Fiordland has always been on my bucket list. A National Park since 1904, this vast area at the most SW point of the South Island has been left largely untouched by human hands. It is one of those rugged, far away places like the Three Kings that take a lot of effort and planning to get to, but potentially offers a lot of rewards. And just like the Three Kings there is no wifi or email. Even better!
A few weeks out from conference, trip organizer Bevan called up to say he had a few spots left due to pull outs, did I know of anyone who might be keen? I put the word out and keen Wesite fisho Devlin Hill put his hand up. Pretty stoked to get Devlin along on the trip as he is one of those very keen fishy guys who generally attracts good fishing.
Conference rolled around and this year I got to tag along while Belinda did her thing. Was very impressed with the groups enthusiasm for what they do and in the process got to meet the rest of the great bunch of guys who were coming fishing, diving and hunting in Fiordland. The conference was held at Millbrook, and this was the first time I’ve seen Arrowtown in its full glory in winter – man, what an amazing country we live in, going from the greens and blues of the Coromandel to the autumn orange of Arrowtown in one day, you don't see colours like this at home!
As everyone headed back to their respective parts of the country, ten of us carried on to Te Anau, picking up Devlin, and southern dairy farmer Paul along the way. The trip to Te Anau itself was gobsmackingly beautiful and I had to get Deon to pull over along the way to get some ‘bloody tourist’ photos.
Arriving in Te Anau we clocked into our motel and quickly reconvened at The Moose for a few quiets and a hearty Sunday roast, and after all the partying at conference it was early to bed. The next morning we were choppered out by Te Anau helicopters. Wow! What an amazing flight over Lake Manapouri through Wilmot Pass and over into Dusky Sound. Mindlowingly beautiful and scenery that in 42 years in New Zealand I’d witnessed for the first time. I reckon flying into Fiordland is about as close as you come to time travel. As our helicopter floated through the mist into Dusky Sound it was like we had travelled back 20,000 years. Not a boat to seen (apart from ours) and some of the greenest prehistoric forest you’ll find.
Our home for the week was the Tutuko II, which originally began its life plying the waters of the Hauraki Gulf as a ferry for Fullers and was later converted into a liveabord vessel for Fiordland Expeditions. It is perfectly set up for a week in Fiordland, with a number of en-suite cabins, as well as another bunk room on the top deck. They’re also one of the only boats with a chopper pad on the boat, and we landed on the deck. Too easy.
When you jump on a boat and see it sporting the latest Furuno kit you know you're going to be in for a good trip
Latest TZTouch 2
Networked to big screens in the saloon and cockpit so everyone can see whats going on
And NavPilot and Furuno Radar
The first crew in had already caught a few terakihi and blue cod by the time we’d landed. After a safety briefing from skipper Richard Abernethy aka Abbo, it was time to get fishing. There is not a lot of protein packed on the boat but as our decky Josh promised “You won’t go hungry in Fiordland ” First on the shopping list was some fish. Abbo lined up a drift in Cook Passage and the Furuno TZ Touch 2 showed some good sign over a rise. Droppers deployed it didn’t take long and the fish groper started nodding. Skipper Abbo got a double header.
Stu got into one as did Clark,
Paul, Devlin and myself.
Not huge puka but tasty ones nonetheless! Bevan got a real nice one.
There were no shortage of Blue Cod amongst them too
Pretty soon two fish bins of groper were full. Dinner was sorted!
Next on the agenda was a dive. I was the only one on scuba for the dive, four of the other boys just freedived. Man, what a mind blowing first dive. Crays completely out in the open, and the bigger ones would just charge out at you. It didn’t take long and I had bag issues! I’d heard a lot about how good the crayfish are in Fiordland, but to see is to believe. It felt a bit on the extreme side dropping through the first three metres of tannin filled water. But once you get through that the world comes alive. Terakihi swimming around, there are seriously feelers everywhere. Meanwhile back on board Vic beavered away as he did all week filleting the groper catch, and blue cod and terakhi were added to the tally by the fishos.
It was back to the boat for a well earned beer. Man it tasted good. Steve and Devlin were in their element on the back of the boat feasting on some of the biggest
fattest kina you have ever seen!
And so started the nightly ritual. We’d sit around the ample boat table in the saloon, each person getting their chance to regale their tales of the day for the nightly “Fiordland 2016 Fishing Legend Award” with points awarded for fish of each species, and points deducted or added for any “bulls**t” A nightly card game of ‘Kings and Arseholses’ rounded off festivities. Fair to say I wasn’t much chop at said game…
The first night this was accompanied by as much steamed crayfish as
we could eat for entrée, followed by barbequed hapuka steaks! Heaven!
The next morning dawned reasonably dreary. Decky/chef Josh dubbed it
a ‘chowder day’ and Al, Steve and Devlin went about collecting all the goodies
that would go into the meanest chowder.
Crays (nice one here for Devlin)
Mussels
Blue cod (nice one for James)
Gurnard (James again)
And some of yesterdays Hapuka. The result was pretty impressive.
Things really cut up that afternoon, and we steamed up into Breaksea Sound for the night.
Leftover chowder and battered blue cod was on the menu
tonight. Once again we deliberated over points for the day, and Devlin shot out
to an early lead.
The next morning we dropped the hunters into the bush while we filled up on fresh water and had a bit of a fish. Not ideal conditions according to the boys but they found some good sign. Some more diving was on the agenda next.
