Zane Mirfin Outdoor Articles 2017

Why I like Mondays

Geoff Russell of Invercargill with another Monday gurnard.

 

Zane Mirfin, Wildside Column, Nelson Mail, I like Mondays, I'm gonna fish the whole day long, 25 November 2017

When Jake and I arrived at the Maori Pa Rd access way recently we had the place to ourselves.
With not a vehicle or person in sight, we'd either made a wise decision or a horrible mistake. Fortunately as we quietly putted out through the estuary and put the throttle down as we crossed the bar into a flat calm Delaware Bay, we knew we'd made a great decision. 
Fishing light jigs and drifting over sand and foul ground we caught a variety of fish species including red gurnard, blue cod, and snapper.
Zane Mirfin
Not another soul in site as the Monday fishing expedition to Delaware Bay gets underway.
I even caught a new fish species for me on a jig which was a type of flounder called a brill. Best of all, it was a special bonding day out with my oldest son who was taking a day off from exam study to chill out and spend a day with his father. 
Mondays have always been a favourite day of mine to go hunting and fishing because there is generally never anybody else around.
Most modern humans live a fairly constrained life, dictated by clock and calendar, work and family, with Mondays usually being a hive of activity at the start of the business week. In short, most people are too busy working on Mondays to go fishing – which always makes it a great time to go.

Idyllic Monday fishing conditions.

Never really ever having had a "real" job in a conventional sense, I guess my perception of time got all stuffed up with a five year stint and two degrees as a student at Canterbury University in the late 1980s.
Whether you chose to go to lectures or study was up to the individual, but I must admit that salmon fishing on the Rakaia or duck hunting on windswept Lake Ellesmere was always imminently more exciting during week days than overcrowded weekends and I guess it shaped my outdoor behaviour ever since.
Most people probably do the majority of their outdoor activities during weekends but New Zealand society has changed markedly in recent decades with free market reforms and labour liberalisation changing the idyllic Kiwi lifestyle forever.
Nowadays it seems like people are working harder and longer for less economic return, and alas, the quality of their recreation time has suffered too.
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In many ways, the great years of the New Zealand weekend tradition was probably 1945-1980 when New Zealand Inc totally shut down at weekends and virtually all commercial activity ceased.
As boys, my brother and I were the beneficiaries of this because Mum and Dad worked hard during the week but at weekends we enjoyed a wide variety of family fun and recreation without distraction
Like many people in these modern times, my working life has been different from that of my parents' generation. Being self-employed I often work long hours away from home so it's no wonder that I have to do my own personal hunting and fishing on random days of the week, when I have availability of time, resources, opportunity, or inclination.
So which are the best days of the week to go hunting or fishing? Actually I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this question because many factors go into the decision.
Most important are sea conditions, weather forecasts, moon phase, river levels, wind direction, time of year, physical fitness, and specialised equipment etc.
The best day to go will always be when you have calculated the conditions correctly and the stars align. Sometimes the best day to go is when no-one else in their right mind would go, often immediately after bad weather or foul conditions.
The only fly in the ointment is other people getting in your way or beating you to the same resources. As New Zealand has grown in population, with more people, and often more international tourists around, outdoor resources are targeted more intensively throughout the week and throughout the seasons.
Add to this the concept of an ever-declining resource increasingly decimated by over-commercialisation, poison, pollution, recreational pressure, advanced technology and the internet, and it's not surprising that choice of day becomes a more critical feature than in the past.
In the ever continuing race for resources, you want to be at your location first, earlier than potential competitors, and to go hard all day.
Ironically the changing face of society has meant that the behaviour of the animals and fish we seek has changed too.
Some trout stream beats are fished most days and the trout have learned to adapt to angling disturbance by changing their behaviour. In many places deer have become nocturnal with constant hunting pressure so you need to adapt your methods and timing to remain successful in a changing paradigm.
Sometimes weekends can be the worst time to go hunting and fishing because other recreationalists may detract from the outdoor experience. Sometimes weekends can be the very best time to go because everyone else is too busy to go. The key is that you never know.
Outdoor success will always be a lottery, enjoyed by those who make the effort and go often regardless.
The only day of the week I suggest that you don't go is on a Monday. If you do so, go early because some pig-headed-son-of-persuasion called Mirfin might be there too.
 

St Arnaud: magical gateway to magnificent wilderness

Zane Mirfin, Wildside Column, Nelson Mail, 22 July 2017

Anyone who has ever spent any time at the alpine village of St. Arnaud, Lake Rotoiti, will already know what a special and captivating place it is.
Gateway to the Nelson Lakes National Park, St. Arnaud is a small community which is home to a few hundred residents at most. Straddling the divide between east and west, St. Arnaud has a wonderful alpine climate moderated by the higher rainfall areas to the west and the drier inland climate of Marlborough to the East.
The town was named after the mountain range that looks down on the settlement and Lake Rotoiti, although there is still animosity lingering from when the town name was changed from Lake Rotoiti and gazetted by the NZ Geographic Board in 1951. It all part of the history now, and for the record Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud was the French Commander-in-Chief during the Crimean War of 1853-1856. St Arnaud, the town, isn’t totally unique though because two other overseas towns bear the same name in Victoria , Australia and Algeria.
Ever since the early days of European settlement the area has been a playground for Nelson and Marlborough families and recreational sportspeople. Indeed, early explorer Julius von Haast recognised the potential of the area for recreation when he said “I am sure that the time is not far distant when this spot will become the favourite abode of those whose means and leisure will permit them to admire picturesque scenery”
Part of the attraction is Nelson Lakes National Park being right on the doorstep, or even encompassing part of the town. The National Park was gazetted in 1956 and covers more than one hundred thousand hectares of barren magnificent wilderness with silver rivers, high peaks and clothed in red, silver, and black beech trees. There are bountiful opportunities to hike, fish, hunt, enjoy water sports, and commune with nature in all of it’s glory. Best of all the gateway of St. Arnaud is only about an hour of driving from downtown Nelson City or Blenheim.
My personal association with the town goes back further than I can ever remember. As a boy I loved fishing and hunting the Travers Valley that drains into the upper end of the Lake. Travelling up the Lake in Dad’s aluminium dinghy we would camp overnight on the river flats and enjoy everything the National Park had to offer. Later, those early trips set the scene for becoming a fishing guide when I was employed by Sharon and Tony Entwistle of Nelson Lakes Guiding Services as an apprentice fishing guide in 1985. Exploring the area and learning my craft, I loved living around St. Arnaud township, meeting the locals and being indoctrinated in their ways.
I lived in the town for many fishing seasons, over decades, but eventually moved to Richmond for the benefit of family life. St Arnaud has always held a special place in my heart with Aimee and I even being married there in 1999, way up high near the upper Mt Robert carpark on a sunny October day overlooking the wide expanses of West Bay and the town of St Arnaud far below.
These days our kids love it up at the Lake and in the recent school holidays we spent a few days up at the family bach with my brother Scott and his family. All the kids have a great time together and although it is mid-winter there is always plenty to do.
Snow skiing has faced many challenges over recent winters with a general lack of snow being one of them. The climate is changing and the St Arnaud ranges don’t hold the winter snow they once did. When I first started fishing guiding, the Wairau river on Rainbow Station ran full with snowmelt until Christmas but now it is pretty much gin clear from the start of the fishing season on October 1st. The southerly winds and storms seem to have decreased too, and with it the snow pack. Alas this past school holidays Rainbow Skifield only had the learner and intermediate slopes open. Here’s hoping we get some really gnarly weather soon to pump up the snow pack and kick start the ski season.
Ice Skating is always fun and most winters the pond close to the village freezes thick and solid. Last winter we had some good ice fun but these past holidays the skating was a no go.
Mountain biking abounds to every point of the compass. The boys love racing around on their bikes and a favourite location is down Teetotal Rd, opposite the West Bay turnoff on the main road out of town. There are miles of tracks that suit all styles of riding and every age.
Bush walks are something we always like to do as a family. There are some extreme and remote tracks further out in the National Park but we often do the short, local ones for family fun and to get out of the house for an hour or so. Bellbird walk, Honeydew and Loop tracks are always good down on the lake front in Kerr Bay. This past trip we walked the Peninsula Track and also Black Hill. One of my favourite things to show visitors is the old railway tunnel walkway down the Buller valley at Kawatiri.
Cafes and Bars are also a St. Arnaud opportunity. There are lots of local businesses that cater to the tourism trade and remain open all winter. On our Black Hill family walk we made our way down to the Alpine Lodge and enjoyed latte coffee and bowls of hot chips outside in the warm afternoon sun. You could also try Elaine Richards fine café food at the General Store or enjoy lunch at the Clinker Café.
Accommodation options abound in St. Arnaud too ranging from lodge and motel accommodation, through to bed & breakfast, backpacker, or rent your own from the numerous holiday homes dotted throughout the village. St Arnaud is so close to the urban centres of Nelson and Marlborough that it is an easy task to visit for a day trip so cost doesn’t have to be an issue.
Water sports are a bit chilly in winter but our kids regularly kayak in the lake and at times have even indulged in mid-winter swimming. This past visit we played on the Rotoiti School grounds kicking around rugby and footballs as a family. During one breather from running around, I looked back toward Black Hill, a mound of glacial moraine left over from the last ice age, and visualised how Thomas Brunner and his Maori guides on their epic 1846 exploration ordeal, turned right and missed finding Lake Rotoiti before travelling down the Buller to South Westland.
On a wet day there are many more activities at St. Arnaud you could enjoy such as community activities at the Lake Rototit Community Hall, go to the Sunday service at the picturesque Rotoiti Chapel, or visit the Department of Conservation Visitor Center with interactive and educational displays. Our kids especially enjoy the unique movie of the lifestyle of the long finned eel, travelling to Tonga to spawn and ascending the Buller river as elvers to New Zealand’s most inland lake.
There are so many more wonderful winter opportunities hidden in the St Arnaud area but I’ve run out of space and haven’t even talked about trophy chamois, trolling for trout in the Lake, or tame eels off the jetties. Maybe you’ll just have to explore the potential of St. Arnaud for yourself.

A lifetime pursuit of the great outdoors

Running wild in Taradise (aka Taranaki)

Zane Mirfin, Wildside Column, Nelson Mail, 1 April 2017


Somewhere in the western North Island under the shadow of a dormant volcano is a place that the locals call Taradise.
And after the week prior in the urban jungle of Auckland city on business with my brother Scott, Taranaki, as it is more commonly known, truly was heaven on earth.
Staying with friends Nichola and Kelly Finnegan of New Plymouth, we were joined by wives Aimee and Kirstie for a weekend of exploration and adventure.

Kelly Finnigan catches his first 'Naki trout, with assistance from Scott Mirfin and Andy Lamb, right.
New Plymouth is a wonderful town, and an almost undiscovered jewel of about 75,000 people living close to wonderful surfing beaches.
We enjoyed shopping, cafes and walking the coastal walkways and crossing Te Rewa Rewa bridge. Visiting Puke Ariki, the provincial museum we learnt much more about the region and also viewed exhibits from Aimee's great great grandfather O.A.Mullon's Opunake soda factory.
The arts and crafts scene is a very vibrant scene and we loved visiting the workshop and gallery of top Taranaki artist Margaret Scott, where we talked art and were educated about the local Maori community of Parihaka.
That's where spiritual leader Te Whiti founded a non-violent resistance movement in the mid 1860s to protest land confiscation and the government failure to put aside promised reserves after the Land Wars and armed conflicts that raged from about 1845 -  1872.
The resistance of Te Whiti and his followers sent shockwaves around the British Empire, and may even have inspired the non-violent civil disobedience success of Mahatma Gandhi in British-ruled India that eventually led to Indian independence.
Pukekura Park was another highlight with 52 hectares of gardens, flowers, and waterfalls in the middle of town, and the site of the annual WOMAD festival (world of music and dance), and also where parts of the 2003 Tom Cruise movie The Last Samurai were filmed.
At night we enjoyed dining in the heart of New Plymouth but before we knew it the weekend was over and the girls were heading home to Nelson. 
The next day was a public holiday being Taranaki Anniversary Day, so Scott and I thought we should take Kelly trout fishing for a day, and we were joined by mate Andy Lamb who came along for the ride around Mt Taranaki.
It was a bleak gloomy day but we had lots of fun together circumnavigating Taranaki, driving through the towns of Inglewood, Stratford, Eltham, Hawera, and Opunake.
Both Scott and Kelly were born in Opunake, and it was an eye-opener to check out our parents old house they once owned when Dad was transferred there to work by the Bank of New South Wales.
Actually the house and area looked more like something out of the movie Once were Warriors than anything else and it was apparent that many of these towns were in economic decline unlike the Nelson/Tasman region which is on the up and up.
Oil, gas, and dairy farming are the big industries of Taranaki but they may well have seen their heyday.  

Fishing Taranaki was something I'd always wanted to do since I was a little boy and driving around the mountain for a day was something rather special.
First named Mt Egmont by Captain James Cook in 1770, Mt Taranaki at 2518 metres tall dominates the Taranaki landscape with rivers flowing to every point of the compass to the sea.
Known as the Taranaki Ringplain streams, there are more than 40 recognised trout streams originating on the bush clad slopes of the mountain.

The upper reaches of such streams are clear and pure but the middle and lower reaches are mostly degraded from extensive dairy farming and agriculture dating back to the 1880s.
Mostly inhabited by brown trout, there are apparently good rainbow trout fisheries in the Waingongoro and Kaupokonui streams although we struggled to find much good water after torrential deluges of rain the two days before that also blew out all Auckland city's drinking water supplies at the same time.

With limited time and high water, I rigged Kelly with a lure rod and soft plastic bait on an 1/8th ounce lead jig head. It worked a treat and Kelly soon had his first ever Taranaki brown trout attached to his line in the Manganui River. We caught more trout and enjoyed fishing the Waiwhakaiho as well but the streams weren't in the same class as the rivers we get to fish in the South Island.

Another evening Scott and I took an evening walk down to Lake Rotomanu where I caught some small redfin perch in highly polluted waters with regional council signage everywhere about high bacterial levels.
I'm just so glad many of our local Nelson-Marlborough rivers haven't reached this sad state of affairs but I would like to do more fishing in Taranaki into the future especially the rainbow lake fisheries of Lakes Mangamahoe and Ratapiko.

