http___fishingandoutdoor.eu_en_new-zealand-the-planet-of-the-trout_.xml
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New Zealand – The Planet of the Trout This was one of my greatest angler’s dreams since I became a trout fisherman. I visited the Southern Island with my friends twice – in 2011 and 2014. Despite the fact that a lot of time had passed since my last trip over there, the memories from that country are so vivid that all it takes for me is to close my eyes and I can see myself being taken back again to this magical land. New Zealand is a land so far away from Europe that it seems almost like it is from a fairy tale. Everything over there is strange and slightly different than back home. I constantly had a feeling that I can see things I know but through a crooked mirror. The time difference is 12 hours. That means that our midnight is a high noon in New Zealand. Middle of January over there is a middle of summer. Even the water in the tub when drained twists in the opposite direction (The Coriolis Effect). No wonder then that people and animals also have slightly different customs. Everything over there happens slightly in slow motion and although the local English accent is amazing and impossible to be confused for any other country, people are very friendly and are eager to talk with the tourists. Trout usually feed all day long. However, on a clear, sunny noon they like to “sunbathe” in 25cm shallow water. Strange you might say? Not in New Zealand. In large rivers they swim in circles patrolling the larger pools when searching for food. This behavior is directly linked to the character of the local rivers. Most of them are mountain streams with clear water and gravel or rocky bottoms. The periodical floods wash away all the fallen trees and branches and clear the streams from all the potential hiding spots for fish. Basically the rivers do not have any other fish than trout and eel. The New Zealand fishing tradition comes straight from the British gentlemen who were strict fly fishermen. Therefore locals usually start their fishing journey not with a bait and bobber or spinning rod but with a fly rod. As a result, their knowledge about lure fishing over there is pretty low. Every river over there has its own regulations but on majority both spinning and fly fishing is allowed. In many places even fishing with natural bait is also permitted. As far as the trip itself, I can recommend the tactic that in our case worked out pretty well. We would rent a Sport Utility Vehicle and with maps in hand we would plan our fishing excursions basing our knowledge on the info found on the internet and the advice from the locals. This local knowledge turned out to be crucial because some of the local rivers every few years go through a literal Armageddon in the form of torrential spring flood. During that time water can have the color of flowing concrete and the current can be strong enough to move boulders the size of small car! It is a miracle that some fish actually survive this nightmare and after a while the trout population comes back to normal. During those two trips we were able to explore over a dozen different locations. In my opinion, the best solution is when you have a group of four or six friends with two or three vehicles. It takes a long time for only two anglers to explore new rivers. On the other hand, a large group might pose a logistical problem when trying to divide the fishable waters. It is also worth to mention that there are over 700 trout rivers in Southern Island alone! So there is plenty of water to choose from. Each of our trips was filled with countless adventures and anecdotes which won’t let us sleep in peace for a long time and most likely will force us some day to make a next trip “down under”. Clean air, beautiful wild mountains, unbelievable landscapes, wilderness and of course those rivers! Majority of them carried water that was just simply so “clear” that