No footprints in the sand
For the last few days I’ve been hanging out with Tony Entwistle and our friend from Jackson Hole, Dennis Butcher. I have been a guides apprentice, and have been honing my skills as an international guide and angler, and have been shadowing Tony and Dennis while they fish. Im not fishing at the moment, and am really enjoying being the fly on the wall. The day Dennis got to town I picked him up from Tony’s house and took him fishing. Although he was tired and jet lagged from his long flight we managed to get into some very nice fish and Dennis landed a big 8 pound brown as his first fish in New Zealand this year!
Before Dennis got to town I dropped Bob Ciulla off at the airport, and went to the marina to pick up my sailing friend David Melville. David and I took off on a two day fishing trip and managed to catch some really amazing fish! When I sailed across the Atlantic ocean last year with David and his family, David told me I got the job because I was a fly fisherman, and that hopefully if he taught me to sail I could teach him to fly fish. So true to my word I guided David for a couple days and we had a great time indeed, and David caught his first fish in New Zealand, A hefty 5 lb Brown trout!
I got into a few nice fish as well, a 7.5 lb fish and a 6 lb fish. Unfortunatley my camera was over exposed on the big fish and I was only able to bring back a little bit of the color.
The other day was really tough. We left Tony’s house at 6 am and went fishing until noon. After fishing we changed into our winery clothes and toured the Wairau winery, where Tony’s son Nick runs the show. We tasted about 20 wines then sat down to a really nice lunch and opened about two more bottles and then we got to explore the entire winery and see the bottling process.
Needless to say we had a great time that day and I walked away with a new passion and interest in wine and the science behind it all. Were heading to Reefton now to hang out with another guide friend, Brian Wilson. I’ll most likely camp in the front yard for a few days and maybe join the boys for a backcountry Heli trip so stay tuned!
-Josh Gallivan