As promised, here is Harry´s report on his latest exploits:
My New Zealand buddy David Blair and I have had a few adventures together from fishing masheer in remote jungle rivers to fishing backwaters in New Zealand. Some of our adventures have even been written about in Paul Hogan’s excellent book Dry River. This was another such adventure and was to be the best yet as David now has a pilots license to fly microlight aircraft something he achieved in his late sixties and an achievement for which I have tremendous admiration. The plan was to fish the river Lochy high in the hills above lake Wakatipu where it flows through two sheep stations called Cecil Peak and Halfway Bay.
There is no road access and one can only reach these sheep stations by boat , air or by backcountry mountain tracks on horseback. In addition entry is by invitation so this was indeed to be a special adventure for us two old boys…and boys we are at heart anyway.
Two nutters. Harry, who looks like Tom Cruise in Top Gun, is on the left and his buddy David Blair is on the right.
Part one of our plan was to reach the inaccessible River Lochy by flying David’s microlight to Cecil Peak Station and then somehow get to the Lochy 10 kms up the valley…initially the plan was to use two horses that had been left by a couple of adventurous souls who had ridden into the station on mountain backcountry tracks only to discover they could go no further on horseback and the cost of ferrying two horses across the lake was prohibitive for them, however luckily we got offered an old Range Rover that for the same reasons had been left on the station by a hunter who had initially had it ferried over the lake to travel the tracks on hunting trips.
One transport option…..
……and the other!
Taking off from the racecourse in Cromwell our expectations were rising with the plane. Forty minutes later David landed the microlight on a lucerne crop on a hill behind the current homestead having made a dummy pass over the paddock to check that there was no stock to bump into when we landed.
The crop was still short enough to be used as a makeshift landing strip, in another week the lucerne would have grown enough to make taking off impossible because of the drag it would create. Rather than the usual concerns about water levels or insect hatches or water temperatures or fish runs, lucerne was the issue which dictated the timing of our fishing adventure.
Down on the lucerne paddock at Cecil Peak
Cecil Peak is a huge sheep farming station set on the shores of lake Wakatipu and surrounded by the most magnificent mountains still snow speckled in the early summer of mid December.
The scenery is just indescribably stunning with massive, sharp peaked mountains of the Remarkables rising out of the glacial turquoise lake Wakatipu.
Passing Halfway Bay where the Lochy enters lake Wakatipu
Cecil Peak Station valley running down to lake Wakatipu
Passing over the Remarkables Halfway Bay comes into viewPart two of the plan was now to forget about the horses and get the old wreck of Range Rover going using a solar panel battery charger that had been left attached and some aviation fuel! The aircraft fuel certainly brightened the old girl up!
Happy as Larry
Part two of the plan was now to forget about the horses and get the old wreck of Range Rover going using a solar panel battery charger that had been left attached and some aviation fuel! The aircraft fuel certainly brightened the old girl up!
Part three of the plan was to fish! We crawled and bumped along tracks that became more rugged the further we went. We cajoled the old girl along over ruts boulders humps and hollows for about 10 kms up the valley until we could chance her no further but we were now alongside the Lochy.
Gin clear with that jade green ,tourist board colour that only NZ rivers can produce. The Lochy is a river of rough white water with a few deep pools between. All this set in ancient woodland of beech and manuka trees.
The idea was that David and I would take it in turns to spot for each other.
David spotted for me initially and peeping over a huge boulder into a deeper pool he indicated to a fish lying against the far bank.
From my position behind the boulder I cast a small nymph upstream. The fish immediately moved and followed as my nymph drifted downstream finally it politely sipped in the nymph. A beautiful wild bred rainbow of about 2 lbs which was returned. David then followed two nice fish but things were slow.
Maybe even happier than Larry!
We did not see many fish and concluded that we were a little early in the season which has been dry with no fish running from the lake.
Tally for the day on the river was just 3 fish around the two pound mark all of which were returned. Another fish to the dry fly from the lake shore brought the days tally to four.
Part four of our plan was to record some of the history of Cecil Peak as ancestors of my wife were the first owners of Cecil Peak and Halfway Bay Station which is beside it. My given task was to photograph the old homestead or whatever remained of it.
On our journey up to the Lochy we passed the old homestead situated about 5 kms up the valley but things didn’t look good ,the front door smashed down and lying on the ground, the homestead had been broken into and was again inhabited…by cattle! Like regular robbers they left in a hurry when we arrived ….or at least we thought they had all left. As we looked around the old house, now with occasional holes in the floor where cattle had broken through and holes in the ceiling where possums had entered to cohabit, we heard the unmistakeable sound of a beast walking on the wooden floor of the farthest bedroom.
The old homestead
Wow!
We stood back from the doorway to let the beast out but the sound of smashing glass told us that things had not gone as we had planned.
The well grown calf as it turned out to be jumped clean through the glazed bedroom window and was last seen galloping through the orchard surrounding the homestead to join its mother! We could do nothing but laugh!
We returned from the Lochy to our accommodation in the sheep shearers quarters with the anticipation of the wonderful dinner we were going to cook for ourselves with most of a Fallow deer hanging in the fridge maturing.
The shearers accommodation was very comfortable
What more could you ask for?
New potatoes from David’s garden plus enough greens for a side salad and fillet of venison along with a bottle of Oyster Bay merlot sounded good to me.
The fillet strap was duly cut into medallions and cooked 2 minutes on each side served with David’s Jersey Benne potatoes and a salad I can say that it is a long time since I had such a meal.
Bush tucker my arse!
After dinner it was back to fishing for me at least….down to the lake with dry flies which produced a few rises and one nice hook up which enjoyed a long distance release after many jumps.
Harry gets his feet wet in Wakatipu
Next morning rain and clouds looked ominous as we would not be able to leave the station until good clear weather returned. The possibility of an enforced stay actually suited me fine.
Anyway for now it was back to the lake to allow time for cloud to lift.
Lots of fish cruising the margins but in this crystal clear lake water they proved impossible for me to decieve in this early morning flat calm. Up they would come , look very closely at my offerings and casually turn away in disdain only to rise purposefully a few moments later to some unidentified natural floating on the surface.
Unfortunately news came that the weather window was opening for flying the microlight but that it might not remain open long so I had to leave the cruising beauties and head for the little plane. Our load home included some more venison kindly offered by the station managers Phil and Kate, it would have been churlish to refuse.
Our passage home was enlivened by pretty bumpy turbulence as we flew over the mountain tops around the Nevis valley these bumps shot us upwards in the air currents but somehow gave the impression of dropping , quite exciting.
Saying goodbye to the Lochy.
No fish were harmed in the making of this adventure.
fishydreams 