Return Visit

Do an embarrassment of trout make a fisherman happy?

In early 2011 I was asked to take a small party out trout fishing on Lake Taupo. The keenest of all was Phil who had walked the Tongariro crossing the previous day. One had to have respect for this gentleman, he was nearer to your skipppers age, I own up to being around 50 years old but once again state secrets are there to be kept secret. On his first trip with me he had landed sufficient fish to have a barbecue for the rest of his party, none of the trout were exceptional but were solid fish.

Earlier this week I received a phone call from Phil, he had narrated his great fishing experience to his daughter Jackie who was keen to try her luck on our boat. I arranged for Phil & Jackie to meet me, with Maggie crewing, at Taupo harbour for a 9 a.m. start. We had been blessed with a sunny day with little wind, the lake looked magnificent. After the usual safety talk we set off to an as yet undisclosed area of the lake. Having put down the lines we sat back for the first of what we hoped were to be one or two good fish. Suddenly we turned to see one of the lines break off the downrigger, fish on, it was Jackie's first experience of trout fishing. With a modest amount of tuition she soon had a fish safely in the net, after measuring, we decided it was a keeper and placed it in the chilly bin, at least she would go home with one fish to brag about. (Jackies Trout)

Before we had time to put this line out again another rod was in Phil's hand as he guided his first of the day to the net, another keeper, although Jackie still had the best fish. She meanwhile was sending texts of her exploits around the world to her friends, messages were coming back saying how envious they were of her day on the lake. So far it had taken only 20 minutes to land two beautiful fish, other boats had seen the action and started to converge on our position, we could not see whether they were as successful as our party.

The morning continued in much the same vein, being aware of the bag limit Phil & Jackie became more discriminating, fish above the size limit but adjudged to be out of condition were returned to the water. As ever we put the jug on to brew coffee and tea, not only to refresh us all but to give a break to the crew and passengers. Once coffee was to hand the fish decided to interrupt our break, it was Phil's turn to pull a trout in, this one was returned so that he could continue fishing, we continued until 11.30 when I decided to start cleaning the five fish that we had kept. The fish were photographed by all of us, we were delighted we had managed to provide our guests with sufficient to feed their family for a couple of days.

By now the chilly bin had become quite heavy and it took around 15 minutes to clean and bag their catch. We returned to the harbour at 12 noon, Phil was delighted that we had again provided a great morning out, the weather was superb, the company talkative and above all the trout cooperative. We had also provided Jackie with a great introduction to trout fishing on Lake Taupo.

I am sure they will be back to repeat the experience. As for the answer to the question, Phil answered that with a resounding "YES".

Skipper