Our time in Taranaki had been a great success despite the limited time to fish. Sometime I'd like to visit Egmont National Park and climb to the summit of Mt Taranaki.
As it turned out, the only mountain we go to climb was on our last day which happened to be St Patricks Day. Finding a spare hour Scott and I powered to the top of Paritutu Rock which towers 156 metres above New Plymouth and Ngamotu Beach.

We even took our Paddy's Day attire for a photo op because we were doing a pub crawl with head Irishman Kelly Finnegan that night.
Downing pints of Guinness at Celtic bars and spending the evening enjoying top music at WOMAD capped off a wonderful week for two Nelson boys running wild in the 'Naki.
 

Summer: The perfect time for creating a lifetime of family memories

 
Five Go Mad in the Marlborough Sounds: Swimming is a favourite summertime activity with any kid.

Summer holidays are so much fun. In fact, I wish I could take the whole summer off work to have fun with my family.
Recently I enjoyed reading in the Nelson Mail about other people's recollections and memories of seaside locations such as iconic Tahunanui which Nelson-Tasman locals can visit any day of the week, every week of the year.
As a family, the Mirfins have always been very fortunate in the places we've been able to holiday. Whether it's the Marlborough Sounds, Nelson Lakes, or Golden Bay, we've had some great places owned by family and friends that they have been happy and generous to share with us.


Rosie Mirfin, 13, is a crack shot with Dad's .223

My parents Stuart and Sherry were always taking brother Scott and I on epic summertime adventures and now it is time for us to do the same with our kids. Fortunately our parents are still keen to be part of the summertime action and it's a win-win all round.
Raising bright-eyed kids who are excited about exploring the world around them is all part of our role as parents and grandparents, and summer holidays allow time to reinforce attitudes and actions that will last the kids a lifetime.
I've always believed that "I can" is more important than IQ in life's continuing journey and having fun together along the way is an essential part of living.


Three generations of Mirfin's go fishing. (Scott Mirfin, left , Jake Mirfin and Stuart Mirfin with snapper)

Sadly, in today's mad world of mass-consumerism, massive mortgages, split families, addiction and consequent modern health issues, many people are omitting the simple pleasures of summer holidaying beside beach, river or lake.
Maybe I'm imagining things but many holiday places don't appear to be as busy or manic as they used to be over summers past.
The weather probably counts for something and summer so far has been pretty sporadic with cooler temperatures and plenty of wind coming out of the westerly quarter. But there's always an adventure to have whatever the weather and sometimes you just have to go regardless.
It doesn't need to cost a lot of money either, it's all about family time together having fun.
We've been going down the Marlborough Sounds as a family for more than 40 years each summer and it has been an epic ongoing adventure that we are fortunate to still enjoy together. The photos on the wall don't lie and it's always special to show the kids the great times we had decades ago with valued friends and family.
Actually our kids have better opportunities than we had with access to better boats, better fishing techniques and equipment, better toys like inflatable biscuits, skis, wetsuits, masks, snorkels, flippers, mountain bikes ... the list goes on.
Their real asset though is their grandparents who took them down the Sounds to play while their parents had to work. I made it down to French Pass for the last few days and it was as special as always.
The winding road past Okiwi Bay is my favourite, with breathtaking world-class ocean views of foaming coast, azure skies, golden ridges and verdant green gullies of native vegetation.
Descending into paradise was just the start of the adventure where we fished for blue cod, tarakihi, snapper and gurnard, and also caught odds and sods like wrasse, eagle rays, mullet, and sharks.
Trolling for kingfish was to no avail one evening but at least we were out there doing it.

We had fun at sheltered Coppermine Bay snorkelling for kina and biscuiting behind Scottie's new 115 HP Yamaha outboard motor.

Shooting practice was also a big success with everyone hitting a few targets and cans with calibers ranging from .22 to .243. Charli, 11 was a bit reluctant at first but later couldn't wait to tell Aimee on the phone about her first shots with a .22 under the close supervision of Dad and Grandad.

Possuming with traps was fun but some of the best times were afternoon siestas, evening beers, afternoon tea on the deck overlooking cornflower blue skies and scenic D'Urville Island.

The badminton, cricket, and volleyball on the lawn was a big hit as well as reading bedtime stories after playing evening card games. Best of all we got plenty of new photographs for sister-in-law Kirstie's annual family calendar. 
It's an old cliche, but families that play together – stay together. Our kids will be grown and gone before we know it. But in the years to come, the good summer times we shared together and the bonds we have built in fun, will be the future foundations of ongoing family relationships.
In the meantime, I can't wait to hit the road again early tomorrow morning for more family fun. Kurow and Twizel here we come.