The Harper

On a very dreary day in Christchurch I was pleased to seize a spontaneous opportunity to fish Lake Coleridge from the shore.

Off I headed with my mate, full of hope for an adventure and a fish. I got both :-)

The southerly in town was blowing up the lake. That made fishing the delta where the Harper River enters Lake Coleridge, a challenge. Try as we might, casting into the wind we couldn't quite reach the drop off where the fish cruise.

The Harper is one of the main spawning rivers for the Coleridge. The winter season ends tomorrow and then it's shut until Saturday 7 November. That gives the Rainbow Trout time to spawn. I'm guessing the Browns have been there and done that. I have no idea how land locked lake salmon go about their spawning.

We possibly developed a new sport - Frishing or Framping, a cross between tramping and fishing :-) The lake is high and we wanted to wade around the edge to reach deeper water and hopefully the drop off area.

With a lot of nervous giggling we carefully waded where we couldn't see, carefully hanging onto willows and rocks, and trying not to grab a handful of Matagouri. In places we scrambled up and over rocky outcrops, and edged our way along narrow platforms of uneven rock.

So much fun and and cameras (or fish) were harmed.

My mate had heard of another spot, a bit of a walk, and was keen to try it on the drive out. That's where I caught a salmon, a feisty fellow, full of acrobatics and energy.

It was close to dark when we scrambled back up the matagouri laden hill and along a rough farm track back to the truck.

The southerly had edged inland and it was cold. Not far down the road we struck pea soup fog. It was slow going until close to Hororata.

The little black cat was over joyed to see me at 8.30. I smelled like a fish and better still he rummaged around in the gear I dumped on the floor and found one. Much to his disappointment I dispatched it to the fridge, and later the freezer. I'll smoke it another day.

Such remote back county yet only 1.5 hour drive home. I had such a good day :-)