2008 World Fly Fishing Championships, Rotorua, New Zealand, March 22 to 30^th, 2008

Rotorua New Zealand

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Well, I can’t believe. I made it to the World Championships in New Zealand, representing the wonderful sunny Mediterranean Island of my wife’s birth country, Malta.

It was like walking with the giants of the fly fishing fraternity. I rubbed shoulders with the world’s best. It was awesome. Both Chris Myszka from Sunshine Fly Club and I went to this wonderful fly fishing event There was a real buzz from start to finish and like all good things, a sense of emptiness when it was all over

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Chris was the dummy angler at the event and his performance was far from that of a dummy. He was in the boats with the World’s best anglers and he had the best time ever. It will take some time to wipe the smile from his face. I think that we are both walking on cloud nine. Chris ended up fishing with the French competitor that came second. So that was really something to talk about. I guess you’ll need to talk to Chris about all his experiences when you see him next. He has lots to say. See Chris’s amazing story on this web page.

The journey to New Zealand took more than 12 months of planning and preparation. I needed to get permission from the Olympic committee in Malta, the Federation of Sports Anglers and also my dual citizenship with Malta. However, the process to achieve this was attainable and all papers came through within the time constraints, but only just in time. In fact, the citizenship papers came through on the day before I left. Thanks to all Maltese citizens for your help in these matters.

Both Chris and I made it to the competition. We only knew Malta was competing on the day of registration. We booked our flights 2 weeks before the competition on the hope that maybe we would be able to compete.

The earliest and cheapest flight I could get was on the 20^th March. The last day of work before Easter holidays. I managed to upload the last of my reports for term 1 and then flew out to Auckland shortly after.

No time at all for any preparation for this trip. Certainly none psychologically and definitely no opportunity for one months practice like the rest of the teams. No time to try out new gear, the borrowed gear and the old gear, just muster up some old dusty reels and fly lines and dodgy flies that weren’t knocked off last year and that would look half presentable at the Worlds. I don’t think the other competitors noticed I was fishing with such Shitty gear. But, then there’s a saying; a good tradesman doesn’t blame his tools. I don’t think this saying was ever intended for fly fishing gear.

Needless to say, the Qantas flight was delayed (Air New Zealand next time) and I arrived at the ungodly hour of 11.00 pm at Pat O’Keefe’s wonderful home on Lake Rerewhakaaitu. No time to talk and chat and discuss techniques as Pat had been guiding all week. The O’Keefe’s Lodge and guiding service is in great demand and very popular. A quick tote of Jamiesons and then off to bed. It was like being at home. What a wonderful place Blarney Lodge is. I never thought that I would be back!

Friday 21^st March.

The two hours time difference between NZ and home doesn’t give you much jet lag but it does upset your body clock. I was up at dawn and waltzed down to the boat ramp at Pat’s lake. Chris and I have been perfecting a fly, an aussie fly with UV dubbing, with a unique gunmetal head and crimson throat and it was time to try the mark V11 variant. First cast and a lovely 6-pound Rainbow was landed without the aid of a landing net. I must qualify the next series of events by saying that the next 5 fish landed were all smelting so success was easy. The nicest was a lovely sip and take less than a meter from the bank. Saw the dimple, yes, even with my bad eyes and laid out the loveliest of casts. You know, the sought of cast where your hands tremble in anticipation. But, it was all good and this terrific fly would speak volumes of success at the Worlds in the next few days. It was shared around between our team of left over countries. The Swede, Torbijan won his session with this fly. I was smiling like a Cheshire cat when I found out!

I had Brekky that morning at the Lodge and then spent half the day with the most wonderful hostess in New Zealand, Helen O’Keefe. We had a great chat and discussed family, not fishy issues and drove into Rotorua. It was Good Friday and here I had a good chance to check out Easter Sunday church times. Had lunch at the famous Pig and Whistle café. Had my first serve of French fries here for 6 months. That’s pretty good going as I love my chips. Strict doctor’s orders and demands from my personal trainer (daughter Carly) ensured that I lost 7 kg before the competition. I felt extremely well.

