Meet Jock. Jock is a local legend here in the Bay of Plenty, NZ. He is a serious hunter and fisherman. His hunting roots started before he was on the Rabbit Board way back when. He knows everything there is to know about guns and is a renowned game fisherman and ex charter operator. He has led the perfect life so far and is a fly fisherman, which makes him pretty cool in our books.
Steve, who you read about and watched in such articles as, Steve's first trout on a dry fly and many of our You Tube videos, reckoned Jock was a cool dude to know. They do a bit of hunting and fishing together. Once Steve told me he was keen to trade for a day on the ocean, I jumped at the opportunity.
Jock is a fly fisherman for like, ever. He is a nympher first and you know what that means, fast strikes.
As we were driving to the river I calmly asked him if he knew how to count to three before striking with a large dry fly. He assured me he could.
In all of his years trout fishing, he had never gone in a Canadian canoe.
I would like to think this was a game changer for him and I have a new mate.
Jock cannot count to three before striking. I will teach him, in time.
Watch the video for some highlights. I like the one that I call "Jock falls on ass" or "Jock breaks one off."
That reminds me that Jock was using a 5 weight rod with a six pound monofilament tippet. After his second breakoff on the strike, I put on six pound fluorocarbon for him. There were no further issues. I strongly recommend fluoro for casting large dry flies.