March Newsletter - Nelson / Marlborough Region

Marlborough Freshwater Anglers’ Club Inc
Club Rooms:- Whitehead Park Bowling Clubrooms, Whitehead Park,
Brooklyn Drive, Blenheim
Club Nights:- February to December
Second Tuesday each month @ 7.30 pm
Newsletter for March 2012
President’s Introduction
They say timing is everything. Well, so far this year I’ve got it all wrong! I head out on the river early
and it’s rather cool and the fish are just getting active as I am leaving. If I head out a little later, that
damn wind gets up! The season started so well but this long dry spell has certainly decreased my hourly
catch rate. It is now ‘hours per fish’ and not the other way around.
The only positive has been our last meeting. Two club members gave very contrasting views on how to
catch trout in our local rivers. The first spoke about our smaller streams, and the need to use a single fly
and treat each trout as an individual, and how best to present that fly to that individual. The other spoke
on fishing our larger streams and the use of a tandem rig, and the type of flies to use on a tandem rig.
I also learnt to tie a new knot, a “Davey Knot”, and, even more importantly, a “double Davey knot”. I
have tried it and it is a very easy and very effective knot to tie.
With the days closing in and getting cooler, trout will start to move up our rivers and streams. These
trout can be anywhere in the water, so it’s important to cover all water with both your eyes and your fly
as you just may be surprised at where the trout are.
Bill Cash
President
From The Editor:
First of all, a big thank you to Barrie for the February newsletter as I was away in Sweden catching up
with grandkids, but it is good to see some warmth again. Over a week I experienced a temperature
range from -21 degrees celcius to +31 on my return, a range of 52 degrees!!!
I hope you have been out during February. I have been and a lot of fish seen and quite a few hooked as
well. I certainly have, though I have never broken so much gear in such a short time ever. First it was
my favourite rod that broke as I was pulling out line to start, as I have done a thousand times. It broke
the third section. Next to go was a pair of polaroids which fell on a rock, and a few days later on
hooking a good fish the actual fly line broke. It was a weight forward line and it let go on the level
section not far from the backing, a section of line that does not see much exposure so I can not see that
it would have been stood on or damaged, but it was a good fish!!. The line was a Rio and I would be
interested to know if anyone else has had a similar experience.
In the last week we have had a visitor over from Sweden and what a pleasure it was to show someone
around who was so enthusiastic about the angling available so close to us. The spotting of and casting
to a sighted fish is what really appealed to him. The other positive I have is when next I am in Sweden I
have a contact for fishing and hunting.
New or less experienced members:
A matter that was raised at our last committee meeting was that among our less or inexperienced
members there may be a little reticence in coming forward and asking for help and tuition on the river.
It is the club’s stated policy to nurture skills among new members. Interest will wane if you try on your
own without much success. It is better if you contact either myself, Barrie, or Carey (phone details at
the end of this newsletter) or Paul Watts on 035736297 and we will arrange for someone to take you
out on the water for tuition and also a good day out. Remember this is what the club is about.
Jim McLean
Club Night: Tuesday 12th March (next week!), starts 7.30p.m.
Our guest speaker will be none other than:
Daryl “Crimpy” Crimp
“Crimpy” probably needs no introduction. He is the editor of ‘The Fishing Paper’, author of numerous
books on fishing, and the cooking of seafood, and a renowned fishing cartoonist. He has a regular radio
show - Crimpy’s Fishing Show - which you will have heard on Saturday mornings throughout the
summer. “Crimpy” is one of fishing’s great characters. One of his annual gigs is as MC at the opening
weekend of the high country fishing season at Lake Coleridge in Canterbury. He has kindly agreed to
entertain us at our next club night – do come along and meet him in person and enjoy a ‘laid back’
evening out. Club members are welcome to bring a mate. There will be a small charge of $5 per
person for any non-member, covering guest expenses and supper.
See you there!
Barrie
NELSON PUT AND TAKE POND OPENING
The ponds that have just been developed.
What will happen over the next 4-5 years.
The day was beautiful and the kids were as keen as
mustard. The Sports for Youth Charitable Trust, with
help from Fish & Game, had filled the ponds with fish
and now adult helpers were arriving to show the
young’uns how to catch a freshwater fish. The day was
full of promise and the students equally full of hope.
Club representatives Bill Cash, Barrie Clark, and
myself drove over to Nelson in December
to assist with the day and when we arrived all was in place. The youngsters had been ‘booked in’ to
come for one hour sessions with a ‘tutor’ and after assembling for a quick briefing, were paired off with
adults who helped them choose a rod. There were spin outfits, and fly rods which Lawson explained to
me were easier for kids in these sorts of situations. The first lot were away eagerly and it wasn’t long
before the first fish was netted. The fisher then had a choice to keep their catch or put it back but as
you might guess most wanted to take it home to further show it off. The fish were weighed, certificates
handed out, and then helpers ‘walked’ the child through cleaning up their catch.
