Heli Fishing Cascade River

2.19

We were picked up by our fishing guide, Jeff, at our Makarora accommodation at 7am, then drove North to Haast. Haast would be our base for fishing the next couple of days and where we would meet our helicopter pilot, also named Jeff. 

The first day had a better weather forecast so they opted for that day to be the day to fly.  The helicopter ride was absolutely stunning!  We flew from the beach, up over the mountains, over lakes, and several rivers. Here we are after just getting dropped off, giddy with the fact that we had taken not just one, but two, helicopter rides on this amazing trip:

The Cascade River was easily the most beautiful river either of us had ever seen. It was bejeweled with gorgeous varying shades of green stones and the water was a radiant turquoise blue:

There was no time to waste. Cameron immediately started casting, while Monica got casting lessons from Jeff:

The river was huge, and this part of the country is known for having less fish, but when there is a fish it is typically a trophy.  We slowly stalked the bank while Jeff used his eagle eyes to try to spot a fish. We did not see a fish for the first half of the day before lunch.  This is in part due to bad luck, and also in part due to the fact that it was overcast which makes visibility into the water difficult. 

After lunch the sun started poking out in spots between the thick clouds.  Its no surprise that Jeff immediately spotted a fish in the sunlight.  He pointed it out to us and we all studied it for a little while.  It was a trophy, and it was aggressively feeding in fast water.  As we were watching, it darted 10 feet out of it's lie to smash something off of the surface before returning to it's lie... We were looking at a golden opportunity. 

Cameron went back down river and climbed down the steep bank and crept up from below the fish while Monica and Jeff spotted from the high bank.  The cast was made and the big male cruised up and swallowed the large Cicada bug imitation and the fight was on.

He weighed in at 6 pounds easily being the biggest brown trout Cameron has ever caught, and on a dry fly no less.

Monica had a special moment when one of her favorite things in the whole wide world, a giant dragonfly, landed on her while eating a cicada it had caught:

We kept searching the river for the rest of the day but never spotted another fish.  Spotting just one fish is considered a pretty slow day by NZ standards.  It was unlucky.  However, the one fish being 6 pounds is slightly above average for size.

Cameron caught another very small fish while blind casting.  It was interesting in that it was a very silvery looking brown trout and our guide said that they turn silver when they have spent time in the ocean.

We were then picked up by the helicopter and we got a special view of the coastline:

When we got back, Jeff our pilot, gave us homemade venison jerky and a piece of jade rock. What a nice guy and a special treat! 

Special thank you to: Dana, Bob, Jill, Rob, Cortney, Matt, Jason C., Joe, Jeannie, Brian, Vicki, Felicia, Jon, Tim, Denice, Jim, Jeffie, Lisa, Jim, Kate, Luke, Mary Lu, Angie and Chris for our amazing heli fishing day!