Heading down south
I fished with Tony Enwistle one last time before I went south to Queenstown to pick up my friend Bob Ciulla. Tony and I woke up at 5 am to go explore a place where he saw a 15 lb fish. I told him I didn’t want to cast at a fish that big. He said yes you do. On our way to this river we stopped at Peter Carty’s house in Murchison and ate a delicious quiche and I got to see Carty’s fly tying room which was very neatly organized and really nice and clean like all great fly tiers are… We were feeling peckish and a few cups of coffee and a big breakfast was all we needed for a big day ahead. Tony and I started fishing and immediatley saw a big feeding fish in crystal clear water and Tony laid down a few perfect casts.
Due to the fishing pressure and the number of people on the river we had a very tough day. It was the kind of day where your time was better spent sleeping in or organizing gear and cleaning the van, still glad I didnt do any of those things. When we finally gave up on the day we headed back to the truck and ran into a few other fisherman. We were happy to see them and they gave us the same reports: slow fishing. So we enjoyed a few beers with them and I said goodbye to Tony and thanked him for my 10 LB fish and we went our seperate ways.
On my way down south I found a beautiful camping spot right on the beach and had a great night reading Thomas Mcguane’s book “The longest silence.” And had a few ice cold beers of course. I fell asleep with all the windows open in the van listening to the ocean while I slept.
-Josh Gallivan