frod discusses his fishing experiences and policy with other fishermen near the mouths of the Dart and Greenstone Rivers

TW: Photo of live fish below

Ken: Pretty nice day out, don't you think frod?

Frod: yeah, its not bad unsure whether the fish are going to bite because of it though!

Ken: shouldn't be too bad, the Brown trout are going to start spawning soon up the greenstone, so they'll be around the edges here.

Frod: Fair enough, have you had much luck in this spot before?

reel starts to whine

Frod: Oooh I got one!

Ken: I love this spot, even if you don't catch anything, its always so scenic. How big does it feel?

Frod: not small, but also not huge.

fish jumps

Frod: looks like an alright sized brown trout, perfect for dinner!

frod reels in the Brown trout, which turns out to be about 1.5 pounds, not huge but nicely sized.

Frod: Good fish!

Ken: yeah not bad. So frod, whats your plans to ensure that we still have a sustainable fishery if you were to come to power?

Frod: Good question, personally I know how important that it is for people to ensure that they can access their best fishing spots to catch fish not dissimilar to the one we caught today, and that the Fish and Game license fees are an important part of ensuring that the hobby is not so much limited but people have an understanding of what they're getting in to, and what is expected from anglers. We want to get kiwis more interested in the outdoors, and reducing the licensing fees for a license is something that we want to do.

Ken: Wont that mean Fish and Game will have less money to run their advocacy and governance parts of their role?

Frod: No, the downfall in revenue from license reductions will be made up by government funding, because it is important to ensure that the interests of fish, and anglers are known, especially through the resource consenting process at the district and regional level.

Ken: I would love to get more people out there and doing it! I look forward to seeing how your scheme is implemented!

Ken: Slightly different, how do you think that Labour can change the environmental regulations to allow for cleaner waterways without disproportionately impacting those living in rural areas?

Frod: Again another good question Ken! This is really something that is close to my heart, in the past farmers have quite rightly pointed out that at times they are held to a higher standard than those emitters in urban areas, and that needs to change. So we want to ensure that compliance monitoring of new Freshwater standards to be implemented under a new NPS-FM in the new Resource Management framework. Ideally these standards will ensure that all emitters are no longer able to be indirectly subsidised by not paying for their externalities, in both urban and rural contexts, including district authorities, which has not always been the case, especially in regard to Auckland, and its pollution of the Waitemata.

Ken's reel beings to whirl

Frod: mate looks like you got a fish on.

Ken: Feels like an alright size too.

A large rainbow trout jumps out of the water

Frod: Woah, that's an alright rainbow.

Ken: I think I might take this one for dinner!

Ken manages to land the rainbow, it weighs 5 pounds.

Frod: not bhed, good size

Frod: Thanks for chatting to us today ken, its been nice to get to know you, and for you to show us your spot!

Frod and the staffers brave enough to hike up and stay the night in a DoC hut make their preparations to stay the night

Frod: This road isn't too great is it?

Even in frod's ever trusty ute the potholes are quite large due to the high usage of the gravel road to get up to the Routeburn.

Staffer: I've been up here a number of times and it seems to get this way towards the end of the season, think its because of the amount of usage it gets, and the road being not the greatest quality.

Frod: may be worth chatting to some people about getting it sealed under that new roads and schools fund.

nods in agreement

Everyone arrives at routeburn shelter, everyone is taken aback by how clear the water is at the swing bridge and someone asks about how cool it would be if all rivers could be that clear

Frod: unfortunately its not possible, even if they weren't polluted the amount of sediment in some of those rivers mean that the water is never going to get that colour, its definitely something we can work towards for some rivers though.

Frod and his team spend the next few hours taking a bit of a break from the campaign as they hike up to Routeburn Falls Hut, where the team will stay the night and chat to the people also staying in the hut

Having arrived at the hut, frod starts to cook everyone bacon and eggs, along with the trout that was caught earlier for dinner.

Frod: I really miss just getting out and taking some time to marvel in the land we have around us, today has refreshed my love for the outdoors and I look forward to doing what I can to look after it as best as possible.

Two german tourists who have been travelling the country on WHV (Working Holiday Visas) enter into the dining room, and begin chatting to frod about their best experiences in the country and where they think NZ can improve

Simon and Lisa: We loved Mt Cook and the Routeburn the best so far, there's not really as easy access to areas like this in Germany, and everything is so clean and quiet, because of the pandemic.

Frod: do you think it would be good if we could get more great walks on board?

Simon and Lisa: Yes! we have done 3 (not including the routeburn), the Paparoa, Abel Tasman and Tongariro, a few more would be great, especially maybe in different areas, like I heard the Coromandel was lovely and there is none up there!

Frod: Yeah, I agree I love the Coromandel, I think we'd love to put a new Great Walk up there, we're looking to make it a National Park if we were to be elected.

Simon and Lisa: Woah that will be cool! I hope we are still here when it opens.

frod continues to chat to the hut residents for the night, and begins to learn that the Hut Warden has their birthday coming up, so ensures there's a big celebration for that, the next morning the group hikes out to get back on the campaign trail

Frod: wow what a great time that was, I wish I could spend my whole life out and about like that!