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.