it is hard to even describe its color. It was something between turquoise and sapphire mixed in with the dark green of the bush overgrowing the river banks. It seemed that in this natural aquarium nothing could hide from the sharp eye of the trout angler, at least nothing of decent size. Many times we could observe huge trout waiting in the shallows for the insects. However early morning they would usually hold in the deeper spots where they could perfectly blend in with the river bottom. Then it was impossible to spot them even with the best polarized glasses. But that was only until a perfectly thrown crankbait would land right on the border of shallow and deeper water of the pool. Then sometimes only after 1-2 meters of retrieve a dark torpedo would appear like ghost out of nowhere and crush your lure! It seemed so unreal that only the screaming drag would remind you that it was not a dream. All trout in New Zealand were introduced in XIX century by British explorers. Glory to them! Since that time, there was no more trout stocking. This means that the trout we were dealing with were wild and spooky fish that lived in those rivers for many generations. Majority of fisheries of the Southern Island are dominated by brown trout. Some rivers also have rainbow trout, and sometimes even salmon- both pacific and atlantic species. All trout have pretty quick growth rates despite the fact that they feed mainly on insects. You can mainly catch fish over 50 cm long. During both of our trips, we caught only few smaller fish. Majority of them were between 55-65cm. There were few above 70cm. The largest trout that I caught was 73cm long but we saw a few that were a lot bigger! We had few of those behemoths on but we lost them. However the biggest ones would not even be tempted for a single bite. Unfortunately catching trout in majority of the rivers we were fishing was not easy. Just getting close to the river itself was a success on its own. All the roads that lead to the fishing spots go through private properties. On every step there are fences and gates that divide fields into pastures for grazing cattle, sheep and … deer. It is part of a fisherman’s etiquette to ask a landowner for permission to pass through their terrain. That is also what we did anytime we could locate the land owner. Unfortunately often times within many kilometers there were no houses or farm buildings and nobody we could ask to let us through. To make matters even worse some of the gates had a lock on them which is really hard to understand. A lot of the rivers flow through very difficult terrain- deep canyons with almost vertical, rocky cliffs. Their banks are overgrown with thick jungle of brush that is very unfriendly to anything that is soft and can tear. Therefore many times after hour or two of searching for the access to the river we were finally able to find it only to realize that it was impossible to reach it! The only solution was to start our search from the beginning. All of the fishing maps have special “angler’s entry points”. However there are not so many of them and they only allow access to a few hundred meters of the river. Generally we avoided such spots to fish the stretches that were less pressured. We did not meet too many other anglers, although during our second trip we noticed a lot stronger fishing pressure. A lot of the fish we caught hand hook scars. They were also a lot more careful and looked slightly “emaciated”. Therefore it is better to look for smaller streams, forgotten river stretches with difficult access and consult your decisions with the locals. Sometimes even a nice shopkeeper lady in the grocery store can have priceless information because her husband is a fisherman. Generally trout are everywhere. Even in the smallest streams that flow through small towns. Almost every time when we reached the water or we were observing the river from the bridge, we could see big fish. Sometimes we could