This dive was on another level altogether. The tender dropped Devlin and I a fair way up an inlet at the Gilbert Islands with the idea we’d drift with the current down a wall and back near the mothership. “Its pretty clear” said Vic as he dropped us in the water. “Yeah right!” I thought Vic was being saracastic as I stuck my head in to be greeted by brown water and couldn’t see past my head. But as we descended through the yuk stuff on top everything opened up and there were fish everywhere and really clear blue water underneath. We had the craziest dive, drifting along a colourful sponge filled wall and cherry picking the better crays as we went along.
We got to the surface just fizzing! “Best dive ever " was the call Might have been a bit premature as that got superseded the next day.
Meanwhile the freedivers had been gathering a good feed on their boat on the other side of the bay, and Josh had his thinking cap on, tonight was a pretty mean fish pie (and yep, crayfish, blue cod, hapuka served up in another day) and courtesy of the freediving team some of the nicest paua I have ever tasted. Cheers boys!
We then ventured the furtherst out into the Sounds we had been, right near the entrance & the lee side of Breaksea Island, and had a fishing session to remember.
Paddy getting some monster Terakihi
As did Bill with some crackers
And Paul got dubbed KingCod with this impressive Blue Cod of 57.5cm
Not often you can bear huge a blue cod!
The wind really carved up that night and we had gusts of around 60
knots funneling off the hills. I can see now why everything is so enclosed on
these southern boats, as anything loose would take flight very easily. We were
tucked up nice, and with a few whiskeys and rums under our belt we barely
noticed the weather. When in rains down there it rains, and I can see why they end up with waterfalls like this around every corner
Day four and I was wrong when I thought yesterdays dive couldn’t be topped. Skipper Abbo took us to another gem of a spot, this time Little Harbour. “Go this way, you’ll come across a steep drop off and black coral, overhangs, and then get into some really nice cray country.” Sure enough, we desceneded down a crayfish filled gut, and then carried along the wall to find black coral hanging off the vertical walls. Amazing! And all in 8-15metres of water. Normally black coral is only found in deep waters, but due to the huge amount of fresh water pouring into the sounds off the hills, and the tannins collected on the way, the dark fresh water layer means the black coral can prosper at shallow depths.
Buzzing out at and videoing the black coral I looked up to see a row
of feelers in a crack. But wait – only in Fiordland! The biggest cray was
sitting on the ledge tail out to sea!! Your mine mate!
Back on the boat Bill, James, Stu, Bevan and Deon were doing the business
adding more blue cod to the nights dinner table.
Our final full day in Fiordland and Abbo and crew pulled off another
awesome day despite some dreary weather. After the weeks rain, there were
waterfalls everywhere, and I was content just cruising and taking photos. The potential of this place has to be
seen to be believed. The glacier carved fiords drop straight into very deep
water, you can be miles inland and still be in 250m of water. I just had a ball
watching the feed from the Furuno TZTouch on to the Panasonic screens in both
the saloon and cockpit.
Fiordland is rich in history and Capt Abbo took as to a number of historic sites including Luncheon Cove where the first ever house (Eurpopean house that is) was built and a bunch of other important sites from the days of the early European navigators like Capt Cook.
Then it was dive and fishing time. Today was dubbed ‘Double Points
Friday” I chose to stay on the boat today and not get wet, and get my Blue Cod
tally up. I had my new Maven Gulf 6’ 6” with me with a Calcutta 400b and it was
the perect little all round set up down there. Finally I’d nailed down a blue
cod rig that slayed it, a twin dropped with 4/0 j hooks and a 2oz Lumo jig head
with a nuclear chicken below it. Boom, every drop.
Todays dive crew was purely freedivers and they came back with some serious goodness for our last night in Fiordland. Steve smashed over yet another monster cray. Originally unsure whether we’d have to stay another day due to the weather, the call came from the chopper pilot that he’d endeavour to get us out on a little break in the weather (easing to 25 knots!) the next morning (Saturday) before it packed in again. We had our last little session and another amazing feed courtesy of Josh, this time finished up with a Pavlova. Can safely say that is the first time I have enjoyed a pavolva on a boys fishing trip. Love your work Josh!
It was time for a wrap up for the ‘Fishing Legend’ award Bevan had
made up. Steve’s big cray from today with double points drew him into a tie
with Devlin. A bit of rain didn’t
deter the boys heading out in the dark for a fish off to decide the winner, but
when that was fruitless, it was decided with a flip of the coin, and Steve came
away the 2016 winner.
The engines were on the next morning at 6am and we steamed up into
the furthest reaches of Dusky Sound to Supper Cove where we started our journey
the previous Monday. We packed up,
and the first crew of three was loaded on the chopper. With all of gear packed
up Paul decided to wet one of the boats rods, and while we casually waited for
the chopper, the last fish of the trip was boated, a tasty hapuka in 20m of
water. Among packed bags. Only in Fiordland!
What a trip! Big thanks to the crew aboard Tutuko II and the great
bunch of fellas I got to enjoy a week in paradise with, and a big cheers to Bevan,
Bill, Al, James, Steve, Stu, Deon, Clark, Paddy, Devlin and Paul – a week I’ll
never forget, what a great bunch of fellas to share it with! Only wish Dad was there to join in, but I am sure he was looking over our shoulders and having a laugh with us.
Think I might just have to go and do it all again next year. PM me if you’re interested as may tee another trip up sometime next year. Hopefully next time the weather is a touch kinder and we'll add some Southern Bluefin to the mix. If you want a trip that not only has world class diving, great fishing, awesome food but also is completely away from every aspect of everyday life, has history and the world's best scenery and landscapes thrown in - this is it!!
Thank you Fiordland!
Chur
Carl
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