NY Times article (full) for Clark, Indian Joe and others interested in NZ
GaryM
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/08/travel/FISH.html
or for those not registered :
Above All, the Fishing's the Thing
By RODES FISHBURNE
THE instructions were cryptic, and whispered, which made them
impossible to ignore: "Little to the left, righto, righto . . . ,"
followed by, "Cast again."
That was what our guide, Craig Aspinall, was telling us from his
vantage on the bank of the Kaipo River in New Zealand as my wife,
Lindy, and I stood midstream and cast to a trout as big as a piece of
firewood. The fish was active and not yet "suspicious," as Craig would
say of spooked fish.
The water was so clear that you could see it sucking stonefly nymphs
off the bottom with the easy grace of a natural athlete. After several
casts, I laid the fly in the right place and three runs, two jumps and
one whoop later, we had landed and released our first New Zealand brown
trout.
This was the first of several fishing expeditions we took during our
one-week stay last December at Poronui Ranch, in the rugged center of
New Zealand's North Island, a 45-minute drive from the resort town of
Taupo. Over the last 10 years, this intimate lodge — surrounded by more
than 16,000 acres of mountainous forests, grassy flatlands and trout-
rich rivers — has developed something of a cult following among
international anglers, including the late John Denver and Vice
President Dick Cheney. The Lake Taupo region is the epicenter of fly-
fishing in New Zealand. It was here, in 1883, that rainbow trout eggs
from the Russian River Hatchery in California, were first planted.
We had arrived in Taupo the day before, on a one-and-a-half-hour flight
from Auckland. The lodge's van picked us up from the small airport for
the drive to Poronui, in the Taharua Valley. While staying at Poronui,
there's no need to rent a car, since the guides provide all
transportation.
Poronui (pronounced poor-NEW-ee) is a small affair, with lodging for 14
guests and 7 guides. The décor of the main lodge is neo-rustic,
comfortable and well appointed, with wood-timbered ceilings, a large
fireplace, intimate dining room table, and an open kitchen, where the
lodge manager and chef, Eve Reilly, can be seen hard at work conjuring
up the meals Poronui has become known for. We were treated to local
fare like paradise duck, roast lamb, fresh fish, Sika venison and
desserts ranging from bakewell tarte to almond chocolate cake.
The best thing about our spacious one-room cabin — besides the stone
fireplace, the roomy bathroom, and quiet front porch overlooking the
Taharua River — was the lack of television, VCR and telephone. It was
quiet, low tech and light-filled, decorated in a tasteful, understated
fashion with country furnishings, comfortable chairs and a wide window
with a view of a meadow filled with wildflowers.
The first day we talked fishing with the guides (the guest-to-guide
ratio is 2 to 1), and learned about Poronui from Eve. Although the
property had been a primitive fishing lodge for 10 years, it was not
until 1998, when it was bought by Mark Blake, an American businessman
based in San Francisco, that it was extensively renovated. With that
transaction, Mr. Blake secured what surely must be one of the most
enviable private properties in angling: an area larger than Manhattan
of old growth beech forest, wild-grass meadows and 25 miles of pristine
trout fishing on the Taharua and Mohaka Rivers, as well as access to a
dozen other rivers on adjacent properties.
The most recent additions to Poronui are a seventh and final cabin and
a large recreation center housing stables, snooker tables and a 10,000-
bottle wine cellar, and a new shooting range. Since these are the last
developments planned for Poronui, thousands of acres of wilderness
remain for guests for mountain bikinge, hiking (called tramping in New
Zealand), riding, white-water rafting and, of course, fishing, which
was our main focus.
For those who would rather not haul their fishing tackle, the lodge
provides all necessary equipment, including waders, rods and flies.
Meals at the lodge are served at a long single table adjacent to the
open kitchen. Guests and guides mingle and share fishing stories or
learn about New Zealand's history from the staff. The lodge attracts an
international crowd and we were pleased to find that our dinner
companions included a family from Malaysia, a lawyer from Canada, and
pair of geologists from Atlanta.
But all the muted elegance of the lodge, the stunning landscapes and
Eve's delectable meals would have been for naught if the fishing were
less than spectacular. And despite being on the receiving end of the
wettest December in 20 years, our guide Craig gave us a taste of why
Pornui is considered one of the best fly-fishing destinations in the
world.
