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New Zealand

Started by Aka, October 31, 2017, 08:55:54 AM

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Aka

Anyone have any intel on south island New Zealand?

benben reincarnated

GTFO.  This is the damn BLUE RIDGE fly fishing forum.  America.

Aka

#2
Quote from: benben reincarnated on October 31, 2017, 09:06:34 AM
GTFO.  This is the damn BLUE RIDGE fly fishing forum.  America.

n!n :banana072:

p.s. get me hopped up on some beers & I'll share what I find out when I get back.  0:0

Grannyknot

i know a guy who knows a guy that can get you the overlays bru
Flea is not the best bassist of all time.

driver

Quote from: Aka on October 31, 2017, 08:55:54 AM
Anyone have any intel on south island New Zealand?
Its epic. At least thats what Whorvis sez.

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The Dude

#5
Aren't you the person we should be asking about for advice on NZ?????

Did you ever see those trout they caught in The Endless Summer?  Minimum keeper size is 2.5-lbs.
https://youtu.be/JYzmB7K9vFE?t=2m18s

And they have those gigantic crawdads. Fuckers are prehistoric. Edit: My bad, those crawdads are in Tasmania, not NZ.

The Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Lobster Astacopsis gouldi
June 18, 2016RobertFeatured, News

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Rob McCormack with a 2.5 kg Giant Tasmanian Lobster Astacopsis gouldi

The Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Lobster Astacopsis gouldi is the planets largest freshwater invertebrate. It's been known to grow up to 6 kg, theses days however, animals weighing 2–3 kg are considered large and anything over 4 kg as gigantic.

On a recent trip to Tasmania a four man Australian Crayfish Project (ACP) team joined the foremost expert on the species Mr Todd Walsh to assist him and his assistant with their research on this river giant. Todd and his assistant Michelle were great value and took us to one of their regular survey sites.

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Craig Burnes with his first Astacopsis gouldi

The research project involves capturing giant freshwater crayfish and microchipping them. Small microchips the same as you would use for your dog or cat is implanted into the crayfish. Microchips are what is known as an RFID device (Radio Frequency Identification Device). They are approximately the size of a grain of rice and implanted  into the crayfish. The tiny microchip is completely inert, it doesn't have a power source and it is not activated until a scanner is run over it. The scanner reads the unique identification number of the microchip and displays it on the screen.

Each crayfish is micro tagged, sexed, weighed and measured. Its location is recorded and over many years Todd will compile very accurate and important information on the species growth and activity.

We helped Todd captured over 20 large crayfish that day and about half were new animals and half already tagged. The tagged animals are very important as Todd can look back through his records and see where it was caught last and how much it has grown over that period.

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Todd Walsh scanning a crayfish

The crayfish were relatively easy to catch, being the top invertebrate predator in the river, they are fearless and happily wandered the creeks and rivers during the day. I could walk along through the river and just pick one up. They are a species that was traditionally recreationally fished for, but, back in 2000 all fishing was banned. Unfortunately, illegal fishing still seriously impacts this species which is very slow growing.

They are opportunistic feeders. I was walking along the bank of the river and spotted what looked like an eel some 40 m away in the river on the other side. I called Paul over and said, that likes like an eel, and that large black shape looks like a big cray – "I think that looks like a cray eating a live eel." Paul reckoned I was right and he called Todd over and sure enough Todd agreed and they both slide down the bank some 6 m or so into the water, raced across the river and Todd grabbed a 1.3 kg crayfish. Todd and Paul were happy they caught another crayfish, the crayfish was unhappy as it lost its eel meal, got a microchip shoved into it before release, but the eel escaped so I expect it was happy. It was an interesting observation that they can catch and eat large live eels.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login

Paul Van der Werf with another nice crayfish

They are river-dwelling crayfish preferring pristine creeks and rivers. Unfortunately, large portions of their habitat areas have been heavily modified with disastrous results for the species.

They are a species that is slow-growing, slow colonising, large-sized, easily caught, with relatively low fecundity. Being May it was within the known breeding season yet we didn't find any berried females. Surprisingly, the females don't berry every year and it may be 2 or more years between mating.

The juveniles live under rocks in the river and are very slow growing so they would be very vulnerable to predation by eels, galaxias and trout, plus cannibalism from other crayfish. We surveyed some of last years juvenile crayfish, but they were under 10-12 mm OCL so still very small.
Last years juvenile Astacopsis gouldi

Last years juvenile Astacopsis gouldi on my hand

Our sincerest thanks to Todd and Michelle for taking the time to share their vast knowledge with us. A very memorable time for us all and we hope to be back soon to do it all over again.

If you would like more information on our Tassie adventure, see:  http://www.aabio.com.au/the-australian-crayfish-project-team-visits-tasmania/



Cheers

Rob McCormack


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I was born by the river in a little tent, And just like the river I've been running ever since, It's been a long, long time coming, But I know change is gonna come.

peter p

I have a few books you can borrow.  Did not get to do enough fishing when I was there to give you real intel.  Don't think you can bring your wading boots now, even if they are rubber sole.



Peter

Aka

Quote from: peter p on November 04, 2017, 07:38:39 AM
I have a few books you can borrow.  Did not get to do enough fishing when I was there to give you real intel.  Don't think you can bring your wading boots now, even if they are rubber sole.

Did you go to north or South Island?

