Connected Waters
How Trout Brings Communities Together
Discovering how an introduced species creates unexpected bonds between people and rivers. From shared meals to collective guardianship, this episode explores how caring for trout fosters vibrant communities dedicated to protecting entire freshwater ecosystems.
FILMING COMPLETED
Episode Structure
Reading the river: Trout and the making of kaitiaki
On the rivers of Aotearoa, a fish that doesn't belong here has become woven into the fabric of our communities. This is a story of an unexpected paradox — how learning to love trout turned anglers into guardians who watch over the health of the awa and all who swim beneath its surface.
Episode Summary
The episode follows Jamie — who has never held a fly rod — as he's taught to fish the world-famous Tongariro River by two expert wāhine anglers, Marion and Cherry, who between them have close to sixty years on the water. Working the "breakfast pool," they read the river like poetry, and share a quiet truth: trout can't survive in dirty water, so a river with trout is a healthy river, and the anglers who love them become the people who watch over that health.
Jamie doesn't land a fish himself, but he witnesses Marion bring one in, and the river around them is alive with community — another angler downstream, children floating past on rafts. The story then moves to a young fisherman, Tohu, who fillets and hot-smokes the catch, glazing it with honey and brown sugar before everyone gathers to share the kai. For Tohu, it's about whenua and whānau — trout given to kaumātua, food brought home to his parents, a tradition that brings people together.
The episode turns on a paradox Marion embodies: she doesn't even eat trout, catching and smoking them to give away. This introduced species is complicated — it challenges native fish and reshapes the ecosystem — yet it has created a community of kaitiaki who see rivers as living treasures worth protecting. As Jamie reflects, when you teach someone to love one thing in the river, they'll do anything to protect it — so the best catch of all turns out to be connection: to each other, to the awa, and to the future of clean rivers.
Featuring
Jamie McCaskill - Series Presenter
Cherry Twaddle - Keen angler
Marion Hall - Keen angler
Tohu Hepi - Keen angler and staff, Tongariro National Trout Centre
Contributing experts
Jane Kitson - Researcher, company director (Kitson Consulting Ltd), co-author of relational values research on introduced trout
Calum MacNeil - Freshwater and invasion ecologist
Robin Holmes - Freshwater ecologist
Angus McIntosh - Freshwater ecologist
Bevin Severinsen - Chief Executive Officer, Tongariro National Trout Centre
Geraldine Tooman - Chief Executive Officer, Tongariro National Trout Centre (replaced Bevin)
Sarah Cunnington - Aquarium and Hatchery Manager, Tongariro National Trout Centre
Clint Green - Freshwater educator, Tongariro National Trout Centre
Doug Stevens - Owner, nzfishing.com
Mark Venman - Senior Ranger DOC Fisheries
Cherry Twaddle - Keen angler
Marion Hall - Keen angler
Tohu Hepi - Keen angler and staff, Tongariro National Trout Centre
Courtney Marshall - Senior Administrator & Permissions, Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board (contact for authorized accesses to the river: day 1 = 17 Nov 2025 Red Hut bridge drone+b-roll and Major Jones bridge drone+b-roll, day 2 = 16 December 2025 at breakfast pool, day 3 = 17 December next to Trout Centre for Jamie’s interview along the river)
Delilah Te Aōrere Parore-Southon - Senior Communications Advisor, Tūwharetoa Māori Trust Board
Maggie Tait - Principal Communications Advisor - Kaitohutohu Whakawhiti Kōrero Matua, New Zealand Fish and Game Council (consultation only)
References
Filming locations
Tongariro National Trout Centre (aquariums and spawning stream - authorization to film granted)
Tongariro river (authorization to film granted)