CAUGHT
SAM - TUHOI KAUMATUA
(I was 8 years old - over 50 years ago - so I can’t recall his surname unfortunately).
Sam used to fish for trout off the spillway at Tuai power station (part of the Waikaremoana hydroelectric power scheme in the Urewera). I used to run home from school, grab my rod and head off down to join him.
He was always there, it seemed. He’d greet me, we’d chat, he’d show me what fly he was using (usually a Mrs Simpson) and we’d just let our lines out and work them in the current edges as the turbine discharge churned up the feed in the lake. The day I caught my first 11-pounder, Sam was there instructing me through the tug-of-war until I landed the monster.
Sam passed on to me what he knew. He taught me stuff for sure, and I appreciated that he always had time for a young Pakeha boy like me…but I was way too young to understand any of that then.
I connect that place with Sam. He was grounded there and I caught a glimpse of the value of having a special spot you know real well. He did time there, knew how to read the water and knew when conditions were right…so he always caught trout there.
Getting familiar with just a few special spots anchors us to
