A new stream

[heathcote]

The Christchurch earthquake has caused havoc with the fishing here so what a pleasant supprise to find a new stream, well not quite new but new to me. Driving round town is a challenge as road closures due to demolitions or work to repair services. New routes have to be found or diversions taken.

I had planned to fish a river some 50km from town and following a diversion ended on a back road I would not normally take and realised that I had crossed a bridge. Ho ho! I never knew that was here; so turned and parked up close to the bridge for a look see. Peering over the hand rail a beautiful small brook met my astinished gaze. About twelve feet in width the water flowed briskly over a stony bottom from beneath the bridge, met a large bed of elodea weed then slowed to a beautiful pool followed by another riffle which disapeared into a tunnel of brambles and crack willow. This bought instant memories of a distant childhood of a similar southern English brook and fat half pound brown trout. Gum boots and polaroids on it was off to explore.

Creeping slowly down stream taking advantage of the plentiful cover I spotted six trout all small, just a few ounces each, all except one and this was a fish of at least 14 inches, a pound or even one and a half. All were feeding confidantly but on what? They held station in mid water swinging from side to side taking nymphs of some kind. An examination of the bankside grass and sedges revealed only a damsel fly shuck so it would have to be trial and error. Back at the car and tackled up I tied on a Hare and Copper 14# always a good basic search pattern. I had found that after 200m the way was blocked by houses and gardens but still that short stretch took a pleasant two hours to fish and watch, It would be nice to report success but that was not to be and I left entranced but fishless.

The following week I was back and tried a tactic from that remembered boyhood stream where I freelined a worm on a greased line down stream relying on touch to feel the takes. This always worked then and doing the same now with a Diwal Bach 12# nymph worked just the same. Within the first 25m a lively 10in brown took the challenge from the willow tunnel it thought a secure home. The choice of the Diwal Bach was a good one and a second fish danced the fandango with me half an hour later almost a twin of the first. Both had almost inhaled the fly and were hooked well back in the roof of the mouth. A lovely autumn morning and two fine trout, how lucky I am. Having viewed the Google satalite map of the stream I find that I can access it from another point further down and fish up to the houses so there are more adventures to come, tomorrow perhaps. Interestingly this stream does not apear on the local topo' map at all so who knows it may be that I will be the only one to have found the trout in this lovely stream.

[gusstrand]

Nice read! Published to the front page. :)

[edeltrouts]

Cool story. Thought I had been with you. Looking foreward to read / see more about your stream.

Thomas

[Jax]

Nice One heathcote; Hope your future ventures prove to be just as successful.

Remember your secret stream is only secret when you are the only one there. Have Fun. Jax

[heathcote]

Today I have accessed my stream from another point lower down, it is in a modern housing developement but the reserve strip is just like a park with plenty of plantings of native shrubs. Few of the houses are occupied because of quake damage so I am alone in the autumnal mist and drizzle as I prospect what is on offer. Walking up stream I find a few flighty trout, not a suprise really as there was a substantial aftershock at 0730 this mornining. The good news is that I have now almost a kilometer of fishable water to learn. It is quite shallow with plentiful weed beds. The water I originally prospected prooved devoid of fish today; I wonder if they are moving up to the spawning redds!

[Satoshi]

It sounds almost unbelievable there is such a beautiful little trout stream that doesn't appear in the local topo map!
Thank you very much for posting a nice story.

Satoshi

[adam]

Pictures?

C'mon.


You are taking me along very well without them, but you can add a thousand words with one.

[heathcote]

Adam I have pictures in jpg form but can't work out how to insert them - TELL ME PLEASE!

[flickfly]

I enjoyed reading your post Heathcote,good stuff !