Uh-oh, sounds like you have brought another fisherman over to the Ned-side. Pretty neat for you to give a guy a couple of your rigs and have him come back saying he caught his PB smallie.
A couple of years ago, during the summer, Norwood had a bunch of brook silverside minnows, fish would surface feed on them in the AM. You could catch a bunch, but they were always small.
Thanks for the report, in spite of the crowds it sounds like ya'll had a great day.
There's a lot of people out there during the week, not as many as the weekends, but more than I can recall seeing. Don't know if it is because of cheap gas, warm weather (compared to the last 2 years), or whatever.
There's a lot of those 10-12" fish in Avalon and Norwood also. The lakes biologist encourages people to keep them, there's just too many of them and they impact the overall size quality in those lakes. I want to get over to Loch Lomond, I hear it has been decent. Haven't fished it since last summer.
I should have mentioned that you also have to attach a sign to it that reads: 'Secret Brushpile - Do not fish!'. That stops the guys at the gas stations and restaurants from throwing lures at your truck.
Sounds like a great trip, thanks for posting. I've always heard that there is great trout fishing in NZ, but from your description it sounds just so-so.