Go ahead... laugh

Amelia & I want to put a dvd out on some of our favorite aspects of New Zealand. One of those things has to do with tiny waters that are of no consequence to most anglers. We love them and they seldom are fished as they are typically barren of fish, save one or two fish over 1 - 3km length of water. We spent a lot of time this trip exploring and talked to a lot of land owners to access such water. Usually, we were told not to bother or pointed directly to where the owner, manager, or farm hands have seen fish. Helpful is very helpful. But, every now and then, when talking to the land owners, we get laughed at. Such was the case late December as we drove up to ask permission. The property owner simply looked at us, laughed heartily and continuously, "In THAT stream?!!! Are you out of your mind" - HA HA HA "In THAT stream? SERIOUSLY? You want to fish in that???"  We were almost told to stuff ourselves as the request was seemingly so outlandish. On and on went the laughter. We simply kept replying "We know that you know your land, but would you mind if we had a go anyway? We're here, we love the landscape, and we simply love photography..." 
After literally 10 minutes of being laughed at and having others on the property come over to see what was so funny, thus furthering the laughter in our direction, we were told we could have all the go we wanted.
So we did.
We tip toed along the tiny spring creek.
Through the grassy pasture.
Along the fenceline.

The spring creek looked stunning but it was not quite ankle deep.
If only we could find a bit that was knee deep.
We found it.
And we found this. 7.5 pounds of it to be exact. And we found a couple others quite similar.

 And then we found where the spring met the river a ways down. And that was full of fish.

We never saw anyone a few hours later when we drove back out from the property. Nor have we been back. We'd hate to be laughed at again, but, more to the point, we'd hate to telegraph that there are, in fact, fish on the property. So, next year, we'll drive up and knock on the door again. And get laughed at again. And we won't mind. Go ahead. Laugh. And 20 minutes later, when we're on the water we'll be laughing too.