I’ve wanted to explore the headwaters of this river since I first fished it’s middle reaches many years ago. Since then I have studied many maps and documents about access to the upper reaches and heard tales of big hard fighting trout.
Time ran out for me to explore the headwaters this season, but an opportunity came round to fish with a group of friends from the last road access up to my planned future starting point.
We made our way along the coastline and through pasture towards the start of a long windy gorge. The river has many kilometers of fishable water in the gorge with great access, but it is the less accessible headwaters with tales of big rainbow trout that appeal to me.
So we were heading to a station at the end of the public road where we would stay in a cottage next to the river. A perfect base to explore the upper river from. The cottage was pleasant, with plenty of room and based right on the riverfront. We were greeted by some friendly Piwakawaka as we unpacked and talked to the owner, itching to get to the fishing.
There wasn’t much time remaining that day so a plan was made to quickly explore the section in front of the cottage before lunch and then another section slightly further up that afternoon, leaving the main exploration for the next day...
Find out what happened, watch the short film below: