Big Boy

Josh and I have just returned from our last back country trip... We spent 5 days exploring a remote river.. The weather couldnt have been better and water clarity was perfect... We bushwhacked for 4 hours into this isolated river... It really should have only taken 3 hours but I had a fever and was feeling awful so little josh had to carry me... We finally got to the river set up camp and starting working our way through some gorges... we spotted very few fish on the first couple of days but we did spot a bunch of foot prints at every hole... what we didnt realize at the time was we were following someone up the river... they were a couple of days ahead of us and alone but it still beat up the water pretty bad... on the third day we had moved our camp up through a large gorge and into the upper section of river... Josh and I came up on a pool and I peeked my head over the top of a large rock... sure enough there was a big fish sitting on the edge of the current swinging a little bit... I was sure it was a rainbow... it had a HUGE red side... only problem... i have never heard about a rainbow in this river? Weird but it didnt matter.. about 4 cast later little Josh and I are running up and down the pool chasing this massive fish around... he ate a size 12 hairs ear nymph and he was pissed! Josh somehow cornered it and was able to net it.. he started yelling at me that it was not a rainbow but a really big brown with red sides? As it turned out it was the biggest brown I have ever landed.. 10.5 pounds and meaty... The fish has some really interesting colors on it.... The size and proportions of the fish say that it is definitely a healthy fish but the colors are very different... I think the fish has just eaten too many mice and is having trouble digesting them... Anyways... this was the fish of the trip for me... I have been looking for a fish this size for a long time... The next 2 days were a dissapointment... while we saw some very large fish they were absolutely not feeding.. whomever was ahead of us had fished up and walked back through the pools... the fish were more than spooky they were not feeding... Little Josh did manage to land a beautiful 6 lber in some quicker water but other than that we were skunked... We had a long 5 hour bushwack back to the car... up over a mountain and out... we were very happy to emerge from the woods to a big field with Rambo sitting on the other side.. thank god for the GPS... the bush is so dense here in this part of the country you honestly felt blind in there... we just trusted the GPS and a compass and we made it in and out safe as can be...

Anyways... this was our last backcountry trip for us... Little Josh flies out on the 27th and I will stay here in town until the 2nd... We may do a little fishing from the road but both of us are resting up and getting prepared to come back to the states... I have updated the blog and webalbum but unfortunately i dont have many pictures to update.. just a couple of fish pics... :) Thanks to everyone for reading my updates... I may send one out just before I fly out on Feb 3rd but we will see... hope everyone is doing well and I will see you all soon... Thanks again to everyone who has written over the last 3 months...

Little Josh

Here are a couple of shots of Josh's beautiful 6lb fish... This guy ate a big dry in some fast water and was quite a handful to land...

Piggy Piggy

5 days of fishing... landed 2 fish... but... it was worth it... caught this 10.5 pound meat eating beast on a size 12 hare's ear... I think the coloration comes from eating too many mice!

Update

Just wanted to write a quick update.. Little Josh, Marty and I drove from Westport down to Queenstown for New Years... Queenstown was crazy as usual with thousands of young people running around... After New Years I met up with my parents who had flown into Queenstown... Josh and Marty stuck around in the area and fished some of the local waters in the area... We took off and headed to Te Anau and Fjordland... We spent 4 days hiking the Kepler Track... This Great Walk was unbelievable... we had a mix of weather but all in all it was a beautiful hike... From Te Anau we headed to Milford Sound for a day cruise out in the sound... again weather was mix... we had some pretty serious wind and a little rain... It is supposed to be summer here but it sure feels like fall this week... After Milford my parents and i headed back up to Wanaka to find some sun... we did some biking and hiking around... visited the world famous Puzzeling world and relaxed... Today my dad and step mom fly out of Queenstown and Little Josh and I are headed back north to do some more fishing... This break has been great but I am starting to realize that we only have a few weeks left... Marty had some things come up and he is headed back to Wyoming a few weeks early... Josh and I will stay here with Rambo and go chase some more fish... Sorry for the lack of fish photos... there will be more to come... Hope everyone had a great Holiday and New Years...

Kea's

Here are some alpine parrots called Kea's... they are very curious guys

More scenery

Here are a few more scenery shots... some flowes and such

Milford Sound

Here are some waterfalls in Milford Sound

More Kepler

Here are a few more

Kepler Track

Here are a few shots from the Kepler Track

Stu's

The best fly shop in New Zealand... check out his website

Bridge

Josh decided he wanted to jump off this bridge.. It was a nice day... we stopped.. he jumped... we kept on driving :)