Introduction:
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Nick Taransky is one of the world’s premier bamboo fly rod makers. He is based in the beautiful Monaro region of NSW in Australia. After completing a degree in science he met rod maker Jeff Wagner at a Fly Fishing Show in Washington DC, one of the best bamboo rod makers in the USA. Nick did an initial apprenticeship with Jeff, and continued to build rods for himself and friends until in June 2004, his commitment to producing the highest quality rods lead him to devote himself to rod making full time.He and his wife Miri share a passion for the dry fly and sight-fishing for trout in streams. They are committed to catch and release and to the preservation of the environment and trout in Australian waters. See http://www.taranskybamboo.com.au . Tom Sutcliffe)
Says Nick this week:
Miri and I went to a small stream in the Kosciuszko National Park here yesterday. It was a magnificent day, and it made me reflect on the title and sentiment behind your “Spirit of Fly Fishing Newsletter”. Miri is a Kiwi, so we make annual trips to New Zealand, and recently returned from a family visit to the South Central North Island. Many people would (and do), pay large amounts of money and travel around the world to experience fishing like we did in New Zealand. A few of the attached photos will confirm that. Sight fishing, mainly with dry flies, to large wild browns and rainbows in a mixture of Native New Zealand forest and farmland streams is sensational. But for me, the small streams of my home region of Australia have an equal, but different appeal. I know that nowhere near as many people would pay as much to visit here. But the sights, sounds and smells of the Australian outback, as well as the fishing, are so dear to me. It’s a heartbreakingly beautiful place, where trout, some small (and some not so), hardily survive through desert like heat waves and other seemingly impossible challenges. But they do, and they thrive. If I had to choose one over the other, I don’t know if I could. And thankfully, for the time being, I don’t have to. Some photos and captions below.
NEW ZEALAND
A typical rustic farmland scene from Miri’s home region of Taranaki, New Zealand. I say to everyone there - "You have amazing scenery”, and they invariably reply “What scenery”??? I guess I am a flatlander...
A gorgeous Rainbow for Miri to start our recent trip (yes, she catches the best ones, but I argue that I’m better behind the camera anyway)
A bubble line feeding brown comes to the net
I love the way large browns develop that green-blue hued head, all over the world.
Another lovely torpedo rainbow for Miri on the dry fly
An Aussie favourite - a #16 Red Tag fooled this vividly coloured fish
For a drought stricken (and trout stricken) Aussie, all this green can be almost too much to take in...
“And down he goes”... Many of my most memorable moments in New Zealand involve spectacular falls - this one while chasing a fast running rainbow downstream...
North Island Rainbows bring anglers from around the world, and who can argue why?
Not my biggest fish of the trip by far, but maybe my most memorable. Why? It sat out feeding in a ray of sunshine in dappled light; it was a tough cast (for me, anyway - a long switch cast hemmed in by willows), and the spots on it reminded me of pictures in books in that attracted me to trout fishing in my childhood.
Strike! Miri hooks a big Willow feeding NZ farm stream brown.
AND AUSTRALIA…
The colours of the Australian high country are literally burnt into my soul
Everywhere, scars of the massive 2003 bushfires remain. White ghosts of green overhanging shrubs will outlast me. But maybe these are a truer reflection of the Australian environment than a utopian snapshot of “Halcyon Days” in our minds. And all around, new life is budding...
Remnants of massive engineering feat of the Snowy Hydro scheme mark the high country. Over 40 years after the termination of construction, this cricket pitch at the site of an air landing strip, remains on the banks of a remote small stream filled with rainbow trout. Time for a quick practise of the “forward defence”!
Down goes the Red Tag...
(18) Just because they’re not big, they’re not necessarily stupid. A low profile and subdued clothing always helps.
If you look close enough, there is bright green in Australia too!
Fighting for its life, only to be returned...
Big or small, fish head for the undercuts, and sidestrain from the deep bend of a smooth rod gently but firmly works them out. The Payne 97 taper feels more Japanese than American to me...
Rainbows are visualised as a green/pink/white fish, but here their colours blend with the yellows, browns and oranges of Australian granite.
Aside from (and apologies for) the slightly funky grip seen below, to me, this is “The Spirit of Fly Fishing"