even see few of them. It is really hard to describe what happens to the trout angler’s soul when beholding such sights! Of course fish in such places were extra careful because they knew well the taste of the fisherman’s hook. But that does not mean that they were impossible to catch! We were mainly using spinning rods with crankbaits. The lure that produced the best was a 7 cm, sinking trout imitation, but the other color versions of this lure also worked well. Unfortunately it was not till the end of our trip till we were finally able to come up with the best tactic. For sure we still will put it to good use in the future. All that we had to do was to keep in mind the unusual trout feeding pattern. First of all, it is necessary to be on the water as early as possible. That was a big problem for us. We would usually get up pretty late, eat breakfast and then start fishing around 9 A.M. The best bites occurred when the sun was still low and high river banks would cast long shadows on the water. So it is crucial to start fishing first thing in the morning. That way you can catch few excellent hours for spin fishing. However it is good to keep your fly rod handy. After 2-3 hours fish would became less aggressive and it would take a lot of effort to make one go after a wobbler. It turned out that the local trout when faced with stronger sunlight and higher temperatures, instead of hiding in the deepest holes like their European counterparts, they would rest in the shallows right next to the bank, sometimes in the water that was only 25cm deep! Most likely only in such spots they could expect a tasty treats in the form of fat grass hoppers or noisy cicadas. A trained eye of the trout angler had no problem with spotting a trout lurking in the shallows. Especially considering the fact that usually those were the fish above 60cm! Then all you had to do was to slowly retreat and throw a small nymph or dry fly imitating something big (like cicada) right in front of the fish. After a hookset, a stunned fish would right away turn into a live torpedo and would force the angler into a wild sprint on slippery rocks! Of course not all of them could be fooled. There is another thing about rivers in New Zealand that is worth to mention. Basically in all of them there are not that many trout. In order to have your chance you had to walk a pretty good deal. You could not see any small fish anywhere, but basically any good pool or hiding spot was taken by a trophy. On many rivers it meant a lot of long walks between the deeper pools. The smaller streams that cut through the canyons had many holes one after another. We also encountered few rivers that reminded me of my home waters- sandy holes, patches of weed and fallen logs. Over there the numbers of fish were higher. However larger rivers were wide but shallow and would split into many smaller streams. The key thing when fishing in a river valley that was several kilometers wide was to find one of those off shoots or streams that carried the most water. Fishing in the areas around the deepest spots was a recipe for catching big fish. In effect we had to hike 15 to 25 kilometers every day in very difficult terrain. Another fact about the New Zealand trout also came to light- the higher you go up the river, the bigger fish you can encounter. Exactly the opposite of what you might expect in Europe. At the end of our second trip we decided to visit the famous irrigation channels called McKenzie and Waitaki. Those man-made channels are connecting lakes Ohau, Tekapo and Pukaki and are used to irrigate the local farm land. Few places on those channels have fish farms with salmon and rainbow trout. Every one of those channels also has sizable population of wild trout- both browns and rainbows, and it is because of them those channels are famous among the anglers worldwide. Unfortunately the landscape over there is not that pretty. Honestly- it is worse than just not pretty; it