I dropped Helen back at the lodge and then headed off to the Rangitaiki for my first practice session on my own. This is a magnificent river. Its secluded banks are tree fern lined and its glades echo from the calls of numerous songbirds. And its waters were bloody freezing. Two steps in and I tumbled off a slippery rock and downstream. Yes the rocks are slippery in New Zealand. It was not a good result. This humble Boy Scout always has a spare set of clothes in the car . I only managed one fish and I knew I would be massacred in the rivers by the other competitors. I just had no idea of what to do.

I checked into the hotel at Rotorua that evening and was surprised that they hadn’t booked us in. There was also some not so good news from the organisers. I was offered another hotel and it was much nicer but that was not good news. Firstly, I was praying that it was not a bad sign and that they had accepted me as a competitor. Worse still, Chris was arriving late this evening and he was not aware of the hotel changes. He would be as surprised as I would be. At this stage, I was not sure that Malta had been accepted into the World championships.

It was like a breath of fresh air when Chris arrived. I helped him unload his gear and settled down to banter about the traffic, how the planes were late and how we ended up in this hotel. All the while polishing off the duty free Jamiesons scotch purchased at Tullamarine. We avoided the conversation about being in or out of the comp till the morning. I hoped that I wouldn’t get up with a hangover next day.

Saturday, 22^nd of March.

The breakfasts at Macka’s are a classic. The display pictures show a man’s hand around a huge bun loaded with eggs. And it looked like a Maori hand, you know the sort of hand that could crush you to death! However, what you get is a tiny dinner roll with eggs sprayed on. And that’s worth $8.00. You can buy the whole chicken for that!

All jokes aside, we did the usual thing and invaded all the tackle stores. Hunting and Fishing, Hamill’s, O"Keefe’s and The Outdoorsman. That was a great fly fishing fix. Also picked up a life vest gas cylinder from the boat shop. We met Torbijan from Sweden at Hamill’s and the shop owners there were terrific and really helped him out. All the tackle shops were extremely helpful and offered to drop even their own secret tying materials to the hotel, just to make sure that we would have a brilliant time. We arranged to meet later that evening and do some tying and discuss team tactics. Yes, we had a team. The team was made of leftover countries from Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia, Sweden and Malta. The invincibles! It was in our best interest to work together as a team. Language was only a slight barrier. All the boys spoke English real good. They had trouble with our accents!

Back at the registration hotel, the Kingsgate Hotel, we nervously approached the organisers. They wanted the Maltese flag. That’s good, we must be in. The flag would be used in the opening and closing ceremony. Our names were down in the competition schedule and we couldn’t be happier. I was lucky enough to get the flag, Maltese flag pins for swapping, Maltese tie and cufflinks all from E-bay. Everything arrived Tuesday morning, just in time. I must do this much better next time. Wow, Chris and I got a heap of loot including T-shirts and badges. We were pretty proud of this. Jill Mandeno had been fantastic from the very beginning. She was so helpful and obliging during the lead up to the event and also at the competition. I must have been a real pest to her as I frequently rang her up asking a multitude of questions. She was the ever patient Jill and listened to all my stressed out problems. She was terrific. At this point, I must say I also met Hilary Prior, another great Kiwi. Like all Kiwi’s there, they could not do enough for you. They really all fussed over us so much and made sure that our stay there would be a lifelong memorable one. Big thanks to all the bus drivers, controllers, farmers , organisers etc who made our fishing trip really fantastic.

We were hoping to sneak away for a bit of a fish but we settled into our rooms calmly, laid out our fishing gear, checked out our loot, went for a swim and took part in the entire team photo’s. Made some great friends with the Irish and Welsh teams straight away. I was later to swap the Irish tie with their captain, Dinny Cronin. They were great sports and during the competition, would often share a story over dinner. Pooch told me that they would be great.

The opening event was one of the highlights of the competition. We marched up Fenton Street to the Maori cultural centre, Te Puia carrying our countries flags. The CEO of the Maori centre, Mr Te Taru White and FIPS president, James Ferguson welcomed us to the event. I later gave Taru a framed selection of Maltese flies commemorating the first fly fishing event that Malta has attended.

