finally, the trout - for the non-believers

[Colt45]

Outstanding!

[Tampa1257]

Ken, do you have the AMEX Credit Card receipts from the Fish Store? Buying thos live fish must have set you back a pretty penny just to take them out by the stream and snap a couple of photos!

Serously, Nice fish!

[El Presidente]

Nice Hat

[Ken Gargett]

» Nice Hat

i offered it to the guide at the end of the trip and he just looked like he'd swallowed vegemite. sad when i kiwi won't even wear your advert stuff.

[Havana Joe]

Damn Ken, that's the biggest trout that I have ever seen.......

[Freefallguy]

Well done Mr. Gargett! I'll have to show these pics to my son. No wonder you're grinning like a fox in the hen house.

[Shooter]

Great job Ken!! Awesome lookin' Brown!

[strayvector]

Nice fish, Ken. Looks like you won't need anymore lessons from Rob :-D I guess your bait worked a lot better than the fridge :-D

[Crash]

Well Done, Sir, Well Done.

[Elric]

Well Done, Sir, Well Done. Here Here!

Great hat too!

[stogies&hoagies]

»

That's a beautiful fish.

The one in front, I mean. :-P :-D

[cobra]

Well done Ken, Browns are a beautiful fish and you got a lot of it there.

[SuperT]

Good GOD, nice fish!

I'm sure I'll have sweet dreams tonight. . .

[lopez]

Here's a 10 3/4 pounder from a trip to the South Island a couple of seasons ago:

It was a "mouse year" so the big 'uns got morbidly obese - this one was only about 27 inches long so it should have weighed something on the order of 7 or 8 pounds.

[Ken Gargett]

okay, first, apols for lack of time on the forum. have had a heap of deadlines and will be like that till probably early june.

now, i know rob has stirred up all sorts of nonsense about my alleged trout.

the truth, and a confession here - my casting was always pretty much as bad as rob always said but for some unknown reason, it finally kicked on the trout trip. it was with a mate and some friends to the north part of the south island of kiwiland. had been a heap of rain. my first time trout fishing so didn't expect to much. rivers about four times as much flow as usual apparently. by the third day, they had settled back reasonably. first day on a river quite close to the lodge (for those that saw 'a river somewhere', this was the same lodge and i actually had the room they did some of the filming in - and learnt some secrets!!). got one trout, about 3 lbs. so quite excited but think my guide a bit offended when i asked why trout didn't fight (so different to bonefish). there is so much that you have to unlearn, so much that is different with normal fishing. different tautness, striking, angles etc etc. i did miss quite a few fish).

second day into the rough river. just brilliant. saw a lot of fish. the first one i hooked, about five lbs, went 3 foot straight out of the water before i lost him. once they are hooked, it is almost a contest to see who gets bored first - not at all like fighting normal fish. you just have to hang on and tire them out.

finally found a little pond and caught something that would be lost in my fish tank. next cast got his twin. then next cast got another about three pounds and lost it.

then a bit later, casting to a couple of good fish when from down below came this fellow. finally got him (think i would have dived in and swum after him if he had got off) about 60 metres downstream. guide's scales stuffed - stopped at 6 1/2 - but i'm told by experts about 9 lbs.

got a couple around 4-5 lbs later that day. this is one.

next day flew in to a river (long unpronouncable name) that was the equivalent of three to four days walk. saw very few fish but spectacular landscape. got a 2 lber after a few hours. then found a pond with 6 to 8 around 6 lbs. very spooky. the shadow of the fly line going overhead was enough to send one off. finally got a cast right and got one.

saw a few other good fish and picked up another about 5 lbs (guide had announced there was nothing in this spot and we'd move on when the dumb thing jumped aboard).

then slogged up river, really tough going, for quite a few more hours. had just given up for the day and was about to set a fire so the chopper could find us when the guide spotted one last fish. worked it for a while and eventually, on the last cast of the last day of the season, hooked up. both these photos the same fish. experts tell me 9 1/2 lbs. not a bad way to finish.

just loved the whole thing and can't wait to go back.