, I had only had five casts and decided I had earned another smoke, my audience were astounded by my feat and congratulated me warmly. I weighed my bag, recorded it in the fishing log and headed to the car and home. I stopped on the way home to buy two loaves at the local supermaket, to match the parable, on my arrival my wife said I had got it the wrong way round, I should have stopped at two fish. Ah well I've never been any good at numbers. Skipper

Jackie's Story

Return Visit Do an embarrassment of trout make a fisherman happy? In early 2011 I was asked to take a small party out trout fishing on Lake Taupo. The keenest of all was Phil who had walked the Tongariro crossing the previous day. One had to have respect for this gentleman, he was nearer to your skipppers age, I own up to being around 50 years old but once again state secrets are there to be kept secret. On his first trip with me he had landed sufficient fish to have a barbecue for the rest of his party, none of the trout were exceptional but were solid fish. Earlier this week I received a phone call from Phil, he had narrated his great fishing experience to his daughter Jackie who was keen to try her luck on our boat. I arranged for Phil & Jackie to meet me, with Maggie crewing, at Taupo harbour for a 9 a.m. start. We had been blessed with a sunny day with little wind, the lake looked magnificent. After the usual safety talk we set off to an as yet undisclosed area of the lake. Having put down the lines we sat back for the first of what we hoped were to be one or two good fish. Suddenly we turned to see one of the lines break off the downrigger, fish on, it was Jackie's first experience of trout fishing. With a modest amount of tuition she soon had a fish safely in the net, after measuring, we decided it was a keeper and placed it in the chilly bin, at least she would go home with one fish to brag about. (Jackies Trout) Before we had time to put this line out again another rod was in Phil's hand as he guided his first of the day to the net, another keeper, although Jackie still had the best fish. She meanwhile was sending texts of her exploits around the world to her friends, messages were coming back saying how envious they were of her day on the lake. So far it had taken only 20 minutes to land two beautiful fish, other boats had seen the action and started to converge on our position, we could not see whether they were as successful as our party. The morning continued in much the same vein, being aware of the bag limit Phil & Jackie became more discriminating, fish above the size limit but adjudged to be out of condition were returned to the water. As ever we put the jug on to brew coffee and tea, not only to refresh us all but to give a break to the crew and passengers. Once coffee was to hand the fish decided to interrupt our break, it was Phil's turn to pull a trout in, this one was returned so that he could continue fishing, we continued until 11.30 when I decided to start cleaning the five fish that we had kept. The fish were photographed by all of us, we were delighted we had managed to provide our guests with sufficient to feed their family for a couple of days. By now the chilly bin had become quite heavy and it took around 15 minutes to clean and bag their catch. We returned to the harbour at 12 noon, Phil was delighted that we had again provided a great morning out, the weather was superb, the company talkative and above all the trout cooperative. We had also provided Jackie with a great introduction to trout fishing on Lake Taupo. I am sure they will be back to repeat the experience. As for the answer to the question, Phil answered that with a resounding "YES". Skipper

Le Cognac

Rugby World Cup

New Zealand hosted the Rugby World Cup during September and October 2011, in Taupo we were fortunate to host training for the South African, Welsh and Irish teams. The strategy of "Stadium New Zealand" was adopted by the country with enthusiasm, we managed to watch 46 of the 48 games on TV, Maggie and I also visited Auckland where the French team beat England by 19 points to 12.
We will also recall the hundreds of camper-vans using Taupo as the midpoint of a journey from Auckland to Wellington, every other van seemed to be occupied by ebullient Frenchmen and women. I had the pleasure of taking several for a trip on Lake Taupo. One in particular that comes to mind was Jean-Emile. He and a colleague booked for a morning trip and emerged from their overnight camper-van with the flair and enthusiasm that only the French exhibit.
After my usual Safety briefing we started the engine and were about to head out when I jokingly said that we would provide coffee after the first fish had been brought to the boat. With only a "non" from Jean-Emile he leapt from the boat, made for his van, and disappeared into its interior. He emerged a minute or so later clutching a small flask.
Jean-Emile boarded once again and announced with great gusto that he would be awarding himself and his colleague "le cognac" for a safely landed trout.
We set off having enjoyed this diversion, Jean-Emile was a superb raconteur, we hoped his fishing skills were as well developed as his humour. We did not have to wait long before he brought his first Lake Taupo trout to the side of the boat and, true to his promise out came "le cognac" which he proceeded to sample with great enthusiasm. "Le Cognac" had been distilled for Jean-Emile by a friend of his especially for his trip to New Zealand. Each time we caught a fish the level in the flask continued to drop. Unfortunately by the time we had returned to our berth "le cognac" had seen so many fish caught that our guests were only ale to offer us a modest taste of their national liqueur.
I have been promised a return visit by our guests but with their wives as escorts, ah well c'est la vie.
Oh, and the fishing, well I consider it would be improper for me to discuss the number of trout taken from Lake Taupo on this occasion!
Skipper

Brownie

Brownie on Lake Taupo

Around the month of March is my birthday, I will keep the actual date secret to avoid the multitude of cards that release of this information would bring forth. Maggie was crewing today, she and I were waiting patiently in Taupo harbour for a customer from the UK to witness the delights of our famous trout fishery. After around 45 minutes we realised that today would be one of those "no show" days, little did we know what the Lake had in store for us.
The boat Fish 'N' Fun was had been prepared for a three hour trip, fuel was on board, rods in holders tea and coffee fully charged, we were feeling a bit dispirited that on my birthday of all days our preparations were in vain.
Around 1.30 p.m. we decided to take a trip on Lake Taupo to try and find what at this time of the year are Taupo's elusive trout.
After heading out to an area where I had seen interesting underwater features, (amnesia now sets in as to the exact whereabouts on Lake Taupo) we dropped two lines on the down-riggers. After 30 minutes or so we had a hit on the port rod, Maggie reeled in a superb 3lb Rainbow that was well over size, what a treat for dinner tonight. We put the lure down again and continued for around 20 minutes before we had a hit on the other rod, my turn to reel in. I lifted the rod carefully, we were in 100 feet of water, I tightened the line and started to reel in. Oh dear, caught on the bottom for the second time Maggie took the boat out of gear and I struggled to move the line.
Suddenly the line broke away from the bottom, what was this, it was moving away from the boat at great speed, I allowed the line to peel off the reel but gradually tightened on what was another fish. Once again line disappeared at an ever increasing rate, what a run, I started to claw back the yards that the fish had taken when another run started, not as quick as the last, I was again reeling in, the fight was starting to swing in my favour. The fish was beginning to tire, yard after yard was being retrieved, and a dark shape rolled near the surface. Slowly I eased the fish toward the net, once again it was off for a last run, and again I inched it toward the boat and netted it cleanly.
It was a beautiful Brown Trout, once we had cleared the line, hooks and lure out came the scales, down they dropped to read 6½ pounds. We felt after an hour and a quarter out on the lake that we would be unable to better our catch and headed for home.
Scales can be notoriously optimistic, I headed for the local tackle shop and had the weight confirmed. Then the coincidences started. I mentioned to the shop owner, Matthew, that it was a great birthday present. Did you mean for me he said, unbelievable but it was also his birthday. Suddenly one of the customers interrupted us, it was her birthday also, there were seven of us in the shop and three celebrated birthdays on that date.
I still think my Brownie was the best present. View Picture
Anglers often ask "when is the best time to go fishing" I always reply "Mondays"!

Skipper