PLEASE NOTE: In order to post on the Board you need to have registered. To register please email paul@sexyloops.com including your real name and username. Registration takes less than 24hrs, unless Paul is fishing deep in the jungle!
I've been meaning to make a video of that challenge. I'll try to get that done asap.
Just feel free to jump into any discussion and ask any question. For example Lasse and I have been discussing stuff here almost daily for over 20 years. Consequently stuff that I know he's wrong about I just take for granted sometimes, but you shouldn't.
I know we use a lot of acronyms - there is a list somewhere, again just ask! Oh and be a bit careful in the physics forum; when those guys start arguing it gets intense After ten minutes in there sometimes I have to go and lie down. But it can be fascinating!
Sorry for taking so long to join. I've been a Sexyloops fan for a decade since your crazy YouTube clips. I used to think I could separate my angling life from being online, but am now joining the party late! Since the early 80's I've fished mainly in the backcountry headwaters and tributaries of the Waiau R. (Hanmer not Te Anau), Clarence R., Wairau R, Karamea R., Mokihinui R. and the other M's (esp. Mystery R's.), plus other upper West Coast and Nelson/Marlborough headwaters such as those I treasure in the Molesworth area.
My two specialities are (1) getting stuck on the wrong side of a tributary in a flash flood e.g. Roaring Lion, and (2) putting too much faith in my dry bag to float me back downstream after walking too far in a day. Neither tend to end well and both take a day to get over.
My greatest failing is being a compulsive gear freak; a costly and frivolous exercise that is unfortunately well-catered for by the fly fishing industry.
Welcome aboard Michael!! I think we’ve fished all the same rivers Some of those waters I used to fish just for the 4x4ing! In fact the Enlightenment film Ronan and I made had a meditation scene filmed overlooking an upper Wairau tributary. Funny story there, years ago I was fishing with Hairy and Aaron - Aaron was about 9 years old then. They were walking back to the hut (where we drank underpants coffee!) - after fishing some small lakes thereabouts they saw a single fence wire strand on its own in the middle of nowhere. After walking long past it Hairy said to Aaron “I bet that’s electric” of course not etc etc. So anyway Aaron walked back and touched the wire to prove him wrong and got zapped. He told his old man who then didn’t believe him. But he was so adamant that Hairy had to go back and touch the wire too - and also got zapped
I once swapped a pair of boots with a tramper in the RL hut about 30 years ago. He wasn’t happy with his and I wasn’t with mine, same shoe size so we did a straight swap. I walked out to Karamea he to Murchison - never saw him again!
Hahaha, awesome anecdotes, Paul. Been there ... I friggin hate electric wires - avoid them like the plague now. Enlightenment series was epic. Pythonesque. But imagine having a Hero8 back then. It was enough to have a Z-Axis I guess. Hope the snakeheads and tight reaches are keeping you busy.
I remember thinking one time of turning the video cameras we were using back then into a head camera with a view lens in front of one eye. It’s become huge now and unfortunately because of that the head cam shots only work used very sparingly. However the drama of getting washed down gorges would really be something. I *failed* to make four river crossings on the Upper W. once, each time getting washed into my own bank, before crossing some whitewater lower down. It’s amazing what you can get across, once committed. But it really hurts when it goes wrong!
The modern cameras are just amazing. Unfortunately I can just run the Hero8 on repeat because it overheats here and shuts down. My next investment will be a really good camera and zoom lens so I can get in close for Snakehead and Gourami eats.
Yes, ditto up there - somehow swam across with rod in hand in late season frigid water. And further down in a gorge in the G. tributary. Actually having a GoPro would have provided some great pre-death gurgling noises. Useful for recording the end (the Final episode haha)! The smallest of these packrafts (https://www.koaropackrafts.com/) is now increasingly popular for getting across and down into pools - it's weird fishing 'downstream' but super-effective in all but the white stuff, well for me at least, given my inept ability in them. Actually saw my first Alpaka in the R.L. in 2010 - an Aussie and his mate wrote a blurb about their trip. Magic advancement.
Paul - here's the note about their trip: http://packrafting.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=432#p1765 - it was 2009 not 2010 and the scariest flash flood happened a few days after they left and I was intently fishing a pool that was discolouring and rising around me. A whole other story and another epic survival!
Deano used to float down the H. Gorge on rubber inner tubes. I say “used to” - I think he did it once with some friends who never forgave him
That whole Karamea system became a huge disappointment to me. Ronan and I hiked into the U. river which is a no-fly wilderness zone only to find three guys there who had actually flown in because of its status. So we killed them. It was a horrible death but we had no choice.
It was such a shame because I had fished that system back in ‘92 and had great memories of the river (less of the sandflies!). It’s hard enough to keep helicopters out of rivers but if they still go there despite the ban then there is no true wilderness fishing. That was something I felt very strongly about and still do! That’s why we call them “Heli-cunters”
I’ve floated across rivers with my pack a few times and for a while I toyed with the idea of such a boat. Where it would be excellent is some of earthquake lakes / land slip formed lakes. That’s a great link - I would buy one for sure if I was still half-yearing in NZ.
I’m planning a trip back maybe next Wet Season - ie the following November for three months. We shall see how that pans out. Unfortunately my wife is not capable of the river crossings I can make. So we will have to choose our gorges carefully
Hi, newbie here. I'm located far south coast NSW, Australia, retired, well mostly. Still dabble in a little in business, jewelry and antiques in a small antique shop from time to time. Fished for over 50+ years and fly fishing for 30 or so years, but seriously got addicted sometime in the late 80s/90s. Love stream fishing for trout and still do but droughts, fires and old football injuries have curbed it somewhat of recent times. Now getting into saltwater fly fishing and feel I'll be addicted by Christmas. Just after retiring I moved to the coast I got into soft plastics and lures in local estuaries and had a ball, buy always yearned for the long rod. Wife is US born, Idaho, spent a few years there and loved it chasing not only trout but steelhead & salmon. Big fish in big water, thrilling stuff but boy you have to work for them. 25lb chinook is my PB but getting busted off seems to be my specialty. Steelhead are my favorite all time fish, and the Nth Umpqua my favorite river in the US. Hard to fish, but beautiful mountainous country and friendly people. I joined this forum to get info on furling leaders and lines, it's a hobby to me but I want to get it right so I'll know if it's for me or not or somewhere in between. Already I have gleaned lots of info here and need to get experience using them under different situations, as well as normal leaders. Look forward to coming out of the "dark ages" with lines, tackle and techniques, so I'll be going over the threads here with interest. I must have somewhere around 30 rods, half of them fly rods. I am a Loomis man at heart but many rods of varying sources are now classified as vintage. I look forward to learning new things and will ask questions from time to time, plus I've always shared info I think is relevant or important as I see it. Oh, I was lucky enough to sail up the east coast of Australia in the early 70s. I still have the scars of line burns, GTs, Spaniards and cod damn near as big as I was, greatest fishing adventure of my life. I didn't keep a log unfortunately and I was basically crew to earn the trip but if you haven't fished the coral coast, put it on the "must do" list. Cheers Keith.
After ten minutes in there sometimes I have to go and lie down. But it can be fascinating!