is an eyesore! So what is it that makes fishermen come back over there year after year? It is the size of the trout that swim in those channels. The actual brown trout world record comes right from the Ohau Canal. The fish was caught in March of 2013 and weighted 19.1 kilograms! All it takes is to stop there for a little while to find out that there are more “monsters” of this size swimming in that area. Every year there are many trout caught that weigh over 10 kilograms and whose pictures adorn the walls of reception offices at the campsites. The owner of one of them invited us to check one of the local gas stations and see the trophy trout that was laying there in the fridge. It was a recently caught 17 kg brown trout! After seeing something like that we raced hoping to at least see one of those “mutants” swimming alive in the water. We were not disappointed! Right below the dam in one of the channels, in crystal clear water there was a school of huge trout patrolling the deep pool. We watched them for few hours with our mouths open! There were a lot of fish around 70-80cm. There were few about 1 meter long. However there were at least two that were much longer than 1 meter! To fully gage their size it is necessary to keep in mind their condition and girth. Their gargantuan proportions were unbelievable. This was a result of their diet which in part consists of granular fish feed that spills over from the fish farms. The giants which we saw had the size and a build that of a tuna. Seeing fish like that was an unbelievable experience for every trout fisherman. Unfortunately none of the giants even took a peek on the lures we were throwing. We were able to fool few little ones between 1 and 4 kg. In that sense we were still way better than the locals who would come over and ask us for the name of the lure we were using. The best bait turned out to be sinking Minnow 9 in silver, holographic color. On our last day we were disassembling our rods in heavy rain with mixed feelings. The trip was a success. We had plenty of adventures, feasted our eyes on beautiful sights, and caught plenty of big trout. However the sight of those “submarines” with dots swimming in the Waitaki channels will haunt us until our next trip to New Zealand!
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NOVI ZELAND – PLANETA PASTRVA by Piotr Piskorski To je bio moj najveći životni san od kada sam postao strastveni lovac na pastrve. Zajedno s prijateljima, Južni otok sam posjetio u dva navrata, 2011. i 2014.godine. Bez obzira na to što je mnogo vremena prošlo od mog zadnjeg posjeta, sjećanja na događaja još uvijek su bila vrlo živa i sve što mi je trebalo da se opet vratim na taj čarobni otok bilo je to da zaklopim oči i slike bi nadošle same. Novi Zeland je toliko daleko od Europe da se ponekad čini kao da je iz bajke. Sve tamo je pomalo čudno i drugačije nego doma. Stalno sam imao osjećaj da vidim stvari kao kroz razbijen prozor, stvari koje već znam… Vremenska razlika je 12 sati. Što znači, kada je kod nas ponoć, na Novom Zelandu je podne. Sredinom siječnja tamo je sredina ljeta. Čak i vrtlog vode koja otiče u kupaoni ili kuhinji, vrti se u suprotnu stranu ( Coriolis efekt ). Nije ni čudno onda što i ljudi i životinje imaju potpuno drugačije navike. Ondje se sve događa pomalo usporeno, a engleski jezik kojim se govori ne možete pomiješati ni sa jednim drugim naglaskom na svijetu, stanovnici su vrlo prijateljski raspoloženi i vole razgovarati s turistima. Pastrve su obično vrlo aktivne i hrane se čitavog dana. Ipak, za vrlo sunčanih dana, u podne, vole se sunčati u vodi dubine samo 25 cm. Čudno ? Ne na Novom Zelandu. U velikim rijekama, plivaju kružeći oko velikih ” bazena ”, dubljaka, u potrazi za hranom. Ovakvo je ponašanje direktno vezano uz karakteristike lokalnih rijeka. Većinom su to manji ili veći planinski potoci, s čistom i prozirnom vodom, te šljunčanim ili stjenovitim dnom. Povremene poplave odnesu sve srušeno