You don't so much fish for trout in New Zealand as hunt for them,
walking quietly through fern forests trying to spot them from the banks
before they spot you. Once a fish — usually a solitary leviathan
hanging at the head of a clear pool — is located, guide and angler
stand back and slip into a conversation filled with curious words like
s-cast, upstream mend and royal wulff (a fly). After that, it's time to
step into the river and put the talk to the test while the guide kneels
on the bank and calls out the play by play.
Fishing starts around 9 a.m. and lasts as long as the anglers are
willing and able. Guides pack lunches made from the tastiest parts of
the previous night's dinner, which can be eaten at leisure by a rushing
river or wolfed down, as we did, between backcasts when the fishing was
good.
A good day usually involves a couple of miles of walking and scouting
out fishing sites. December is the beginning of summer there and the
weather was mild but wet, so our raingear came in handy.
BY our third day, Lindy and I had re-enacted this scenario a dozen
times and caught some very large trout, including several 28-inch
browns and an equally large rainbow on a dry fly. Fish of this size can
be 7 to 10 years old and Poronui prides itself for being strictly catch
and release. Thanks to the vastness of the property, we fished a new
beat of water every day and never saw another fisherman on the water.
So it was with a relaxed demeanor on the morning of our fourth day that
we tramped off toward the Mohaka River, down an abandoned logging road,
fly rods bobbing behind us, trying to identify the purple and red
mushrooms beneath the beech trees. About halfway down, Craig's face
cracked into a mischievous grin and he asked if we'd like a peek.
"At what?" I said.
"The Bivvy," he replied, and disappeared between two manuka bushes. A
few steps later, we emerged on a rock ledge 30 feet above the river and
into a scene straight from a Maxfield Parrish painting. High rock banks
covered in mint-green lichen forced the river into a casual curve that
formed the Bivvy Pool.
On every river I've ever fished, there is always something like this,
the proverbial blue hole, where all the river's mystery lingers in a
swirl before moving downstream. The Bivvy was no different, both
enigmatic and supernaturally fishy.
Two feet off the ledge the water turned to topaz, then blue and, deeper
still, an impenetrable blue green that appeared limitless. I looked
upstream at the head of the pool where the current had deposited white
pumice sand.
It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust, but the sand provided the
necessary contrast and I finally made out in the deep water the black
outline of a fish so large that at first it was oddly ominous.
Scattered around the pool were the ghostly images of a few other fish,
but none so large or well defined as this trout-shark.
I could hear Craig whispering under his breath as he counted out the
fish he could find. He stopped at five.
We climbed down from the ledge to the pool, and I stripped out several
handfuls of line from my reel and cast. The fish in the tail end of the
pool must have tolerated about 30 seconds of my attempts to seduce them
before retreating into the blue-green depths because when Craig climbed
atop a rock perch to take a look, they were gone.
But the trout-shark we had spotted from the ledge was still there,
visible above the white sandy bottom, improbably arrogant, as big as a
lawn gnome. After watching him for a bit, Craig pronounced it time for
the BD Special.
An extra-large stonefly with a heavily weighted body, the BD Special
looked to me like exactly the kind of thing that a trout-shark would
eat. I made a cast to the spot where the fish lay and watched the
quarter-inch-long fly descend 6, 8, 10 feet.
Suddenly, another enormous trout glided onto the scene, destroying both
my serenity and sense of proportion. So entranced by his glide, and the
sight of two of the biggest trout I'd ever seen swimming next to one
another, the changing colors of the water and the clear contrast of the
white pumice sand, that it was only very faintly that I heard Craig
call out: "He's got it! Strike, Strike, Strike!"
The fight was long and strong and Craig's netting job superb, but long
after we had photographed and released the monster, long after our last
tramp through the beech forest and our last delectable meal at Eve's
table, I could not help but wish to get back to that place of utter
blue green solitude.
Visitor Information
The easiest way to get to the Lake Taupo region is by plane. Air New
Zealand, (800) 262-1234, www.airnz.com, flies 20-seat Beech aircraft on
the 90-minute flight from Auckland to Taupo twice each weekday, once a
day on weekends. The standard round-trip air fare is $112, but is $104
with a South Pacific Airpass, bought in conjunction with a round-trip
international air ticket.
A private minivan will transport you to Poronui Ranch, a 45-minute
drive away. The ranch is open October through June. The best fishing is
in the spring and summer — December to April. We were there in December
and temperatures ranged from 60 to 70 degrees in the daytime and in the
50's after sunset.
Reservations should be made at least three months in advance,
particularly for holiday weeks. The cost for seven nights is $2,650 a
person. This includes all guides, meals, wine and cocktails. All major
credit cards are accepted. Picnic lunches should be ordered the day
before a fishing expedition.
