Whakapapa_Trip  By Stephen Martin
The weather had not been good most of the week but it hadn’t rained for the
last few days so we set out on Friday morning hoping or the best.

Arriving at Owhango we found Tony, Rick and Peter had already arrived and
having checked the river announced it a bit dirty. After unloading and a quick lunch, Lance and I went down to the Bridge and decided that it was just fishable.
After a fish upstream with no luck we headed down to Kakahi and had a go there. I dropped a small fish but managed to land a nice 1.5 lb rainbow which like all the Whakapapa fish used the current to its advantage.

We got back late that afternoon to find the last two members of the group had arrived and had been for a sight seeing tour of Owhango, which didn’t take long at all.

The others had been fishing another area and had as little luck as we had Time for a few drinks and a bit of fishing talk before dinner, followed by more talk and a few more drinks before turning in for the night.

The next day dawned overcast but fine and everyone was rearing to go Despite a few references to ‘Ompa’ bands playing in the night in one of the rooms.

Lance, myself, Dave and Bruce headed downstream to the confluence so I could show them access points around Kakahi as none of them had fished here before.

The first place we went in was near the site of Peter Mc Intyre’s house at Kakahi. Peter Mc Intyre, for those who don’t know was a top N.Z. artist. He fished the area with another well known N.Z.’er, Greg Kelly, who wrote ‘The Flies in My Hat’.

About three or four years ago, the caretaker went to check on the house during a very bad storm, only to find the river had changed sides and carved out the bank. The house was now perched on the edge of a 30-40m bluff and in severe risk of going over. Local farmers came to the rescue and dragged the house back into the paddock. It is now, I’m happy to say, being rebuilt, hopefully beyond the reach of the river.

Back to the fishing! The Wanganui was still running very dirty but the Whakapapa was noticeably clearer and definitely fishable, thou still high and slightly coloured.

Lance decided to fish the two tone pool at the confluence while I gave the other to a quick lesson on fishing the river before crossing to the other side. I was going to fish a pool I had found last time on another part of the confluence  Rivers change. There was no water coming down that stretch now, so back to the main river.

I started up fishing a small side run and after about six casts down went the indicator and away went the fish, trying to run down to the Wanganui. After a good little fight I landed a nice 2.25 lb rainbow. The next little pool up produced nothing, so I moved onto the main river, a pool/run I’ve
had luck on before.

Sure enough just into the main lie and down went the indicator. After another good fight, a 2.25 lb brown graced my net. It was silver with the distinctive brown spots. All the browns landed were very silver and hard to pick as browns until close in.

Lance caught up with me after landing a couple in the Wanganui. Feeling generous I left him the next pool, another goody and went upstream to fish an area I hadn’t fished before. After a careful crossing I fished my way up some very fishy looking water. Not even a hit! Lance came through the same pool and didn’t get anything either. The sad news was, he had hooked two very good fish in the other pool, a brown and a rainbow, and lost them both.

We moved to the next point and started upstream. Nothing in the first few runs /pools despite their fishy looks. The river was still running high and was fast through this section.

We now came to the first real pool, long and very deep. I started at the bottom of the pool, letting Lance slot in above me about a third of the way up. Joking to him that I’d caught fish in the slower water at the back before, I proceeded to hook a fish which gave a good battle  Every time I got it within netting range it saw the net or me and took off out into the pool. It was a lovely 3.5 lb brown.

That was it for the day with both of us losing good fish in the faster water of a good run. Mine took off downstream and I wasn’t game to run down the rapids.

The other group had had a good day further upstream and after showers it was along to the pub for a meal and drinks. Unfortunately the rain came and the river went to chocolate overnight.

On the Saturday 17 fish were landed (10 browns, 7 rainbows) and 16 dropped The majority of those lost were bigger fish.. Tony Mc Laughlin won the sweep with a 2 kg fish. All the fish were released, I consider this a fragile fishery.

I’ll be back! Stephen.