We were then treated to a wonderful display by the Maori cultural team and all team captains had to front stage and do the HAKA. When you are an individual such as I was, you are the competitor, team captain and jack of all trades so I had to go on stage. I was the captain and the captain had to go on stage. It was fun and I saw Chris laughing his head off in the audience!

Dinner followed and a chance to catch up with some of the other teams. Caught up with John Beaven whom I had sent a few emails to and also Todd Oishi. It’s always amazing how consistently we find Canadians to be absolutely top blokes. We were seated for dinner with the South African team and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly with them. They are also another bunch of terrific fellows. They were quite keen to find out about Malta and Andre blew me away with his knowledge of the history of the Knights of St John.

In the late evening, we walked back to our hotel and then spent time till the wee hours of the morning showing our new friends how to tie our special flies all the while sipping away at our Jamiesons.

Easter Sunday, 23^rd of March.

It was Easter Sunday and the Catholic Church was just around the corner from the hotel. It was not surprising to see the Croatian and Polish teams there together with some members of the Japanese team. Obligatory photos occurred after the mass together with a chance to have a chat, albeit briefly with the teams.

We dropped into the O’Keefe’s at Blarney lodge later on and wished them happy birthday. Pat was host to some Japanese photographers who were putting together yet another photo shoot of this magnificent fishing lodge. We looked at the shots from their last magazine and the photos are simply mind blowing. One shot, in low light and low speed is superb, a fish slipping into a landing net, a spray of droplets from the protesting fish and the angler, Pat photographed at his best. Simply, one out of the box.

That afternoon, we fished the Rangitaiki and practised nymphing, downstream nymphing and Czech nymphing. I am no good at the Czech style and switched back to upstream nymphing.

Chris showed his prowess and landed 10 fish from one small run. I was not having any luck at all and my confidence levels were extremely low. I just could not catch a fish. Chris was in his element, landing yet another fish. We had to get back as there was a meeting back at the Hotel at 4.00 for all team captains. Chris would have stayed.

The Captains meeting was no different to normal information sessions at Nationals. Barbless hooks, minimum sizes etc. These meetings were not too exciting.

We were briefed about a very important thing and that was cleaning up our equipment. The hotel was set up with a decontamination station and we were able to clean our waders, boots, rods and reels there. At all the session localities, decontamination stations were set up. The best one was on the Whanganui where a large bath tub was set up for decontamination purposes. A bit of a Red environmental Jacuzzi.

We had a choice of practice locations and I picked the Whanganui River as one of my practice sessions. This meant getting up at 5.30 am and a 2 hour bus ride towards Mount Egmont. I chose the river because I am so crap on rivers. It was a mistake as it only demoralised me more. What a river it was though. Twice the size of the Swampy or equivalent to the Macallister or Goulburn when in full flood, a very beautiful river. I think it leaves the Tongariro for dead and is much safer for your gear too.

It’s a slippery river so studded boots were the order of the day. No studded boots unfortunately for Steve Varga. I had to concede fishing from the bank. A good cast would see me get the line just to the middle and not to the other side. I managed a small fish and got straightened by two others doing the old upstream nymphing. Some of the other lads managed in excess of twenty trout in a couple of hours. That was demoralising. Others said they caught nothing but I knew that they had caught heaps and were keeping their cards close to their chest. A real big thanks to Brent Glover for all his guidance here by the river. He was really informative, typical of a fly fishermen with a passion for the sport. We exchanged several flies and disappointingly, I lost all of them next day when I left a C & F box by the bank. There were really some beauties in there and I would have loved to have tied them back home. Brent was from the Woodies fly club and he donated a drink bottle to all the competitors. That was really terrific of him. The other competitors all laughed at me when they saw my brand new wooden landing net. It was a real ripper and had just come in via E-Bay. The other landing net got Nuked at the Mitta during the Nationals and then died when I belted a brownie on the head at the untouchables at Little Pine. Brent was kind enough to lend me his "BUG"New Zealand made wooden landing net. A real piece of Kiwi craftsmanship at twice the size of what I was using. He didn’t need to. I never caught a fish worthy of this net, but it did make me look good.

