New Zealand River

New Zealand River Again

The missus woke me up with her shadowless kick, as usual. In our younger days, it was much more gentle. Anyway I was out of the house quickly. It was drizzling lightly. I took out the brand new Gortex rain coat from the fishing gear box. Haven’t had the chance to use it since the day my nephew, Ming, bought it for me.

The drizzle had eased up by the time I made the turn into the road leading to our destination. CY called. He and Uncle Wong had arrived and will wait for me at the usual rendezvous point. Normally I don’t fish at the River when it rains because of falling trees and branches. But the urge to fish was unbearable after a lengthy spell without the fishing fixes and the risk of a tree falling on me was delegated as a lesser danger than it was when I was fishing almost everyday.

The river wasn’t flowing. The best way to spend a raining Sunday morning is to sleep through it, like everybody else. The valve technician must be sleeping too. So the river will not flow today. The place was deserted except for 3 mentally compromised fly fishermen. Adi was down with rangerphobia and will not be joining us today. You guys gonna miss the star of my photoblog because he almost always catches something for me to post.

Uncle Wong and CY had rigged up their bamboo rods very quickly and started fishing. I was wearing the new Fishpond chest pack, bought yesterday from Coho, for the first time. The length of the strap made it more like a stomach pack on me. Any longer and it would definitely be a groin pack.

Uncle Wong and CY was hooking up Peacock Basses on every cast. I was shooting away left and right with my Canon Digital Ixus. Uncle Wong gave up his spot under the big tree for me. On my first cast, a ferocious Peacock Bass hit the fly with a force I had never felt for a long time. The LeoRod was bending double and the Peacock Bass decided it was an acrobat and did some spectacular aerial somersaults. I was hooking up a Peacock Bass on every cast.

CY was catching Peacock Basses on almost every cast with his new Mario Wojnicki 225FF4. He invited Uncle Wong to try out his new baby. “Like butter” Uncle Wong said. I took my turn to try out the Wojnicki. The rod was very light. I pulled out more fly line and did some false casts. It was throwing the 4 weight line very smoothly indeed. On the third cast, an Earth Eater grabbed the tadpole fly. A few quick shots by CY and me, as Uncle Wong hurried us to release the Earth Eater gently back into the water. These beauties can't last very long out of the waters, and we can't last very long in here due to the rangerphobia bug floating around recently.

Breakfast at Ah Hoe’s


Earth Eater.

The new Fishpond Stomach Pack




CY's new Wojnicki. The name was hard to pronounce, but the rod cast the fly line smooth as silk.








Fishpond bags are the most wonderful friend for a fly fisherman.

Eight Trees Miscounted as Seven Trees

Eight Trees

I woke up earlier than the normal fishing time. Drove via Mandai and Lentor to reach the destination. The north-eastern wind was pretty cold for the hot and humid tropical country. Uncle Wong and Adi arrived a while later. We rigged our bamboos and waited for Q.

There were eight trees along the road. Wonder who miscounted them and called the place Seven Trees. It even showed on Goggle Map. A distinct eight trees. We moved along the edge of the water. Uncle Wong and Adi were very steady and careful. I kept reminding them of pot hole and asked them not to fall into one. Finally I was the only one who stepped into a pot hole and fell over.

Again Uncle Wong was catching all the peacock basses. Q, Adi and I caught one each. The pull was more forceful than those we had with the fishes at the river. It was fun. But shame we have to leave early to avoid the white and blue vans.

Breakfast at a Yishun Kopitiam.

Stripeless Peacock Bass.

Earth Eaters Come In Schools

Earth Eaters Come In Schools

My mobile phone alarm sounded, but I was too deep in my sleep to hear it. So the missus threw her shadowless kick on me. I was up and out of the house in 10 minutes, army recruit style. Uncle Wong and Jimmy had asked me to join them for a fly fishing session on Christmas day. But the maid’s on home leave and the missus wanted to bring the kids out.
There was no rain today and the weather was just fine. A perfect day for fly fishing. The construction site had made the place a bit muddy. Uncle Wong had a miner’s lamp on his head. Adi and I tagged along the path he walked. Imagine 2 young men letting him lead the way. Okay okay I hear you guys, middle age men.

The river was flowing at full force and the water was clear as gin. I caught 2 peacock basses. Uncle was at the further end of the river and as usual catching most of the fishes. I saw a school of Earth Eaters swimming pass. I casted ahead of them and let the fly drift towards them. Four of them, maybe five swam toward it in a frenzy. The fly line straighten and one of them was at the end of the line. A small one. I lifted it out of the water, had a few quick shots with my Canon Ixus and released it back into the water. Good catch for my rusty arms and reflexes.

Adi had joined Uncle Wong at the far end. I moved over to take some photos of Adi.

Adi landed another Peacock Bass.

The fly came off after some trashing


Here's the fly again.