As these ones departed at 11am, no doubt wanting to cook their fish for lunch, the next kids were
coming in and so the process was repeated hourly. About a month later the whole day would be staged
once more for the next batch of excited youngsters. Great idea, lots of enthusiasm, and possibly an
everlasting memory of an introduction to an activity that they would pursue as they get older. Future
Freshwater Club members?
Mike Stoneley
Nymph Fishing Spring-fed Streams & Creeks
By Malcolm Fretter, fine caster and flyfisher and former honorary ranger for Fish & Game.
For many nymph fishermen, fishing the larger rivers in our region presents a rather daunting exercise.
Their logic takes over and the brain goes into overdrive, working out how a trout or salmon is going to
see their nymph, which is only 15mm long, drifting in such a large expanse of water.
As you can imagine, many do a lot of walking until they spot their quarry, but this is the only way to
train yourself to recognise the water that trout are likely to feed in. When you consider the three basic
requirements of oxygenated clear water, food, and somewhere to hide from predators, you begin to
think like a trout and, of course, if one of the above elements is missing, no trout will be found hanging
about.
Because the Wairau Plains are prolific in springs, which in turn feed many streams, creeks and drains, I
concentrate on these small twiggy waters. They are different and they are more stable and relatively
challenging. The clear water, well oxygenated with plenty of weed for cover and nymph habitat, are
what the fish love and the temperature of the water is very stable (14degC), ideal for feeding fish.
Another plus for the fisherman is that, when the larger rivers are running at very high flood levels, the
spring-fed streams seem to hold their own, the flow rate and levels not varying greatly and, of course,
the water is still very clear.
With small streams, the stealth of the angler is of paramount importance. I fish from the bank because
the creeks vary a lot in depth and there is less chance of alarming the fish. I vary my approach,
upstream nymphing and across and down. Both work very well, but the presentation has to deliver the
nymph to the fish in a precise and gentle manner.
By spending time watching the feeding fish, establishing its depth, and its movement distance to a take,
is observed. Once this feeding pattern has been established, the depth of the fish and the speed of water
flow need assessing, as one has to imagine the sink-rate of the nymph according to the weight of the
nymph patterns available in one’s flybox.
I use three weights. An example of a No.16 Pheasant Tail would be:
a) A light weight nymph (copper wire only)
b) Medium weight nymph (6/8 turns of .010” lead)
c) Heavy weight nymph (6 turns of .010” lead plus a 2mm tungsten bead)
The above light weight would relate to a top-feeder, in the top 500mm of water .
The medium weight would relate to a fish in the medium depth of water , 1 –1.5m deep.
The heavy weight would relate to a bottom feeder, 2m deep.
With practice, you should be able to estimate the distance you have to place the nymph upstream above
the feeding fish to allow the nymph to sink to the trout’s feeding level. You, as an angler, have to judge
these distances to get the presentation correct, right in the trout’s face. When the nymph is about 1m
away from the trout, I impart movement to the nymph with a small lift of the rod tip which is called an
“induced take”. Let the drift run out, stop the rod and, as you do so, raise very slowly causing the
nymph to rise to the surface as a nymph would do when about to hatch.
With across and down, the same attention to detail and concentration is required to deliver the nymph
to the fish. Do not cast to the fish, pick a target area which would allow the nymph to sink and drift into
the trout’s feeding zone, usually about lm diameter around the fish. Land your nymph upstream approx
10ft above this area so that the sink weight and current will deliver the nymph where required to be
seen by the trout.
With all the trees, grasses and bushes on the banks of most creeks/streams it pays not to go longer than
14/15 ft. of leader (inclusive of tippet). This will cover deeper-lying fish as well as longer and finer
casts. You need to be in control of your line, keeping in touch with the nymph all the time.
Your attention then never leaves the trout. You do not require the crutch of an indicator. Watch the
trout’s every move. If, in fact, the fish moves to where you think your nymph would be in the drift, lift
your rod, especially if he has moved to either side or rises slightly and levels off ready for the inhale of
your nymph. STRIKE at any of these types of movement. Sometimes it pays to get your drifting
nymph to pass to the side of the trout. This way you will know he could be after your nymph if he
moves to that side. Be quick to strike or your trout will have spat out your nymph after realising it is
not the real thing. At other times you will have to delay until you see the white mouth of the trout close
on your offering. Its all practice!!!
Think about small waters for your nymph fishing. It is demanding of your concentration, peaceful and
very rewarding. You will wonder where the time has gone!
Take a visit to this shop in Kinross Street for a bargain.
Members should ask for these particular coloured trout lures
which are on special in the Sporting & Camping Dept.
