There was something fishy going on when a TV director contacted Destination Rotorua about bringing the star of his show to our city.
It seems Clarke Gayford, host of TV series Fish of the Day, was keen on some trout for dinner. Where else to go than to Rotorua for “one of the best trout streams on the planet”? We were stoked.
Clarke also knew Rotorua was a hot bed of other fun to be had, so he arrived a few days early to take advantage of our world-class mountain bike trails with Tak Mutu and Tu Mutu of Mountain Bike Rotorua. This was followed by a welcomed hot soak at Secret Spot Hot Tubs Rotorua, and Clarke’s first whitewater rafting trip on the Kaituna River where River Rats’ Justin Hutton skilfully guided Clarke and chef Anthony McNamara over the world’s tallest commercially raftable waterfall.
Then all eyes were turned to what they came here for. Err, well, not quite. Climbing into a 4x4, the guys were asked to don blindfolds. Miles Rushmer of Rushmer Guiding explained they were heading to a secret location very few people know about.
Upon arrival, with blindfolds removed, Miles presented a crystal-clear, spring-fed stream gently flowing past – seemingly out of nowhere.
“Now my job is to show you the fish. Your job is to put the fly in front of it,” Miles said, and with that, they soon were wading into what Clarke called, “a fly fisherman’s Nirvana”.
Catch Season 5, Episode 3 on Three Now here and read Clarke’s Rotorua adventure story here (and get the recipe chef ‘Ants’ cooks up).
