Post flood plans & good fishing, considered

We saw the water flow reports from literally everywhere and decided to head back to the alpine tarn lakes and have a go on a sunny, calm day. We were excited at the prospects, sight fishing in the alpine, hoping to recreate the magic of days earlier with our friend Mitch – maybe even have more success and catch the evening rise to caddis. We were felling pretty good about our choice, seeing the rivers all blown out, 6 to 10 size the day before. Everything was muddy. The drive to the high country was spectacular, new grooves in the hillsides from the gushing waters of the mass wave storm. 26” rain in less than a day. We stopped in to look at another lake on the way up. It was floury green instead of clear, deep blue. Hmmm. We drove further. The ford crossing was tough in 4HLC. Hmmm. We drove onwards. Part of the road was eaten on a sharp turn of the creek adjacent. There was room for one set of wheels but the other had to go high on the bank. Should we do it? We continued... quite nervously. In hindsight we shouldn’t have, the road could collapse at a moment’s notice. High up we drove until we found ourselves face to face with a mountain. Not a mountain, mountain. But a mountain of gravel and rock that had slipped down the mountain and buried the 4x4 track we were in. Bugger. It was easily 20 feet deep and 60 yards across. No getting past that! So, back out we went. Naturally, there was a  Dept of Conservation truck at the road washout site closing the road with barricades as we came back through. Might be a couple weeks before that one's open again, so they said. We doubled back to fish a few spring creeks the next couple of days, a plan we’re sticking to for a couple more as the big rain has every valley full of water still. While levels have dropped considerably, one spring creek rose 14 feet vertically and flooded the valley floor. Incredible given the valley is 1.5 miles wide. But we found one 2km section to fish and had a lot of fun, each catching very nice browns.

We’re off again, in search of new water, clear water, and maybe a fish or two.
Happy New Year everyone. We’re 8 hrs out from the new year, on route to the evening rise.

The big one (heavy rain)

We saw the rain gauges. We saw the rain, the wind. We knew it was safer out east of the alps than west. The river that we watched the quick flood last week, the 12 hr, 1 in 125 yr flood... is now 4 times the size of that flood. But that's not the story of the day, no, not even close. We've been jonesing for a trip west to get back to a few rivers. Our friend Mitch left today to get himself set up for the coming, final 2 1/2 weeks of his trip. Here's the note he sent us when he got to the west coast:
"I'm in Greymouth. Everything along the way was pumping mud, and fields covered with water. Flood signs on the road, and one way traffic. The main road to Greymouth was closed due to the Grey pushing so much water, and I had to go around via xxxxx Road. All those creeks - much of the same story. The xxxxxxxx looked unrecognizable to me. Some of the rain and creeks have washed out some of that road as well. It also rained most of the way here. Hopefully that is some help!"
Here's perhaps the amazing river flow chart of them all. It's not finished rising yet even, not for another 8 hrs after the chart was updated. So, when you watch dvds like The Source: New Zealand, Trout Bums, etc... realize that they aren't telling the whole story of ff in NZ. It's amazing, but you have to come prepared and have a plan ahead of time where or if you will fish when 650 mm of rain (26") hits in 24 hrs. But, we'll be happily fishing tomorrow. That's the point. Anyway, for all the mention of big rain, big water the past 2 weeks, last night's rain dwarfed them all. The rivers are 3 to 5 times the size of the worst we've seen this year, coming close to the worst we've seen in 4 or 5 trips here. Awesome to see!

Black & White days

The weather is the weather... it didn't stop the fishing, just made for some modifications to plans, some hopefulness coming. We opted to fish a small stream and return to the alpine tarn ponds. The small stream offered a great few moments, one captured on video, the other not. The one not on video was of a 4 or 5 pound brown that was rising under a willow. The willow branches hung down to waist height but no branches obstructed the casts. Just keep the cast horizontal and cast to the fish. It fed a few times on top, refused to look. Then I switched to the willow grub - a #18 green foam stick on a hook - and the fish refused twice. The cool part was that the fish held a foot off the shore in a 10" deep gravel trough. I cast one more time and it took the grub on 5 x. When I set the hook, the fish went nuts, literally storming 8 to 10 feet onto the dry gravel on shore. Mitch watched, only saying,"Oh no!" about 6 or 7 times. I couldn't believe what I was watching, my only reaction to run into the creek and pull as hard as I could sideways to hoist it back into the water. In 3 or 4 flops and with me keeling my rod over, the fish was back in the creek and I had bent my willow grub straight out. Of course it fell off, but it was in the water, thankfully. That day featured some bow & arrow casts, some awkward, some results and some misses.
The next day was the big rain day for the entire island. The front moved in at about 6pm and the winds howled through the valley at the alpine tarn lakes. We'd spent the day in pouring rain and then just dreary clouds, trying to sight browns along the shoreline. We each managed a few good takes, a few landed, and several flat out misses. It was very difficult to see much but given the conditions, a great day. But, with winds of 160kmh just to our north, fly casting was no match once it really picked up.
Here's a few shots of the past few days. Black and white to match the weather.
Cheers

What 600mm of rain looks like on the rain gauge

Check out the units on the left side - rain per hour!

