| The New Zealand One-Fly Challenge |
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The New Zealand "One Fly Challenge" By Rick Stiggins
I used to enjoy watching the occasional fishing program on ESPN2 early Saturday mornings. The range of quarry and venues spanned the angling world. But, lately I've tuned them out because the entire scene seems to have been taken over by intensely competitive bass-fishing tournaments. For me, this represents the worst possible union: the beauty and challenge of angling married to the desire to be the best.
Four us of signed on, and this is how we Pacific Northwest steelheaders, along with our wives, headed Down Under to take on the Kiwis along with their brown and rainbow trout. Dan served as our captain, along with Tim Welch and Bob Kinghorn of Woodland, Washington, and me, the Portlander, rounding out the team. We called ourselves "The Trout Whisperers."
Teams gather in March every year (that is, in New Zealand’s early autumn) at Nelson on the north end of the South Island. Teams come from Australia, Tasmania, the North and South Islands of New Zealand, as well as the USA. In 2004, there were 11 teams in all.
The tournament is run by Terry Duval and his comrades and is fashioned after the renowned "One Fly" event in Jackson Hole.
Each day the angler selects his or her fly of the day. All fish caught on that fly add points to the team total. Lose the fly and the angler is done for the day (although he or she can still fish for fun). So, the fly must be both attractive and durable, and the selection of proper tippet is critical. The tippet must be tough enough to endure, yet fine enough to encourage hookups (fluorocarbon worked best for us). At the end of three days, the four-person team with the most points wins. Points are based on fish length and favor big fish.
The One Fly Challenge is sponsered by, among others, the Hunter’s and Highfield Estate wineries from the Marlborough Wine Country of the South Island, MACS Beer (a great Kiwi brew from Nelson), and Glenfiddich ('nuff said). One important difference from Jackson Hole competition is that we fished each day with a team mate rather than a member of another team. This is Step One in Terry’s way of moderating the competitive nature of the tournament.
The rivers of Middle Earth are as beautiful as legend and movies would have us believe.
We fished four of those rivers: the Motueka, Wairau, Pelorus and Buller. The Motueka winds through a quiet farmland valley to the sea, offering the densest population of brown trout of any river on the South Island. The Wairau courses through a broad vineyard covered valley between steep mountain ranges, offering braided channels across its very wide gravel bed, and rivals the others in its crystal clear beauty. And finally, the Buller is bullish—a broad-shouldered canyon runner. When the Buller's good, reports are that it’s very good. But when it’s bad… it was very bad for our team during this One Fly. We caught no fish either day we fished it. Besides, I lost my fly mid-day (a surprisingly disappointing occurrence), and destroyed a fine Sage rod as I was climbing a 40-foot cliff out of the river bed.
We each fished daily with our teammate and one of Terry’s cadre of “guide/judges”—
These are avid fly fishers from the Nelson area who really know the regional waters. Some of the guide/judges are, in fact, professional guides. But most are local guys who help out at the One Fly for love of the sport, and to give back in ways that support it. All are volunteers whose role is take us to productive water; and, when a team member hooks a fish: net, measure, and record it. Rules stipulate that all trout be returned immediately to the river, and that points be deducted if a fish is harmed.
Late each afternoon, the teams gathered around the tote board at the hotel, not so much to see who was ahead, but to drink fine local wines, share stories of the day with new friends, and prepare for tomorrow. This congenial atmosphere represented another way that tournament directors deemphasized competitiveness. We had the clear sense that the event was more of a family reunion than a contest. Most of teams had fished in the One Fly Challenge before, and so had grown to become close friends—anglers and spouses alike. We "Whisperers" and our wives were welcomed into this family.
In 2004, conditions were challenging.
Overcast skies often robbed us of the visibility needed to spot fish, and recent floods followed by cool, rainy weather, suppressed the hatches. Combine all of that with crystal clear water and trout that often lay in very skinny fast riffles, and you begin to understand why it’s called the One Fly “Challenge.” I have never seen such big fish (up to 6 and 7 pounds) hold in four inches or less of fast riffle, often with their dorsal fins sticking out of the water. These fish were very spooky quarry. We really had to read the water well and cast with precision to score at all.
Nearly everyone fished subsurface with nymphs, mostly casting blind. The most common flies were bead-head Pheasant-tail, Hare and Copper, and Hare’s Ear, typically fished on 5-weight lines with very long leaders. My leaders were consistently over 15 feet tapered to 5X with a 4 pound breaking strength. These were attached to a low visibility, gray, weight-forward floating line. Some anglers even camouflaged the last 10 feet of their flylines to keep the lowest possible visibility.
Obviously, much thought went into fly selection. Some contestants opted for the indestructible approach: like me, for instance. I used a size 12, brass bead-head with copper wrap all three days. Others went more for finesse, selecting a fly that could be fished dry early and then trimmed down later to fish deep.
One interesting twist added a fun feature to the tournament. Highfield Estates Winery sponsored the creation of the “Highfield Fly.” The Winery commissioned an outstanding local fly tier, Peter Carty (a name familiar to many US anglers), to design and tie a fly that promised to be productive on local waters.
Each contestant received one beautifully boxed specimen as a gift at registration (see photo). The pattern Peter created could be fished either wet or dry. Fish caught on that fly garnered additional points. The Driftnetters (winners the past three years) decided to give themselves a special challenge by fishing only the Highfield Fly all three days. Again, evidence of the desire to challenge ourselves, the rivers and the fish more than the other teams.