Normally nearer $9 these deep diving, dual depth spinning
lures are going out at $4.50. You can retrieve them in two ways hence the dual depth name. They look
like a good lure for spring use when whitebait are about so be in quick as there are only a few.
The Passing of Legendary Angler – John Goddard
I recently received an email from Jean Marsh (widow of fishing legend and former club patron Norman
Marsh) advising that John Goddard, the celebrated English angling guru, had died in the UK on Boxing
Day. John was a frequent visitor to New Zealand and, whenever he was in the Nelson region, stayed
with Jean and Norman at their "Streamside" residence as he particularly loved to fish the Motueka
River.
John's excellent books are well worth reading - he wrote at least a dozen - and I have one, kindly given
to me by Norman Marsh, entitled “Wilderness Rivers of New Zealand”.
See if you can get John's books at the library as reading them can only add profit and pleasure to your
angling endeavours. Otherwise, 'Google' the internet for more information from whence I sourced the
accompanying article.
Frank Cartwright
John Goddard, who has died aged 89, was a celebrated fly fisherman and, as an author, did much to
promote knowledge of entomology as a crucial weapon in the angler’s armoury.
John Goddard with a rainbow trout
Goddard was not, of course, the first fly fisherman to pursue minute studies of freshwater fly life —
FM Halford (1844-1914) had carried out painstaking research in his efforts to perfect the art of dry-fly
fishing, as had GEM Skues (1858-1949), the pioneer of nymph fishing.
Skues had fished the river Itchen at Abbott’s Barton, near Winchester; and it was there, in the late
1950s, that Goddard began to develop his interest in entomology. Realising that if he were to catch
more fish on this difficult river it would be helpful to invent more realistic patterns, he and a friend,
Cliff Henry, decided to take life-size close-up photographs of the species of insect life on the river.
They brought the insects home, and in order to keep them still and arrange them in the correct position
to be photographed, sedated them by holding them in a test-tube against a lit electric light bulb. “That
winter we slaved away at the fly-tying bench,” Goddard later wrote, “trying to develop more imitative
patterns with the help of these photographs.”
These early efforts blossomed into a more ambitious project, a book of angling entomology of the
British Isles:
Goddard’s Trout Fly Recognition was published in 1967. Over the years he also created some 50
original fly patterns, notably the G&H Sedge (or Goddard Caddis).
His fruitful collaboration with Brian Clarke led to their book “The Trout & The Fly” (1982), for which
they photographed flies’ feet from under water at night, to discover how trout, in the dark, could
unerringly see flies drifting on the surface above them which were invisible to humans. To solve this
mystery, they built large tanks with specially-angled sides and filled them with water; they then, in
darkness, dropped in flies and observed them from beneath.
“We had our answer at once,” Clarke later wrote. “It was that wherever part of a fly, whether feet, body
or wings, touched the surface tension, they dented it slightly. This distortion, when viewed from below,
acted rather like a lens — it gathered and concentrated any light remaining in the night sky. The result
was that, from the position of a trout looking up, each fly on the surface was brightly outlined against
the darkness all about it. It was a fabulously surprising result and it caused quite a stir.”
John Goddard was born in London on August 27 1923 and brought up at Carshalton, Surrey, close to
the river Wandle, which he fished from boyhood with a net and jam jar before moving on to a rod at his
grandfather’s house on the Thames at Taplow. He later recalled: “I still remember the first pike I ever
caught — it weighed about seven pounds, and I proudly took it back and persuaded my grandmother to
cook it for us — an experience that cured me of any desire to eat a pike again.”
On leaving school he enrolled as an apprentice engineer, but on the outbreak of war joined the East
Surreys; after breaking his leg during parachute training, he served as a weapons instructor and in India
before being demobbed in 1946. He then joined the family business, F Goddard & Co, which made
garden furniture and had a nifty line in beds for dogs.
In 1950 Goddard designed a special seat for coarse fishermen and began trading under the name
Efgeeco. He developed many successful ranges of tackle before selling the company in 1984.
As a young man Goddard concentrated on coarse fishing, but in 1951 he had his first lessons in fly
casting. He became a regular on the Itchen, and for 20 years from 1976 fished the “Wilderness” section
of the Kennet. On one occasion, on the Test, he caught a 15¼lb rainbow trout which, at the time, was
thought to be the largest rainbow landed from a river in Britain.
Goddard was also an experienced big game and sea fisher, and represented England at international big
game fishing competitions. In 1969 he was captaining the England “A” team in the deep-sea
international hosted by Egypt in the Red Sea. While fishing off a reef, he and his team-mates were
arrested by an Egyptian gunboat which thought they were Israeli saboteurs.
Goddard’s passion for the sport took him all over the world, undertaking surveys of big game and
promoting the fishing opportunities offered by locations such as the Azores, Norway, Newfoundland,
New Zealand, South Africa and Kenya. A pioneer of fly-fishing for species such as bonefish, sailfish
and tarpon, he also travelled regularly to the Seychelles, the Bahamas, Cuba, Mexico and Belize in
pursuit of quarry.