And here's what it does to a nearby, smaller river. Note that as the rain stops, the stream flows start coming down immediately. 

And as the front sweeps out, the winds pick up to 160kmh north of here, ruling out any lake fishing too. But, we had a great couple of days fishing until about 6 last evening when the big winds hit us on an alpine lake.

Christmas Day Fly Fishing Photos

We got a break in the weather for a day here, as we doggy sit for our friends who are away for Christmas. The last front rolled out and while the rivers are out of commission still, the wind finally ebbed slightly, down to 70 - 80kmh in the high country where we fished. We decided to fish an alpine tarn lake, sight fishing to cruising browns in the 4.5 to 7 pound range. Last year we fished this lake after a big dump of snow. The past year, while planning for NZ, I made a point to tie medium sized, red and brown damsel nymphs for the good hatch at the lake. Good thing too. First fish sighted took the damsel just below the sedge pattern I had on. I missed it as the dry never moved, but the fish came up, shook its head and swung about to shake the fly. Somehow I missed the connection to set the hook. Ah well, it wasn't the only trout of the day. A good number of fish were caught and the day was wonderful, albeit windy as hell at times. We also took the time to climb high on an adjacent mountain.The views from the top were wonderful, the panning video scenes awesome. An excellent Christmas day. :)

Quick hitter - Christmas Day fly fishing

It's just after Christmas day and we had one of the best Christmas days I think I've ever had, enjoying it immensely with Amelia and Mitch, who has joined again for a few days. We hit a high country lake in the upper Canterbury area. The sun shone, the wind howled, and we were three lonely fly fishers sight fishing cruising browns 4.5 to 7 pounds along the shoreline. Every river and freestone stream remains mud, so we enjoyed focusing on the good waters of such a lake. As you can see by the photo, there are a few other lakes to fish. We may get the opportunity to fish them with the impending forecast! We took 460 photos today and deleted very few - a good day. The video and photos are excellent. I'll try to get to the photos soon, likely when the 650mm monsoon hits Monday am... but for now, a nice shot from high above the valley:

And yes, Phil, go buy yourself a fish eye lens. Boxing Day sales? 
Cheers & Merry Christmas.
:)

You can't make this s*#! up

If you couldn't note the sarcasm from the blog title, the weather forecast is not good once more. As we fished today, the long, high, white cloud rolled from the southwest. "Ah, the front must be moving in early", I said to Amelia & Mitch. It was 5pm as the wind was howling and the sun became intermittent. "24 hours until it rains." I've become pretty damned good at weather forecasting here. The long white cloud that the Maori name for New Zealand is named for (Aotearoa), begins drifting across the sky about 24 hrs before the front hits. Originally, the front was due Monday afternoon, so my forecasting by clouds was curious. Then we got home to see the new forecast, I was bang on (hooray for me):

"A cold front in the Tasman Sea is expected to move onto the southern South Island on late Sunday to Monday morning, then become slow-moving for a time, before sweeping quickly over the country on Tuesday.
A strong moist northwesterly flow ahead of this front is forecast to bring very heavy rain to Fiordland on Sunday and Monday, and to Westland from Sunday night through to Tuesday. In Fiordland, rainfall totals could reach 150-200mm, while the Westland ranges could receive 300-450mm late Sunday and Monday and possibly a further 100-150mm on Tuesday. Heavy rain is also expected to spill over into the headwaters of the Canterbury and Otago lakes and rivers.
While these regions are no strangers to heavy rain, this is shaping up to be a particularly significant event. People in these areas should stay up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings. On the West Coast, rivers and streams are likely to rise very rapidly, and there may be slips and localised flooding which could make driving hazardous. In eastern areas, where little rain may fall, the main rivers that have their sources in the Southern Alps can be expected to rise significantly."

Given the ground is saturated here, 650 mm of rain in 30 hours could raise a couple streams... :)  You never know though!

Morning Rainbow - what does it mean?!

If you never saw the double rainbow guy on youtube, having his spiritual awakening, go check it out before reading this post. For everyone else, we present morning rainbow.

Pretty neat stuff. In fact, for a spell, there was a brilliant double rainbow. But that's cliche now so no sharing of that! 

But what did it mean?

After coming off major fronts of rain every 18 to 36 hrs the past 10 days, I hate to admit some frustration and jaded spirit to the brilliant morning rainbow, but as I photographed it, I was more than a little grumbly. Not good at all. It was fascinating to look at and to comprehend though.

