THE YEAR OF THE MOUSE - AND SOME FABULOUSLY BIG BROWN TROUT!
By Ruhan Neethling
This has nothing to do with the Chinese or any other ancient or mystical calendars, but is all about mice in New Zealand, an event that is equitable to or even more highly desirable than the Palolo worm hatch in Florida or the Hendrickson hatch on the Au Sable in Michigan. It is an event that happens about every six to seven years and requires a few concurrent events to realize. But when these do come together, it’s something to behold.
In short, after a mild winter in New Zealand the Beech trees in an area will flower simultaneously in the spring. This in turn means that there are plenty of seeds falling at the end of summer and during winter, which then causes a mouse population explosion. Due to their enormous numbers, the mice have to start roaming to find new foraging and this compels them to swim the rivers and lakes. Subsequently, the always opportunistic brown trout gorge themselves on these mice during the night. It is truly something to see. The 2009/2010 season was such a year in some areas of NZ and I was privileged enough to actually experience it.
Scott Murray New Zealand guide, with the author
I normally fish with Scott Murray out of the Murchison area in the north of the South Island and on my trip during the 2008/2009 season we were talking mice. He had a suspicion that 2009/2010 was going to be a “mouse year”. During the next winter there were regular emails going backwards and forwards with titles such as “Talk mice to me” and “Look what the cat dragged in”. As is normal for guides, he kept the backdoor wide open and always ended with “it is not sure, but could be“. Needless to say, I could hardly contain my excitement as the time for my trip, which coincided with the opening of the trout season on 1 October, drew closer and the reports became more positive with every correspondence.
At last I arrived at Scotty’s and the first night during dinner the cat actually brought 3 mice into the house! It was sure to be on! The only other thing that was needed was for the fish to actually be switched on to the mice! I was booked to fish for six days and we had a sleep-out trip planned to “this river”. We decided the first three days would be used for warming up and to ascertain what was happening and whether the fish really were switched on to the mice.
Browns feeding on mice
The first morning started slowly. We could not find any fish in the normal lies and even Scotty was baffled and I could sense, a little concerned. At last the first fish started showing at around 10am and we immediately saw why it took all morning for them to wake up. The fish that came to the net almost all had fur hanging from their swollen vents. THEY WERE FEEDING ON MICE!!
The first three days saw some good numbers and fish up to 9 pounds, but the 10 pounders kept eluding us, so during day 3 we decided “Tomorrow will be the day”.
“This” river
Before continuing, I think I need to elaborate a little more on “this river”. During my first New Zealand trip in Feb 2007, I asked around about where you will have the best opportunity to catch that fish of a lifetime. Some old timers told me about this remote river where the fish grew to Loch Ness Monster size, with rumors of trout that can eat a possum! When I questioned the guide I was fishing with about this river, it was as if I had dumped a bucket of icy water over him. He kept avoiding the subject and did a lot of “guide mumbling“.
“This” river. Nearly a full days hike in
During my second trip, I fished with Scotty and decided to mention this river again. He is renowned as a guide who gets big fish and is willing to go off the beaten track and try new areas. Unfortunately I found out that the river is at least a full day’s hike in and another full day out again and I had neither the time to do this, nor the funds to get in with a chopper. At that stage we decided that I would save up for a chopper flight on my already planned return trip.
Scotty’s fly box
In October 2009 we did indeed fly in. The day before we left Scotty became all nervous and kept fiddling with his fly boxes and tied 20 foot leaders to my rods. The usual joking and jostling turned a bit tenser and eventually I dragged it from him that he was actually really nervous (read scared) of the river! A big part of the river’s reputation is plenty of blank days, even for the best fisherman. Just more reason to go!
“This” river’s clear water holds sensitive trout
This river sees very few rod days in a year and unlike what is generally thought this actually makes the fishing really tough. On rivers that see a bit of pressure, the fish actually get used to anglers on the banks, lines falling on the water and flies drifting past them. On these real back country rivers, the trout are not used to this, which means that absolutely anything out of the ordinary will spook them.
Our camp on the bank
In short, we did really well on that first trip, so it was set that for the 2009/2010 trip we would go for two days and sleep on the bank. This would allow us to get into water that he has never fished.
A very fat 8 pounder
Back to the trip. The morning of day 4 saw us driving to the helipad for the flight in. The flight in itself is a highlight and the scenery is just breathtaking. The morning went slowly as per the previous days and as per the previous days, things changed at 10 am and we picked up our first fish, a very fat 8 pounder. During the rest of the morning we picked up a couple more in that range. Things were going well.
Just before lunch we spotted a good fish feeding in the tail of deep pool. I got into position to present a fly to him and just as I was about to cast, a second fish came into the lie and chased the first one off. At this stage I thought he was smaller than the first, and felt a little disappointed as the first looked as if it might actually be that first 10 pounder I had been searching for.
The big one – 14 pound brown!
It took a few fly changes, but eventually he ate our presentation. On the hookup he cleared the water and I almost lost my breath…he was HUGE. Scotty went very quiet and I had that panicky feeling I am sure most have when they are connected to the fish of a lifetime. He jumped twice more and every time he did I was sure he was going to land on the tippet and break it. But all held and I managed to coach him into some shallow water where Scotty netted, or rather attempted to net him. He could not fit in the net! This caused a few anxious moments, but eventually he was stranded and Scotty tailed him. At this point the hollers and shouts started, this was a really big fish. He weighed a whopping 14 pounds, truly the fish of a lifetime. He was a young cock in his prime and had obviously been fattening up on mice, he was beautiful.
A memory forever in my mind
A memory forever in my mind is, as he swam away, I could really see how big he was. It looked like his tail fin was slotted into a tree stump which was his body.
The third 10 pounder
To cap things, we got another 10 pounder not too long after. Pitching tent that night and sitting next to the fire with a hot cup of coffee was as special a moment as I have ever experienced. You could cut the contentment with a knife. We had few words and not much was said, just a few pats on shoulders and knees and some deep sighs. I crawled into the sleeping bag a very happy man.
During this trip, I also visited the Te Anau area for the first time. I fished with Dean Bell, another excellent guide, and landed some good fish over three days fishing, with two more going over that magical 10 pound mark.
I have heard the question asked whether there still are big fish in NZ. During the Year of the Mouse, there surely are!!
PEN SKETCH ON RUHAN NEETHLING
Here’s how Ruhan puts it:
‘I am a South African who inherited wanderlust and currently live in Papua New Guinea with my wife and two kids. PNG is a tropical archipelago that owns half of the world's second biggest island, situated just north of Australia. I work as an expatriate for Coca-Cola Amatil as their financial controller. Even though I love all kinds of fishing, I am especially addicted to fishing for wild trout in wild rivers. In 2007 I discovered the Murchison area on the South Island of New Zealand and that was it for me. The rivers are wild and big compared to SA streams and inhabited by the biggest wild browns I know of (excluding the sea runs of Tierra del Fuego) so in short, heaven for me. To boot they are elusive and not all that easy to catch. A close second will have to be big tarpon in the Florida keys...to catch a 100 plus pound fish sight casting with #2 flies is something else.’
