[St_Paul]

Yeah looks like its been fixed again, shame its not open all year only during whitebait season.

[Miliwolf]

Sweet

I would have that side to myself again , makes fly fishing much more fun when there is a low risk of catching someone with a back cast.

[St_Paul]

yup know what you mean. mind you with the prevailing noretherlies and noreasters it makes casting tricky on the south side.

[Miliwolf]

Been down there for a few hours tonight, I was hoping the rain would have resulted in fewer people down there. I was wrong…

So went to the south side and shared it with another fly fisherman. I caught two modest Kahawai, the spinners on the other side caught qutie a few good sized blue Kahawai. But the flys were not producing.

[Yakkaman]

What flies were you using Milli?

I saw some great cloussers being tied at the CFFClub reconmendation for kys were brown buck skinwith white underneathand a thread of attracter

[Miliwolf]

Small Grey Ghost. My favorite for KY.

I always take a variety of flys but when the fishing is hot they all seem to work, when the fishing is slow its always a struggle.
The other guy was using large Saltwater style flys.

IMHO its worth while changing between the Smaller ‘whitebait’ imitations and the larger ‘baitfish’ imitations. Just do not put all your faith into one style.

[St_Paul]

That would have been Tony Orman you were down there with last night. Saw him down there this morning (stopped for a nosey but no fish on the way to work)and he described you perfectly . If you’re heading down and would like some company give me a call
Had a crack around 3 o’clock yesterday avo got a few 1.5 kg fish and 2 over 3 kg on the north bank (1 on the first cast!!). Vineyard workers were a bit of a pain, had a go at some of the for littering, but they learnt to stand clear after a couple of close calls.
Have been having most success with a pattern tied up using marabou or the tail with a few strands of crystal flash, body of holo dubbing in silver, wing of bucktal and uv cystal flash, holo eyes with epoxied head in sizes 6 – 2 on black magic SWF hooks. Have also found small poppers particularly succesful. Most of the larger fish I have caught this year have been caught on size 2 hooks

[Miliwolf]

Yeah it was Tony, see him down there quite often.

[Yakkaman]

went out to Kairakei yesterday, Jackfish had a couple follw his fly, i took the yak with me and Jackfish tried it out he got a small ky and something smashed his fly but got off.

I stayed land based only caught an eel pain to get them off.

[Miliwolf]

Been down to the diversion a couple more times, The fishing was quite hot Friday night but only managed to hook one big fish but the hook knot broke after a long fight. Landed a small one, then caught two small ones on my spinning.

The spin fishers were getting a steady stream of large KY.

Went back down today, got there at 8am.. not much around. A seal scared me when it erupted right beneath my fly line. Seal buggered off upstream, after a while I decided to also change spots. Went upstream myself, had a couple of trout follow my first few casts then nothing.

Notice a overhead knot in my leader, broke the knot, then could not get the nail-less nail knot to work. So went back down to the mouth. Still no KY being caught, decided to use my secret weapon…. Caught no KY. Tried a couple of spots in the main Wairau but caught nothing. Went home.

[Miliwolf]

Went back late afternoon, caught nothing. Saw no KY being caught.

[yellowfin]

There was a school of kahawai at the Waimakariri Rivermouth this afternoon. Unfortunately they were all small ones about 30cm in length. There were birds diving into the water taking silveries amid much excitement. There were just three anglers fishing at the end: myself, my son and another guy. I caught four, my son three and the other bloke caught a few as well. But as I said they were all small fish! We released all of them. These smaller kahawai prefer smaller lures. They could easily have been caught on saltwater fly gear

[St_Paul]

had a quick flick over my lunchbreak today got about 1/2 a dozen up to 30 cms

milwolf wrote
[quote:1m23saj1]Notice a overhead knot in my leader, broke the knot, then could not get the nail-less nail knot to work

How are you connecting your leader to the fly line? Have you tried braided loop connectors? Have been using them for years now on my older flylines that don’t have factory welded loops. makes it heaps easier to change leaders and have never had one fail on me

[Miliwolf]

Good to know they have returned. The river was so dead on Sunday…. Apart from the mullets the only fished which even followed my fly in were two trout further upstream.

I mainly use the nail-less nail knot, It has never failed me. Just a bit fiddly to re-tie when I forget the instructions. I love the factory welded loops, wished all lines had them.

I have tried the braided loops, but have never been able to slide them onto the fly-line… The shop installed one on my first fly set but it slipped off when I snagged my fly in a pine tree on the back-cast.

I have ‘melted’ my own permanent loops once or twice but never 100% pleased with the result. Going to try a Whipped Loop when I purchase a bobbin.

http://www.flyfisherman.com/skills/lkknots/index8.html

The KY can wait, because the next few nights is prime Snapper hunting tide Did not keep my eye on the tides and found out to late to go fishing tonight.

[St_Paul]

Had a quick flick on friday at lunch time, got 2 around 30cms.
secret to getting line into a braided loop is to make sure you cut the end of the flyline at a sharp angle. makes it heaps easier to get the darn thing in there. always superglue the braid under the connector sleeve and wher the flyline enters the braid or it may slip off under tension ( I suspect this is what happened to yours)
The whipped loop is good, but tricky trying to get the thread to stay under enough tension to make it tight enough. Superglue does help. To make your own pliobond dissolve silicone sealent in zippo lighter fluid.

Might have to have a poke about up river for some trout, have seen a couple of beauties up by the ferry bridge but the seemed to be feeding exclusively on willow grubs

[Author]

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