Look closely at the photo. It was morning. The sun rises in the east. Weather moves in from the west. I'm looking west. When was the last time you saw blue sky above a rainbow on the leading edge of weather that far in front of it? Here's what's happening in the photo. A major low pressure front is sitting on the alps, 40km west dumping heavy rain. A wicked Nor'wester (wind warnings for 150kmh winds just north of us) is howling down the valley. The sun is rising. The heavy wind is pushing sheets of rain horizontally 20 to 30 km east of the edge of the front like a giant sprinkler. Hence, we're treated to a what would normally be a beautiful rainbow scene with blue sky, knowing that as we set out for our drive we can't fish east due to wind, we can't fish west due to rain, but we can go for a drive. And here's what it looked like all day as we drove west looking for clear water.

We found 500m of a spring cr that hadn't blown out about 2.5 hrs away and had a few good moments with 5 fish in it. The we drove back and saw every single creek, stream, and river oozing mud.

So, sorry folks, the morning rainbow wasn't too spiritual. Sorry for being a downer! :)

Hey, on the upside it's a beautiful morning!

The downside is this glorious sunny day can't be fished as the rivers are cranked... and a major 2 day front is moving in for tomorrow - Tuesday. Just 200+mm a day for 2 days...

:)   we're in it now.

Last rain & water post for the night

This one was amazing to see. A remote, heli accessed river lies in the NW corner of the S Isl. Check the chart of the stream flow. The 2005 flood of the Red Deer went from 100 to 1600m3/sec and essentially wrote off the 2005 fishing season. Yesterday in 12 hours this New Zealand river went from 70m3 to nearly 1400m3sec and back. Also note that 3 of the past 4 days have been blow outs, but the rivers are also fishable later the same day or the next day. An island of rock in the middle of a mass expanse of ocean on all sides.

The incredible 12 hr, 1 in 125 yr flood

If you love watching water, you'll appreciate this.
Amazing weather. The wind was forecast at 140 kmh across the tops, 120kmh locally. When a major low pressure sits on the alps, the rain drops en masse. Three things occur: warm air is sucked up into the leading edge of the front; heat is released by the front as the rain falls; and mass air mixing. Hence, it was +32C in Christchurch and 120kmh winds. It's a Nor'wester and is essentially the same as our chinook winds, right down to the arch across the sky. When the low on the west side of the alps is intense, it spills over the divide and pours rain on the headwaters of the eastern flowing rivers. And that's the day it was yesterday.
To start the day we drove 40 minutes west of town. It was sunny and hot, +27C at 9:30 am. By the time we were 30 minutes west, the sky was slate grey and pouring rain. The upper tributary to the main river was black - no point in even trying to go to the water we'd hoped, it was further up and not a chance of any clarity. We doubled back to town to fish a small creek.
We parked Serge's Pajero on the bank of a little stream and decided to try to escape the hurricane winds and tuck into a wee stream protected by willows - hopefully they'd block the wind. The intent was good. In 50 m I landed a nice 5+ lb brown. But, once we got into the canopy of willows, we realized our mistake. The freight train winds rained branches into the creek. Trout came spooking out of pools to tuck under shoreline roots. Pools were generally emptied as branches crashed into them. We were both quite anxious to get the hell out of there. We caught a few fish and looked at each other in fear as the last fish I was to cast to was interrupted by a large arm of a willow crashing into the pool, diverting flow. No need to die in a trout stream. We exited stage right. It was a brilliantly sunny day where we were with no rain, but the wind was simply too much for the trees.

 Below, AJ's fish is in the net but the line wrapped in 3 different sticks floating down the creek, blown out of the willows. The willow in behind had just fallen.

We walked back to the 4x4 to find that the big river parked just upstream from had risen dramatically. The family swimming the mouth of the creek had to move upstream a few times in short order, their clothes getting wet from the rising waters. The 4x4, had we stayed there, would have drowned in about 30 minutes. We drove to the bridge on the big river at the bridge and we could tell the river was coming up fast. Remember, it hadn't rained a drop on us all day. In fact, there were (and still are) out of control forest fires just south of us. But, below us, a spectacle of water unfolded.

Here's the first shot as we parked at the river lookout:

Similar view 5 minutes later:

A shot to the bridge: 

 We then noticed the local jet boat tour company noticed the impending high water, scrambling to get their boat out of the water:

 The tractor they use had a hell of a time on the loose gravel. It took some time to get traction in the undercut washed gravel to get out.

 Incredibly, less than 2 minutes after the tractor and boat got out of the river, the gravel bar they'd used literally disappeared under the raging torrent.

 The above shot was taken at 5pm. The shots below was taken the next morning at 8am.

As we watched the flood happen, people came to take photos... of the view. We pointed the river out to folks and we were looked at sideways. Just another Nor'wester front rain in the mountains. No biggie. Swim the river in the morning. Go for a fish. At home, a flood like that would be a 1:125 yr flood and everyone on the local fly fishing forums would be screaming about not fishing then claiming the river had been killed off. Here, it started and was over in under 12 hours. Our friend Serge guided up there today, sight fishing. Go figure. All this and it never did rain on us. Just blew like hell.
And this river chart shows what the flow did in that time frame: