Wildside - Special Anglers

It’s not just about the fish

 

©Zane Mirfin, Wildside Column, It's not just about the Fish, Nelson Mail, 20 December 2008

A good day out: Zane Mirfin with his latest celebrity client, Eric King-Turner, 103. Mail photo: MARTIN DE RUYTER

❞ As a guide, you have to really enjoy people because if you’re only in it for the money you just won’t last long. It can be tough hard work but fishing or hunting is far more than just catching or killing.

After all the media coverage of 103-yearold fly fisherman Eric King-Turner lately, everywhere I go someone wants
to know more about Eric and his day out fishing on which I guided him.

Eric is an amazing man and not just because he happens to be old. He is as sharp as a tack with a wonderful sense of humour.

Catching a lovely Motueka brown trout totally unaided was a good result for a guy who turns 104 years old in April, but
what I enjoyed most about the day was chatting with Eric about his fishing experiences and some of the fishing icons he
had known from the UK, such as nymph fishing legends Oliver Kite and Frank Sawyer, and the streams they had shared with Eric. This link to the past for a fly fishing history buff was priceless.

Eric’s enthusiasm and zest for life is something to be admired and savoured forever – it’s totally possible Nelson Mail photographer Martin de Ruyter and I enjoyed our day out even more than Eric did.

Over the past two decades or so, I’ve been privileged to guide many fine anglers but some of the most satisfying trips have been where age, health, or physical adversity stand in the way of the angler. Overcoming barriers or obstacles for older customers that younger, more physically able anglers do not face, is always the most satisfying.

As a guide, you have to really enjoy people, because if you’re only in it for the money, you just won’t last long.

It can be tough, hard work but fishing or hunting is far more than just catching or killing. It is about nature, experiences and people, with the outdoor journey being far more important than the destination.

Anyone can enjoy the outdoors, whatever their personal circumstances.

Here, then, are a few special people I have been privileged to know, enjoy and fish with:

❏ Jim was an amazing guy with an amazingly positive attitude who had survived polio as a child.

One arm was withered away and unusable and the other had very limited use, mainly just in  the fingers.

Jim could only cast about four to five metres due to his condition which made stalking wild trout a tough proposition.

We persevered, catching some great trout. Jim showed me that life can deal you a tough hand of cards but how successful you ultimately are in the game of life is totally up to you and your attitude.

❏ Stuart was a big man, standing 198cm, who had multiple sclerosis and was losing the ability to walk.

We had a fine week fishing the rivers of the northern South Island – Stuart was absolutely exhausted but so was I after
helping to hold him upright, getting him across rivers, and just getting the job done.

Stuart’s courage and determination in the face of a terrible predicament was inspiring beyond mere words.

❏ Michael was an Australian and it was my great privilege to guide him on his last fishing trip. Michael had terminal cancer and had trouble walking or balancing in the stream. Thanks to gracious landowners, there were places where I could drive the truck close to the water’s edge after I had located feeding trout..

We had good fishing, with Michael taking some of the best trout he had ever caught. Michael had worked hard and planned for a long retirement with plenty of fishing before the spectre of cancer arrived unexpectedly and way too early.

‘‘Do it now, Zane,’’ Michael implored me on a number of occasions. ‘‘Live your life like there is no tomorrow.’’

After Michael’s death, his wife wrote to me thanking me for making Michael’s last fishing trip so special.
She sent me a kangaroo leather coin wallet that Michael had wanted me to have.

It sits beside my computer in the office and I think of Michael and his advice often.

❏ Ron had always impressed me when we had fished before.

A guy with a 100 per cent personality, you couldn’t help but like him.

His grandson, CJ, had just graduated from high school and Ron was treating him to a New Zealand fishing experience.

Fishing was going well when early in the week Ron took me aside and told me of his health problems.

His condition had worsened significantly since the beginning of the fishing trip and he feared the worst.

He was adamant his grandson should not know the extent of his health issues and that his grandson’s fishing should not suffer.

During the following days Ron took it very easy, not venturing far from the truck, while CJ fished.

Late on the last day, I spotted a really big fish, CJ and I conspired to get Ron into his waders and across the river into a casting position. The big fish was holding on the upstream side of a midstream boulder, happily taking surface flies. When the trout took Ron’s dry fly, all hell broke loose as it screamed out line, tail-walking down the pool.

It was a battle of two veterans, but Ron won. As he held the fish for a photo, we both saw tears in each other’s eyes.
CJ was oblivious – to him it was just a big trout.

I never saw Ron again and have always wondered how he got on, but maybe there are some things in life that you are better off not knowing.

❏ Judith was a frail little lady well into her 80s whose husband had died without ever taking up fly fishing in New Zealand as he had always talked about with her.

Judith decided to take on the challenge and what she lacked in skill, she made up for with great enthusiasm.

We had great days on the stream together, even helicoptering into the West Coast’s remote Rough River. Perhaps
our last fish together was the best, a beautiful 2.7kg (6lb) trout from Murchison’s Owen River.

As Judith cradled the golden flanked and leopard spotted brown trout in the water, I noticed tears streaming down
her face. ‘‘Judith, what’s wrong?’’ I asked. ‘‘Nothing’s wrong, Zane,’’ she replied. ‘‘This is the happiest moment of my life’’.

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