Hello everyone , quick update on recent movements . Currently back in Te Anau after being blown off the Oreti yesterday !! I travelled south to escape the rain that trashed all the rivers nearby !!! As you can see above it not only trashed rivers this is the road being ripped up by flooding outside Franz Josef heading south !! three hour delay before it was cross able in 4x4 !!
Otherwise it would have been 24 hours before it would have been passable to cars and campers as this is the only route south on the west coast it caused a bit of chaos so pleased I had the 4x4 .
Anyhow made it South and after a stop off at L . Hawea I pushed on back to L . Mavora and met up with Marty & Josh two Americans from Wyoming , I`d met up North we fished Mouse patterns at night and we managed one 6lb Brown to Marty`s mouse which was technically caught whilst he untangled his line !!
Next day we tramped to the North hut on the Oreti and after depositing bags we fished the river and found some good fish , working as a team we crawled and stalked these boys with combined strategy and almost military tactics even so we only managed one fish 7 1/2 lb Brown on a streamer ( Sexy Dungeon ) Marty is holding it for you to see . This fish `s tail was seen protruding from the bank beneath him he slapped the streamer down the fish came out to look and grabbed it after an amazing scrap the fish was netted weighed and released .
We then spent 30 mins planning an assault on a 12 lb brute we know this because it had been caught two weeks earlier and are intelligence network had brought us this far , we were outdone and the fish spooked !!! As the light was bad we blind fished the sexy dungeon and got plenty of follows but know takes , we noticed how it pulled them out from under the undercut banks which we thought where too shallow to hold them , this tactic proved the only method on the following day when after a large fire in the hut we had planned to fish back to the trucks ,however strong southerly winds and driving rain which saw us struggling to stay vertical drove us back to Te Anau to dry up !!
We are planning to revisit once the weather improves .
Have to go will post more soon all the best "Get out there" Mark .
