Monster

A fishin' story from the local newspaper, where I grew up in
New Zealand

Manawatu Standard | Wednesday, 4 April 2007

WHAT A WHOPPER: Steve Pedley and his unlucky fish, and top, a lucky black toby lure.

Sorry...experienced anglers who have prowled the Manawatu River for decades trying to land a big one will gag on this story. EWAN SARGENT reports.

``When I cast in, I thought I'd snagged. I started walking out deeper [to free it] and once it realised it was hooked, man it took me a long time to get it in. I don't have a landing net. When I got it on the stones it broke the line, so I had to run and grab it to get it away from the water.''

Ever since he's caught the trophy trout which is on its way to being mounted he's been greeted by amazement at his luck. And it's pretty good luck.

Here's the stuff that will make experienced anglers suffer.

Pedley's only been fishing for six months.

He's a spin fisher, not a fly fisher. He only uses 7gm black toby lures, probably the most common lure chucked in the Manawatu River.

He doesn't sharpen his hooks, in fact the lucky lure was pulled out of his wooden wine rack in the spare room as he headed out the door on the fishing trip.

By this time of year, trout who have seen black tobys flash past them over and over should be ignoring them.

A trout as big as the one Pedley caught (66cm long) should be too old and wise to ever bite at a black toby.

Pedley was fishing in what he calls ``a nondescript spot in the Maxwell Line area'' and it was 3pm.

This should be a dead time of the day to fish compared to the golden hours at first light and dusk.

And he was fishing in an area that gets flogged by throughout the year by city anglers too lazy to travel to better waters and kids on bikes.

``My dad's been trout fishing for over 50 years and he says he's never ever seen a trout that big in the Manawatu. He was blown away,'' Pedley says.

He realises he may have peaked early. He faces season after season of being disappointed with mere six and seven pound trout a bit like the novice golfer who gets a hole in one and quits.

But the trophy on the wall will always be there to remind him of the day the big one didn't get away.