He was a regular contributor to angling publications; was elected a Fellow of the Royal Entomological
Society; and was a former president of the Fly Dressers’ Guild.
Goddard published an autobiography, The Passionate Angler, in 2008. His other books include Trout
Flies of Stillwater (1969), Trout Flies of Britain & Europe (1991), John Goddard’s Trout Fishing
Techniques (1996), Understanding Trout Behaviour (with Brian Clarke, 2001), Reflections of a Game
Fisher (2002) and The Trout Fly Patterns of John Goddard (2004).
He is survived by his wife Eileen, whom he married in 1950, and by their daughter.
John Goddard, born August 27 1923, died December 26 2012
December ‘Casting’ Club Night Catches Some by Surprise
A great turnout of 22 members attended the final meeting for 2012 and they were anxious about what
sort of casting challenges we had in store for them. We had set up 3 casting stations across the croquet
lawns with a variety of activities to try. There were distance and accuracy challenges with both fly
casting and spinning rods. Members scored points for their efforts and at the end of the night everyone
grabbed a chocolate fish for trying the activities. Bill Cash, Paul Watts and Roger Winter agreed to be
score keepers and a prize was awarded to Mike de Ruiter for fly casting and Vic Wysocky for spin
casting.
Others who did well at fly casting were Sven Herselman, Junichi Ono, Dave Langham, Rod Littlefield,
Bill Cash and Stuart Barnes whilst Jim
McLean, Rod Littlefield, Mike de
Ruiter and Sven Herselman scored
good results on the spinning. Many
thanks to Malcolm Fretter also who
provided a few tips on improving our
casting before the challenges started.
Mike Stoneley
Looks like someone has ‘caught’ our scorekeeper Roger here.
I wonder whether he weighed in at double
figures?
Club Notices:
For sale: Fish & Game magazines - great reading!!
I have 96 issues of "Fish and Game New Zealand" magazine from 1994 to dispose of.
I need the shelf space. Any offers seriously considered. Roger Winter, phone 578 3473
Coffee mornings
The coffee mornings are popular for the hardy pensioners in our ranks but other members are welcome
if they can make the time. Twice/month, 10.00am at Mega café at MITRE 10, with the first on the
Wednesday following the club night and the next two weeks later.
Club night raffles
Proceeds from the 50 cent/ticket raffles keeps the club buoyant and goes toward meeting venue rental,
fighting for our rights as local and national fishers and the tea and biscuits at the conclusion of our
monthly club meetings. Items for the raffle table are always needed and can include preserves, books,
flies, lures, CD/videos, fruit & veg and old fishing gear. Thank you all for the wonderful array of items
brought along for last month’s raffle. Would anyone tie a couple of their favourite flies for the table?
Club Fly Rods
The club owns 6 fly rods, reels and lines available for use by members over the age of 18 years. The
rods’ custodians are now Roger Winter, phone 578 3473, and Barrie Clark, ‘phone 579-3331.
Knots
This site is an excellent one for improving your knot tying skills:
http://www.animatedknots.com/uniknot/index.php
Club photo album
The club’s pictorial history needs up dating with photographic evidence of your fishing experiences.
Please contact Bill Cash if you have something to record for posterity.
Other Clubs Newsletters
http://www.fishandgame.org.nz/Site/Features/AnglingClubNewsletters.aspx
Checking River Levels
(New Site)
You can check water levels in Marlborough rivers by visiting the Marlborough District Council's web
site:- http://hydro.marlborough.govt.nz
Club Newsletter Now on the Web for all to View
Have you ever forgotten where you club newsletter is and then needed something out of it? Well it’s
online now and if you can get to a computer then you can access it from anywhere in the world.
Try this. First open the http://www.fishandgame.org.nz/ website and next click on the Nn Marl region
of the map to get their ‘home’ page open.
There are two ways to get our newsletter:
Either scroll down the Nn/Marl Regional
home page to see our latest monthly
newsletter listed as recent news; or
Look at the top right and click
‘Nelson/Marlborough Fishing’. Scroll down that page and we should be listed on the bottom amongst
the latest 5 articles they are promoting. (If not then click on the grey writing just above - "see all the
latest news & events " and our last few newsletters are stored on these pages.
Contact details for Club Executives and Editor
President
Bill Cash
67 Lakings Road
Blenheim
Phone – 03 578 6594
[email protected]
Secretary
Barrie Clark
58 McLauchlan St
Blenheim
Phone – 03 5793331
[email protected]
Treasurer
Carey Cudby
23 Boyce Street
Renwick
Phone – 03572 9853
[email protected]
Newsletter Editor
Jim McLean
33 David Street
Blenheim
Phone – 03 579 4983
[email protected]