drveće, potopljene grane i sl., a samim time i sva potencijalna skloništa za ribu. U biti, u rijekama i nema drugih riba osim pastrva i jegulja. Ribolovna tradicija Novog Zelanda potječe direktno od britanskih džentlmena koji su bili isključivo mušičari. Tako i dan danas, lokalni ribolovci neće svoj ribolov započeti plovkom i mamcem ili varalicom, već mušičarskim priborom. Posljedično, znanje o varalica i varaličarenju im je dosta slabo. Svaka rijeka ima svoja ribolovna pravila, ali u načelu, ribolov varalicom i ribolov umjetnom muhom je dozvoljen. Na mnogim je mjestima dozvoljen i ribolov živim, tj .prirodnim mamcima. Što se samog putovanja tiče, preporučio bih vam našu taktiku koja se pokazala izuzetno dobrom. Unajmili bi SUV, pa s kartama u rukama i uspoređujući ih s podacima s interneta i informacijama dobivenim od lokalnog stanovništva, odredili zone gdje bi htjeli loviti. To znanje lokalnih ribolovaca je od presudne važnosti jer neke od lokalnih rijeka, svakih nekoliko godina proživljavaju pravi Armagedon – u obliku apokaliptičnih proljetnih poplava. Tokom tih bujičnih poplava, većina rijeka poprima boju tekućeg cementa, a vodena struja je toliko jaka da može pomaknuti gromade kamenja veličine auta! Pravo je čudo da neke od riba uopće prežive ovakvu noćnu moru, ali populacija riba se vrlo brzo oporavlja i uskoro se sve vraća u normalu. Tokom ova dva putovanja, uspjeli smo istražiti više od tucet različitih lokacija. Po mom mišljenju, najbolje je kada imate ekipu od 4-6 prijatelja i 2-3 vozila. Dvojici ribolovaca treba previše vremena da bi istražili sve potencijale novih rijeka. S druge pak strane, velika grupa može imati logističkih problema kod pokušaja rasčlanjivanja potencijalnih vrhunski pozicija. Da vam bolje dočaram o čemu govorim, reći ću vam da samo na Južnom otoku ima više od 700 rijeka izuzetno bogatih pastrvama! Dakle, izbor je širok… Oba naša putovanja bila su prepuna bezbrojnih avantura i anegdota, koje nam još dugo neće dati da u miru zaspimo i koje će nas, sasvim sigurno, natjerati da opet posjetimo ovaj kraj. Čist zrak, prekrasne divlje planine, nevjerojatni krajolici, divljina i naravno, sve te rijeke! A većina njih nosi vodu, toliko čistu da jednostavno ne možete riječima opisati boju. To je nešto između tirkizne i boje safira, s primjesom tamno zelene na mjestima gdje je grmlje i okolni buš nadvit nad vodu. Izgleda kao da u ovom prirodnom akvariju ništa ne može promaknuti oku iskusnog ribolovca. Barem ne ništa ”pristojne” veličine… Često smo promatrali velike pastrve kako u plićaku iščekuju insekte. Bilo kako bilo, u jutarnjim su se satima držale dubljih pozicija, stapajući se s bojom dna na naprosto nevjerojatan način. Tada ih je bilo nemoguće primijetiti, čak i s najboljim polarizacijskim naočalama. Ali, to je trajalo samo do trenutka kada bi savršeno zabačen crankbait prošao granicom pličaka i dubljaka. Tada, nakon samo 1-2 metra povlačenja varalice, tamni torpedo bi se poput duha pojavio niotkuda i žestoko udario varalicu. To bi izgledalo toliko nevjerojatno da bi nas tek vrištanje kočnice role vraćalo u stvarnost. Sve pastrve koje danas nastanjuju vode Novog Zelanda, unijeli su britanski istraživači tokom 19.stoljeća. Slava im!! Otada, nije bilo nikakvih dodatnih poribljavanja pastrvom. A to znači da su pastrve s kojima smo mi imali posla, plašljive i divlje ribe koje ove vode nastanjuju generacijama. U većini voda Južnog otoka, potočna pastrva je dominantna riba. Neke rijeke imaju populaciju kalifornijske pastrve a neke čak i populaciju lososa, kako atlantskog tako i pacifičkog. Sve pastrve imaju izuzetno brz rast, bez obzira na činjenicu da se uglavnom hrane samo insektima. Uglavnom možete uloviti pastrve duže od 50 cm. Tokom naših putovanja, ulovili smo tek nekoliko manjih riba. Glavnina riba je u rangu 55-65 cm. Ulovili smo i nekoliko pastrva preko 70 cm. Moja najveća riba je imala 73 cm, a vidjeli smo i nekoliko većih! Imali smo na štapu i nekoliko takvih, ali ih