There are no extra charges for other activities, which include
horseback riding and mountain biking, except that guided helicopter
fishing tours cost $425 a person and should be reserved. The lodge
provides all fishing equipment.
For more information, contact Poronui Ranch, Post Office Box 1047,
Taupo, New Zealand; (64-7) 384-2080, fax (64-7) 384-2054; or see
www.poronui.com.
Peter Charles
I think I wet myself - don't post stuff like this again, Gary. OK?
<G>)
Peter
Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharles/streamers/index.html
Stan Gula
"GaryM" <gar...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9287939565625R3...@172.16.0.81...
>
> Above All, the Fishing's the Thing
> By RODES FISHBURNE
>
Trout "as big as a lawn gnome". Gotta love it.
GaryM
news:34o1ou86gshe3f01a...@4ax.com:
> [fishing orgasm article snipped]
>
> I think I wet myself - don't post stuff like this again, Gary. OK?
I know. I've done it (albeit in a motel, as opposed to lodge) with my
guide coughing all over me all day, plying me with whiskey, and I
*still* wet myself when I think back.
--
Gary M
Joe McIntosh
>
> or for those not registered :
>
>
> Above All, the Fishing's the Thing
> By RODES FISHBURNE
>
go to that lodge.. My indian ancestory would not allow me to make use of
the 10,000 bottle wine cellar and the cost per week at that lodge is more
than my squaw and I plan to spend in 30 days riding around the New
Zealand country side and dipping in a few dry flies. However if Clark works
at that lodge, we might be talked into stopping in for a cool one.
Now all I have to do is hit the right button to send this thing--usually
IT deletes what i have typed.
Tim J.
If the scenery is half as nice as the pictures on this sight it would still
be awesome. The float trips sound fantastic. I'm going fishing this
afternoon (*beautiful* cool day in New England) but somehow this post will
lessen the experience. Thanks for the dream.
--
TL,
Tim
GaryM
news:Oo5g9.10259$1C2.8...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:
>> Indian Joe replies--thanks Gary i have read the article and
>> decided not to
> go to that lodge.. My indian ancestory would not allow me to
> make use of the 10,000 bottle wine cellar and the cost per week
> at that lodge is more than my squaw and I plan to spend in 30
> days riding around the New Zealand country side and dipping in
> a few dry flies. However if Clark works at that lodge, we might
> be talked into stopping in for a cool one. Now all I have to do is
> hit the right button to send this thing--usually IT deletes what
> i have typed.
>
Hi Joe, glad you enjoyed it. I dropped you an email a few months back
at your general request here. Not sure you ever got it?
Your post worked fine though I notice your first line always starts
with > like it is part of the article you are replying. Some
newsreaders color quoted text, so it is a bit confusing.
Clark may disagree, but I was very fond of a local brew called Sleights
Dark Ale. As I am a malt beer person and this one hit the mark too, too
well.
--
Gary M
rw
I think you've violated copyright law, Gary. I doubt that Poronui Ranch
will care, but watch out for the NYT lawyers. :-)
BTW, I believe ROFF's own Clark Reid guides out of the Poronui Ranch,
and that you can usually find him hanging out around the wine rack in
the evening.
GaryM
news:3D8119A2...@earthlink.net:
> I think you've violated copyright law, Gary. I doubt that Poronui
> Ranch will care, but watch out for the NYT lawyers. :-)
I tried to purchase the permissions, as you may well have guessed, but
there is no option for a price for USENET, so I thought I would email
it to the two people on the subject line and, darn it, this silly
client went and published it to USENET.
--
Gary M
rw
>
> I tried to purchase the permissions, as you may well have guessed, but
> there is no option for a price for USENET, so I thought I would email
> it to the two people on the subject line and, darn it, this silly
> client went and published it to USENET.
That's a bummer. Tell it to the judge. :-)
GaryM
@earthlink.net:
> That's a bummer. Tell it to the judge. :-)
Well your honor, it falls under fair use as I posted it for educational
purposes, and, as you well know, your honor, USENET is a free
information service network from which *no-one* ever makes a red cent.
Wait a minute ... ;)
--
Gary M
Clark Reid
Clark
"GaryM" <> I know. I've done it (albeit in a motel, as opposed to lodge)
Clark Reid
another roffian.
Clark
"Joe McIntosh" <joe...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:Oo5g9.10259$1C2.8...@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
Clark Reid
Irish descent, Eve at the lodge is Irish too by the way and just came home
from consuming large amounts of Guinness)
But I do like Speights other beers. I prefer DB but Speights is my next "go
to" beer. The next favorites are any brand being bought for me.
