museeumchick Posted August 25, 2008 Report Share Posted August 25, 2008 Grrr contrary weather but now i have a little tank (about the right size for a koura) so next step is to make sure it's watertight then put stuff in it then put occupants in it so soon i will able to collect as well as look on fish hunting expiditions, yay! :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteS Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hi museeumchick, There is a good spot to find Koura in a farm stream between Aokautere & Ashurst. It also has heaps of Upland bullies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
museeumchick Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 neetoh! i shall take my torch and go exploring, cant wait for some interesting new pets. the tank is ofically watertight, next step stuff, then occupants (not to be confused with octopus, would be cool but more of an escape artist than the koura methinks). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted August 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hey guys, the weather forecast is looking hopeful for this saturday! http://www.metservice.com/default/index ... ston_north Chances are the streams will still be a bit high, but will check during the day. I propose the same plan as last time: meet at my place at 7pm, then go the Bledisloe Park by Massey followed by Kahuterawa. Olly, Supasi and Museeumchick, I still have your phone numbers just reply if you are keen, but if anyone else is keen to come please PM me with your details and I will let you know my address. I will be off mudfishing that day, but I expect I should be back by then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 I'm still keen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 Sorry guys and gals This weekend is out for me as it is my brothers bday and already have plans. Sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted August 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 Cool, so Olly, Museeumchick and PeteS are keen There is also someone else, not on this forum, who hasn't got back to me yet. Supasi, don't worry, another time will come up, or you could just set a date to visit. 6th Sept could be interesting as there is a Forest and Bird trip to Lake Papaitonga (near Levin) looking for glowworms, but I will add in spotlighitng for banded kokopu also will be checking out Himitangi Beach on the way back as there is a good spot for giant bullies. And of course whatever other spots take our fancy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted August 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2008 Well, the weather is looking spectacularly good! The Hunt is ON! :bounce: There is also a girl coming along who is studying mudfish at Massey for her masters (I am going mudfishing this weekend with her!) but she has never been spotlighing before and knows little about other native fish, so she seems to be really looking forward to it too. We *nearly* had the local area manager of DOC coming too! But sadly he had something else on. Might be along next time though, is keen and has some background in native fish. Ok, remember to bring: WARM clothing and a hat GUMBOOTS TORCH no matter how pitiful, to stop you tripping over in the dark at very least. I will bring a few nets but we won't be doing much catching so don't worry about bringing any yourself. See you tonight, my place, 7pm! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteS Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Well the Native Fish Hunt happened last night. The weather was fine, the sky was clear with heaps of stars to be seen out at the Kahuterawa stream area. The three of us myself, Stella & Olly went. Museeumchick was sick sorry you missed out. The first stop was at the Turitea stream by Massey. The stream was up but not as bad as last week and quite clear. We went to our usual hunting sites plus a new one. These sites are nice gravel/sand beaches that give good access to the stream. This is where we found a number of bullies sitting on the bottom. Stella caught a few of these bullies, one of which was a nice fat common bully. Olly next showed us a spot at the Massey Vet pond were he thinks a giant kokopu hangs out. We did see some eels and unidentified fish. We then drove over to the Kahuterawa stream to the Black bridge track area. We had a quick look in the Kahuterawa stream and found more bullies. We decided to spend our time in a small steam that runs into the Kahuterawa stream from a long side the Black bridge track. We had found shortjaw kokopu here before but none this time. We did see some eels, trout and two koura which was quite good because the stream was in high flow mode. Once again those that went had a most interesting time. Looking forward to the next Native Fish Hunt :) BTW The light saber competition was a draw mine was longer & stronger but Stella's went forever. I have upload some video clips of the trip to Stella's NZNativeFish YouTube channel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted August 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Thanks for the write-up, Pete! I had a great time too. Been so long since I have done that properly! I did get really really cold though (I feel the cold badly at all times) and unfortunately there was just too much current for it to be really good: The fish were hiding and very difficult to see. Highlights for me was the biggest common bully I have ever caught (about 13cm, not enormous, but big for me!) and picking up a cray without squealing like a girl and dropping it! Video of catching bullies is here: And the cray is here: (Please bear in mind I was tired and struggling to find the right words!) (There are a few other new videos up there too, but those are the ones from last night) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacher Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Sounds like you lot had heaps of fun. Now that spring is around the corner hopefully the weather will start to dry up again. I was out having a walk in the bush up near a dam near my place the other day. I found a small 'track' that came off the regular path and followed it out of interest as I know theres a stream that flows into the dam at the back. Theres supposably Kokopu, Trout and eels in the dam although I have only seen eels and trout downstream. I was very pleased to see the 'track' went all the way around to the back of the dam and came out at the streams entrance. It was just starting to get a bit dusky at 5pm so i turned around and headed back followed by a bellbird singing away. The light was just right to see into the shallows and I did see 2 large fish chasing each other on the surface. Too far away to see anything that might have defined what they were... I sooooo need a pair of binoculars! When the weather has improved I will take my torches and head back around one night and see what I can see P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Any pics and stuff for the magazine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 I think I posted this video a while back. It's in my back garden. But today I found out this is the baby of the ones that lives there. We were checking out the bottom garden and there was a huge splash, then some more random splashing. Looked in and there was an Eel about 4 ft long and 5" wide swimming up through the shallows under the foodbridge. It was 1/2 out of the shallow water, only 2-3" deep, hence the splashing. It checked out the lamb chop bones the neighbour had dropped in for them, grabbed the one with the most meat left, and splashed back down the stream to it's hiding place. I will take the camera next time for sure and try to get some more video, but what I really want is to build a feeding platform as I'm sure you could get them to hand feed. 8) Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Damn it looks like you guys had an awesome fun night. I promise Ill do my best to make it next time,It was a family gathering last night as two of the family had bdays so I could not not go to that. One daytime you guys could come to Wanganui and I could take you to my fav spot to catch natives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
museeumchick Posted September 1, 2008 Report Share Posted September 1, 2008 Ok, so now i am appropriately jelous i will get around to it all eventually, sigh, methinks i wore myself out with an afternoon of fossil hunting. looks like you had excellent fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteS Posted September 2, 2008 Report Share Posted September 2, 2008 Well fossil hunting sounds like excellent fun too. What did you find ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
museeumchick Posted September 2, 2008 Report Share Posted September 2, 2008 Lottsa scollaps, some turret shells and whelks (and some other stuff i have yet to ID) it was rather nice to be out in the sunshine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted September 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2008 That does sound like fun! Chalk another one up to the 'jealous' list. Maybe you shall have to take up fossil hunting one day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxglove Posted September 4, 2008 Report Share Posted September 4, 2008 Ah Preacher, I know that small back track well... there are frogs and all sorts along that small stream - including scary dudes that stopped me going there alone. :oops: They "May" have been baiting traps for possums, but I dunno. :lol: Anytime you're going for a night walk, let me know... Last time I was at the dam, there were people "fishing" for koura using pantyhose bags on a line. They said there was lots in the dam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
preacher Posted September 4, 2008 Report Share Posted September 4, 2008 Especially if you never look. I wonder what other nooks and crannies are around? I will let you know when I decide to go, I want the weather to dry up a touch and get a bit warmer first. Plus have the time to persuade my wife to let me go play with a girl... in the bush... at night.... ALONE!!!! Bring on Summer and let the hunts begin P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted September 4, 2008 Report Share Posted September 4, 2008 I will let you know when I decide to go, I want the weather to dry up a touch and get a bit warmer first. Plus have the time to persuade my wife to let me go play with a girl... in the bush... at night.... ALONE!!!! P. Lol, love it :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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