nismo uspjeli savladati. One najveće nije ni bilo moguće isprovocirati da zagrizu. Na žalost, ribolov pastrva u većini rijeka koje smo posjetili, nije nimalo lak. Samo približavanje rijeci i obali je bio podvig za sebe. Svi putovi koji vode do ribolovnih pozicija prolaze privatnim zemljištem. Na svakom koraku su ograde i kapije koje dijele površine na kojima pasu goveda, ovce i …jeleni. Dio je ribičke kulture i lijepog ponašanja da se vlasnika pita za dozvolu prolaza njegovim zemljištem. A to smo i učinili svaki put kad bismo uspjeli pronaći vlasnika. Na žalost, ponekad kilometrima daleko nije bilo kuće ni farme, ni ikoga da ga pitamo za dozvolu prolaska. Da bi stvar bila još gora, poneke kapije su imale i lokote, što je pomalo teško za razumjeti. Dio rijeka pak protiče izuzetno teškim terenom – dubokim kanjonima oivičenim vertikalnim liticama. A obale su im obrasle vrlo gustim grmljem koje je u većini slučajeva bodljikavo i vrlo neprijateljski raspoloženo prema odjeći. Ponekad smo sat-dva utrošili kako bi napokon pronašli nešto nalik prolazu u grmlju i onda otkrili da ne vodi nikud i da je tu nemoguće proći! I jedino je rješenje započeti potragu iznova. Sve ribolovne karte imaju posebne ”točke ulaza za ribolovce”. No, njih je malo i omogućavaju ribolov na tek nekoliko stotina metara. U globalu, izbjegavali smo takve prolaze i tražili mjesta s manjim pritiskom ribolovaca. Nismo sreli puno drugih ribolovaca, ali prilikom drugog posjeta, osjetilo se da postoji veći pritisak ribolovaca. Puno riba koje smo ulovili imale su ožiljke od udica. Te su ribe bile ujedno i plašljivije i podozrive. Zato je bolja opcija potražiti manje vodotoke, zaboravljene rukavce rijeka s težim pristupom, te se o tome posavjetovati s lokalnim ribolovcima. Ponekad i simpatična prodavačica u trgovini mješovitom robom može dati neprocjenjive podatke, jer je njezin muž ribolovac. Općenito gledano, pastrve su posvuda. Čak i u najmanjim potocima koji protiču kroz najmanja naselja. Gotovo svaki put kad bi došli do vode ili promatrali vodu s mosta, mogli smo vidjeti velike ribe. Ponekad i nekoliko njih, zaista kapitalnih. Teško je objasniti što se događa u duši pastrvaša u takvim trenucima. Naravno, ribe na takvim mjestima su bile izuzetno oprezne, jer dobro poznaju ”okus” udice… No, to ne znači da je nemoguće prevariti ih. Uglavnom smo koristili varaličarske štapove i crank varalice. Kao najbolja varalica, pokazala se ona dužine 7 cm , tonuća, u boji pastrve, ali i druge boje su odrađivale posao. Na žalost, tek smo na kraju našeg putovanja shvatili pravu taktiku… Ali, naravno, to će nam iskustvo koristiti u budućnosti. Sve što je trebalo je to da smo uvijek morali na umu imati neobične hranidbene navike riba. Kao prvo, na vodu je trebalo stići što ranije. A to nam je bio veliki problem. Kasno smo ustajali, pa bi doručkovali i na vodu bi stigli oko 9 sati. A najbolji udarci riba su se događali kada je sunce još bilo nisko a visoke obale bi bacale dugačke sjene daleko na površinu rijeke. Zato, od presudne je važnosti započeti ribolov kao prvu stvar ujutro. Na taj način ćete imati par sati vrhunskog varaličarenja. No, dobro je uz sebe imati i mušičarski štap. Nakon 2-3 sata varaličarenja, bilo je teško prevariti ribu na vobler. Pokazalo se da pastrve ondje, za razliku od onih u Europi, kada sunce prigrije i zatopli, izlaze u pličake uz samu obalu, u vodu duboku samo 20-25 cm, dok njihove europske rođake, upravo suprotno, u to doba traže sjenovita i duboka mjesta. A ima to veze i s činjenicom da samo na takvim mjestima mogu očekivati slastan zalogaj poput skakavaca ili bučnih cikada. Izvježbano oko ribolovca, lako će primijetiti sjene pastrva koje bauljaju plitkom vodom. Osobito što su to obično ribe od 60+ centimetara! Sve što tada morate učiniti je da se lagano povučete i zabacite malu nimfu ili suhu imitaciju nečeg velikog (npr.cikade), ravno pred ribu. Nakon uzimanja mamca, kad riba osjeti udicu, iz mirnog bića pretvara se u pravi