Waimakariri River and Waihou River

A chance to practice on the Waihou and Whaimakariri. In true sportsmanship like manner, I was adopted, assisted and helped by the Fin Olli and Italian, Luca. They were great guys at half my age and they showed me how to fish these rivers. Luca could not speak a word of English but pointed to my fly box and showed me which flies to use along each section of the river. Alleluia, I was finally catching fish. Thanks Luca from Italy. Luca finished 14^th and Olli 25^th. So I had some pretty good teachers. The Waihou was really beautiful blue in colour. It meandered through a fern glade and cascaded down rapids and a series of waterfalls. From the high banks, you could see the trout in the runs, gently swimming back and forth. Catching them would be tough. I managed several on a dry and had quite a lot of fun. Luca showed me his true Czech nymphing style and managed several hook ups in one piece of water. It’s a remarkable fly fishing technique.

We lost the Romanian here and he came back very late from his river session. I only had a small chance to fish the Waimakariri. It was half an hour of fruitless water. This river I thought would be my nemesis. I would be proven wrong in the next few days.

We headed back to the Hotel without the Romanian. He was not picked up by the other bus. Dinners at the Kingsgate Hotel, as well as breakfasts were full on and catered for all needs. Plenty of wholesome New Zealand tucker. After two days of practice, we were pretty tired and relaxed and enjoyed our warm, wholesome Kiwi evening meals. Plenty to choose from and heaps to eat. It was a superb hotel of choice by the organisers.

Wednesday 26^th of March. Day 1 of competition.

I drew the Whanganui as my first piece of water. I chatted nervously to the bus driver whilst my other competitors dozed on the bus. They thought I was on something; I was just chatty from all the apprehension and needed to get rid of the butterflies in my tummy. The first competitors in the morning session were all excited and lots of fish were caught. One fish would do me. I caught one straight away just holding my line and letting it drift downstream whilst talking to the controller. I shook it free because it wasn’t caught fairly. What a dummy, doesn’t matter how you catch it. Took me 24 hours to work out that this is how they were being caught. Downstream drift, let the nymph rise and count to 2. Bang, and they were on. Doesn’t really matter. Caught another straight away. I hadn’t got into the spirit of fishing yet because I was really chasing the big fish in the river. And ignored these smaller fish. That’s a big mistake. Just remind me to go to the next competition a little earlier because if you don’t you end up with marbles in your head and don’t think straight. Doesn’t matter, I had a fish and I know one angler blanked this session. Does it really matter? No. If you catch the smallest fish in a session and if everyone else catches a bigger fish, you still end up 20th. Our competition rules back at home have to change!

Thanks to my terrific controller, Rory the Radiologist. He looked after me really well. The beat controller was brilliant. I had run out of GINK, the bottle leaked and he went to find some for me. I don’t think that is within the rules so he did me a real favour. As I write this on the eve of Anzac day, it only reinforces the strong bond of friendship, mateship and cooperation we have with our dear friends across the Tasman. He did not have to do this. Not forgetting Allen  who dropped into the Hotel and gave me some terrific leader material. My controller was delighted with his imitation C&F box that I gave him as a token of thanks. I gave all my controllers and boat controllers a box of flies and Maltese badge. Even the bus drivers. They deserved it. Thanks to the club members especially Harold Hodge for tying up and donating the flies. I felt sorry for my controller and all the controllers who had come such great distances to help and learn something from these international experts. I knew I was a pretty average anger and to some extent had let down their expectations. I was pleasantly surprised when my controller screamed with delight when he opened the fly box to discover it was full of flies. I nearly fell over when he called out a big thanks. By this stage I had positioned myself safely behind a big rock midstream and was happily teasing a few trout to take a fly on the down stream drift. I hadn’t thought about what I would do if I actually caught a fish. You guessed it. I still hadn’t worked out what the fish were doing. I should have gone back to the bank and swapped to an intermediate, spooled it on, tied on a tiny Wooly Bugger and tried it. But youth was not on my side. I had managed to venture to the middle of the river but had no hope of getting back. The knee ligaments were painfully sore and the whole knee was unstable. My knee shook like an earthquake and I struggled to get back to the safety of the bank.