It’s not that winning might not have been fun...
We tried. In fact, because we drew very good guides and stumbled upon effective flies, we actually led at the end of Day One. For part of that opening day, our outstanding professional guide, Stephen Greaney, took Bob and me to the tidewater area of the lower Motueka. It was exactly like the lower tidewater reaches of a Pacific Northwest steelhead river. Our instincts kicked in and we kicked ass—landing some really big fish. I hooked my first-ever sea run brown—not big, but beautiful, very much more silvery than the resident fish.
Our excitement continued into Day Two, when Dan had the hot rod and was into big fish. At the end of the day, we were still in the lead. We decided we'd rather be lucky than good any time. But, the Driftnetters were right on our tails.
Unfortunately for us, on day three all Whisperers were silent except for Tim, who tried valiantly to keep us in the running. Because of our poor luck, those darn Driftnetters slipped past us—catching all their fish on the Highfield Fly. Way to go guys—some very impressive fishing! But they didn’t win! The “Nymph” caught the second largest fish of the tournament on day three—much to the extreme delight of our wives, I might add. Consequently, The Nymph and her gang of Guys, who appeared out of the running at the end of the second day, surged past everyone to claim first place. The total point difference between first and fifth place was the equivalent to the length of one average trout.
At the closing banquet, teams were introduced in order of finish.
Since Day Three tallies had not yet been posted, suspense ran high among the top teams. As the teams were introduced, each team member received a very nice prize. The quality of prizes received did not reflect the team's place in the final ranking. First-rate gifts of rods, reels, reelcases, vests, fly boxes, etc. were presented and received with thanks and goodwill. According to Challenge organizer Terry Duval, "Everyone pays the same entry fee--everyone deserves the same courtesy." Whisperers: L to R: Bob Kinghorn, Dan Busch, Tim Welch, and Author
In the spirit of the evening, the last place team claimed victory, as they had reached their goal of finishing no worse than last year. In 2003, they also had finished last. The team was roundly cheered for its stunning accomplishment.
The best part of the Three Guys and a Nymph win, and yet another indication of the spirit of the Challenge, was the TG&N captain’s reminder that he had fished the previous year with the last place finishers. He was most gracious in speaking for the winners and expressing their appreciation for having been able to be part of such a fine celebration of our sport. He allowed that several teams could have won and, in a deeper sense, we were all winners for having had the experience.
In fact, regarding the atmosphere surrounding the tournament, organizer Terry Duval recounts stories of past events in which tackle manufacturers sponsored teams of professional anglers bent only on winning.
At times these overzealous teams stretched the rules, thereby actually triggering changes in the rulebook to prevent this chicanary . The professional teams and their sponsors misunderstood the spirit of the Challenge and were not invited back. Among the awards presented at the closing banquet were prizes given by the judge/guides to the anglers. One was given to “the angler the guides would most like to spend a day fishing with.” One of the Aussie teams included a very attractive young woman. Of course she won hands down and accepted the judges' adulation in great good humor. And as a footnote, she and her teammate, became engaged on the river during the tournament. He presented the ring to her in the box that originally contained his Highfield fly.
Among the awards presented at the closing banquet were prizes given by the judge/guides to the anglers. One was given to “the angler the guides would most like to spend a day fishing with.” One of the Aussie teams included a very attractive young woman. Of course she won hands down and accepted the judges' adulation in great good humor. And as a footnote, she and her teammate, became engaged on the river during the tournament. He presented the ring to her in the box that originally contained his Highfield fly.
Throughout the three-day event, the guides also were asked to keep their eyes and ears open for funny events and comments to share at the closing ceremony.
One angler was heard to say, “My wife learned that I snore less when I don’t drink alcohol, and my life has been hell ever since.” Another considered extolled the virtues of clipping the Highfield fly to transform it into an emerger and nymph, to which his partner inquired, “Can you turn it into a 5 foot 8 inch blond?” Introducing a new team member, the team captain recounted, “He’s a naval commander—specializes in anti-submarine warfare. We decided to abandon technique and go for technology.”
So that’s my tale. We traveled to Middle Earth in pursuit of exceptional scenery, elusive trout, and new friends. We found them all in profusion. So we missed by one fish. So what? As I fished my final riffle at the end of day three, my strike indicator darted down. I came up on the set as quickly as I could. And.... Nothing—missed him! That fish might have won it for us. I just stepped back, rested on a nearby rock, smiled to myself and Whispered, “Does it really matter?” I'll be back in 2006.
Author's Note: “The One Fly Challenge Trust”
The One Fly Challenge has registered a Trust, “to develop a fund dedicated to helping provide scholarships for future education and the funding of research into maintenance of New Zealand’s trout fishing resource.” The Trust’s Board of Directors is chaired by renowned NZ guide Tony Entwistle. The One Fly Challenge always includes a silent auction to benefit the Trust and, in addition, the team counts on donations from benefactors interested in supporting the Trust’s goals. It, in turn, supports local efforts to maintain and enhance the excellence of the fishery but contributing, for example, to the Nelson-Marlborough Fish & Game Commission. According to Trust literature, “The challenges faced by our fisheries are formidable and in our society their future health cannot be assumed. We will only continue to enjoy the benefits of what has been and still is a fantastic recreational resource, if we all commit ourselves to its maintenance and well being.” For details, contact Terry Duval at terry@onefly.co.nz.
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Fly Fishing Forum 2000-2003 |
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