torpedo, koji će ribolovca natjerati na trk po klizavim obalnim stijenama uz nezaboravan dril. Naravno, sve se ribe ne daju prevariti… Još je nešto vrijedno spomenuti u vezi rijeka Novog Zelanda. U biti, sve rijeke nemaju (pre)veliku populaciju pastrva. Da bi imali uspjeha, čeka vas puno hodanja. Nećete gotovo nigdje vidjeti male ribe, ali u pravilu, svaki dubljak ima svoju gospodaricu-kapitalku. Na većini rijeka to znači puno hodanja od jednog do drugog dubljaka. Mali potoci, koji se probijaju kroz stjenovite kanjone, znaju imati u svom toku, jednu rupu iza druge. Locirali smo i nekoliko rijeka koje su me podsjetile na rijeke u domovini – rupe s pješčanim dnom, pojasevi vodenog raslinja i potopljena debla. Tu je bilo i puno više riba. No, velike su rijeke uglavnom bile šire ali plitke i razdvajale bi se u više manjih rukavaca. Ključ uspješnog ribolova u ovakvim riječnim dolinama, koje su se prostirale i na nekoliko kilometara, bio je u tome da se pronađe rukavac najbogatiji vodom, jer bi takvi rukavci imali i najviše ribe. Ribolov u zoni oko dubljaka bio je dobitna kombinacija. Dnevno smo pješačili 15-25 kilometara preko vrlo neprohodnog terena. Još jedna činjenica o pastrvama na Novom Zelandu izašla je na vidjelo – što se više penjete u planine, ribe su veće. Potpuno suprotno onome što možete očekivati u Europi. Na kraju našeg drugog putovanja, odlučili smo posjetiti slavne kanale za navodnjavanje nazvane McKenzie i Waitaki. Ovi, ljudskom rukom izgrađeni kanali, povezuju jezera Ohau, Tekapo i Pukaki i služe za navodnjavanje poljoprivrednog zemljišta okolnih farmi. Neka mjesta na tim kanalima su pretvorena u ”riblje farme” s populacijom lososa i kalifornijskih pastrva. Svaki od tih kanala ima i zavidnu populaciju divljih potočara i kalifa i zbog toga su ti kanali slavni među ribolovcima diljem svijeta. Na žalost, okoliš oko njih nije lijep. Iskreno – mnogo je gori od toga, pravi je trn u oku! Pa što je onda razlog da se ribolovci ovdje vraćaju, godinu za godinom!? Razlog je veličina pastrva koje plivaju ovim kanalima. Trenutačni svjetski rekord ulova potočne pastrve dolazi baš iz Ohau kanala. Riba je ulovljena u ožujku 2013., i bila je teška 19.1 kg! I kratko zaustavljanje na ovoj vodi će vam otkriti kakva čudovišta plivaju u njoj. Svake godine se ovdje ulovi puno pastrva težih od 10 kg čije slike krase zidove recepcija i kampova. Vlasnik jednog od njih nas je pozvao da posjetimo obližnju benzinsku pumpu, gdje u hladnjači leži jedna od takvih riba. Bila je to nedavno ulovljena potočara teška 17 kg! Nakon što smo to vidjeli, pojurili smo do vode u nadi da ćemo uživo vidjeti nešto od tih ”mutanata” kako plivaju u svom vodenom carstvu. I nismo bili razočarani. U kristalno čistoj vodi kanala, u dubokom bazenu neposredno ispod brane, patroliralo je jato velikih pastrva. Otvorenih ustiju smo ih promatrali više od sat vremena. Puno riba bilo je u rangu veličine 70-80 cm. Bilo ih je i nekoliko koje smo procijenili na 1 metar. I barem dvije duže od 1 metra! Kod procjene, važno je imati na umu i njihovu kondiciju i opseg tijela. Proporcije ovih riba bile su nestvarne! Njihova veličina je dijelom posljedica prehrane, jer do njih dolaze znatne količine peleta kojima se hrane ribe u prije spomenutim ”ribljim farmama”. Mrcine koje smo vidjeli, izgledom i snagom su više podsjećale na tune… Uspjeli smo prevariti nekoliko riba od 1-4 kg. U tom pogledu, nadmašili smo lokalne ribolovce, koji su nas došli pitati kakve to varalice koristimo. Kao najbolja varalica nam se pokazao tonući Minnow dužine 9 cm, u srebrno holografskom koloru. Posljednjeg smo dana putovanja raspremali naš pribor, u kišom okupanom danu i s pomiješanim osjećajima. Putovanje je bilo i više nego uspješno. Imali smo puno avantura, oči smo ”napasli” na predivnim krajobrazima i ulovili smo puno velikih pastrva. Pa ipak, pogled na točkaste podmornice Waitaki kanala će nas proganjati do našeg idućeg putovanja na Novi Zeland! Preveo i priredio: Božo Povijač