I need new boots so was planning on getting some right before I went and not using them until I get there. I know for sure you can't have felt soles.

I'll take you up on the books. I just got this one from Amazon today.

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Aka

Quote from: The Dude on October 31, 2017, 18:35:10 PM
Aren't you the person we should be asking about for advice on NZ?????

Did you ever see those trout they caught in The Endless Summer?  Minimum keeper size is 2.5-lbs.
https://youtu.be/JYzmB7K9vFE?t=2m18s

And they have those gigantic crawdads. Fuckers are prehistoric. Edit: My bad, those crawdads are in Tasmania, not NZ.

The Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Lobster Astacopsis gouldi
June 18, 2016RobertFeatured, News

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login

Rob McCormack with a 2.5 kg Giant Tasmanian Lobster Astacopsis gouldi

The Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Lobster Astacopsis gouldi is the planets largest freshwater invertebrate. It's been known to grow up to 6 kg, theses days however, animals weighing 2–3 kg are considered large and anything over 4 kg as gigantic.

On a recent trip to Tasmania a four man Australian Crayfish Project (ACP) team joined the foremost expert on the species Mr Todd Walsh to assist him and his assistant with their research on this river giant. Todd and his assistant Michelle were great value and took us to one of their regular survey sites.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login

Craig Burnes with his first Astacopsis gouldi

The research project involves capturing giant freshwater crayfish and microchipping them. Small microchips the same as you would use for your dog or cat is implanted into the crayfish. Microchips are what is known as an RFID device (Radio Frequency Identification Device). They are approximately the size of a grain of rice and implanted  into the crayfish. The tiny microchip is completely inert, it doesn't have a power source and it is not activated until a scanner is run over it. The scanner reads the unique identification number of the microchip and displays it on the screen.

Each crayfish is micro tagged, sexed, weighed and measured. Its location is recorded and over many years Todd will compile very accurate and important information on the species growth and activity.

We helped Todd captured over 20 large crayfish that day and about half were new animals and half already tagged. The tagged animals are very important as Todd can look back through his records and see where it was caught last and how much it has grown over that period.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login

Todd Walsh scanning a crayfish

The crayfish were relatively easy to catch, being the top invertebrate predator in the river, they are fearless and happily wandered the creeks and rivers during the day. I could walk along through the river and just pick one up. They are a species that was traditionally recreationally fished for, but, back in 2000 all fishing was banned. Unfortunately, illegal fishing still seriously impacts this species which is very slow growing.

They are opportunistic feeders. I was walking along the bank of the river and spotted what looked like an eel some 40 m away in the river on the other side. I called Paul over and said, that likes like an eel, and that large black shape looks like a big cray – "I think that looks like a cray eating a live eel." Paul reckoned I was right and he called Todd over and sure enough Todd agreed and they both slide down the bank some 6 m or so into the water, raced across the river and Todd grabbed a 1.3 kg crayfish. Todd and Paul were happy they caught another crayfish, the crayfish was unhappy as it lost its eel meal, got a microchip shoved into it before release, but the eel escaped so I expect it was happy. It was an interesting observation that they can catch and eat large live eels.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login

Paul Van der Werf with another nice crayfish

They are river-dwelling crayfish preferring pristine creeks and rivers. Unfortunately, large portions of their habitat areas have been heavily modified with disastrous results for the species.

They are a species that is slow-growing, slow colonising, large-sized, easily caught, with relatively low fecundity. Being May it was within the known breeding season yet we didn't find any berried females. Surprisingly, the females don't berry every year and it may be 2 or more years between mating.

The juveniles live under rocks in the river and are very slow growing so they would be very vulnerable to predation by eels, galaxias and trout, plus cannibalism from other crayfish. We surveyed some of last years juvenile crayfish, but they were under 10-12 mm OCL so still very small.
Last years juvenile Astacopsis gouldi

Last years juvenile Astacopsis gouldi on my hand

Our sincerest thanks to Todd and Michelle for taking the time to share their vast knowledge with us. A very memorable time for us all and we hope to be back soon to do it all over again.

If you would like more information on our Tassie adventure, see:  http://www.aabio.com.au/the-australian-crayfish-project-team-visits-tasmania/



Cheers

Rob McCormack


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I bet them endangered crawdads taste good with some garlic butter.

After NZ I'll be in Tas for about two weeks visiting my dad and might fish a bit there. I've been to Tas before but never been to NZ. Stream fishing in Tasmania isn't spectacular it's more like North Carolina than New Zealand except for the lakes which hold monsters. I'm not too big on lake fishing walking the shore and being in a boat are both pretty boring for me.




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peter p

Went to both islands.  Only fished the south island.  When are you going? I need to dig out my books
Peter

Aka

Quote from: peter p on November 05, 2017, 08:40:39 AM
Went to both islands.  Only fished the south island.  When are you going? I need to dig out my books

We'll be there from March 4th thru the 9th. Landing in Auckland then planning on flying out the same day to the South Island and staying there the whole time. Will only have 4 days to fish and I don't know whether we'll fly to Christchurch or Nelson yet.

Zoe is coming with me. I'm not so sure how well 16 hour days spent fishing are going to go over with her but I'm going to find out. Some serious bribing will be needed to get her onboard.

When were you there?

peter p

OK, that gives me plenty of time to get you stuff.  We went February 2003
Peter

Random Dude



Random Dude