Speights is a brew from the South of NZ and so the southerners drink it out
of parochialism. I had a friend here from Texas who when he saw "Pride of
the South" on a Speights label refused to drink anything else :)
Clark
"GaryM" > > Hi Joe, glad you enjoyed it. I dropped you an email a few months
Clark Reid
"rw"
> I think you've violated copyright law, Gary. I doubt that Poronui Ranch
> will care, but watch out for the NYT lawyers. :-)
>
> BTW, I believe ROFF's own Clark Reid guides out of the Poronui Ranch,
> and that you can usually find him hanging out around the wine rack in
> the evening.
I do and once last season I was even trusted with the key to the cellar.
(It's so bloody big we have dinners down there sometime!!!) Don't know if
I'll ever see that key again though :(
Clark
Clark Reid
"Tim J." <>
> > www.poronui.com.
>
> If the scenery is half as nice as the pictures on this sight it would
still
> be awesome. The float trips sound fantastic. I'm going fishing this
> afternoon (*beautiful* cool day in New England) but somehow this post will
> lessen the experience. Thanks for the dream.
Most of those pictures are by Val Atkinson who comes down most years and
fishes, a lovely guy and a great photographer.
But Tim, don't let that post lessen your other angling experience.... it's
all horses for courses. I can spend all summer showing people those great
waters and when I head off to fish myself I choose a location rather than a
"fishing spot". There are spring creeks near where I live that are
magnificent and the fish aren't close to half the size of the monsters out
there, but the experience is just as wonderful in it's own way. You don't
have to play St Andrews every time for a great golf experience it's just
putting them in order.
Poronui is a premier destination and is expensive in the over all scheme of
things. I have friends that have made 30 + trips fishing down here and these
days he mainly stays in lodges. When he first started visiting NZ he did so
with a back pack and tent and went exploring. When you talk to him now it's
often the memories of those trips which are the strongest for him. NZ
doesn't have to be prohibitively expensive, it can be done relatively
cheaply. Like with anything, if you can afford the best then all well and
good, but a Chevy pick up has a lot more appeal to many people than a Rolls
Royce. I've only been in a Roller once, but I can tell you some great
stories from times in pick up trucks.
New Zealand offers great fishing pretty much anywhere and I re offer my
readiness to help anyone with advice traveling down this way. All guiding
aside....
Clark
Roger Ohlund
That hurt!
It will probably take a week or two to recover from this post.
And winter is making its first steps to remove all FF activities for 7
months. :(
Ah well, one day I'm going there, I AM, I KNOW I AM.
Yours/ Roger
"GaryM" <gar...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9287939565625R3...@172.16.0.81...
>
> The water was so clear that you could see it sucking stonefly nymphs
> off the bottom with the easy grace of a natural athlete.
>
> - surrounded by more
> than 16,000 acres of mountainous forests, grassy flatlands and trout-
> rich rivers -
GaryM
news:M3eg9.5925$Y3.12...@news.xtra.co.nz:
> Speights is a brew from the South of NZ and so the southerners
> drink it out of parochialism. I had a friend here from Texas who
> when he saw "Pride of the South" on a Speights label refused to
> drink anything else :)
Speights, not Sleights. Thank you ... and no apostrophe. Got it :).
--
Gary M
Tim J.
"Clark Reid" <clar...@xtra.nospam.co.nz> wrote in message
news:pgeg9.5936$Y3.12...@news.xtra.co.nz...
>
> "Tim J." <>
> > > www.poronui.com.
> >
> > If the scenery is half as nice as the pictures on this sight it would
> still
> > be awesome. The float trips sound fantastic. I'm going fishing this
> > afternoon (*beautiful* cool day in New England) but somehow this post
will
> > lessen the experience. Thanks for the dream.
>
> Most of those pictures are by Val Atkinson who comes down most years and
> fishes, a lovely guy and a great photographer.
>
> But Tim, don't let that post lessen your other angling experience....
I forgot the smiley on my post. Trust me: although the pics from NZ are
great, I'll still find a way to get up in the morning. I may even find the
drive to go fishing -- like last night, for example. I want to go to NZ some
day, but in the meantime, New England is a close second. :)
--
TL,
Tim
BTW - I actually hooked a bat last night and had it fly around with my line.
Fortunately it was hooked lightly, shook off the fly (thank goodness for
barbless) and recovered nicely. So at least I wasn't skunked. <g>