The weather patterns have changed and spring is on us. Now is a good time to be sorting out your fly fishing gear so it’s all ready to go come the opening of the new fishing season in 3 weeks time. Fix the busted bits, clean the dirty, tie or buy those flies you really need to re-stock the fly box and get some casting practice in on the new rod or the old faithful stick. Whatever you need to do if you haven’t done it — do it. Remember to get your New Zealand fishing license sorted!
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Streamers, big fish love them
The West Coast whitebaiting season is now underway and and there will be sea run trout and kawhai to hit in the estuary’s and mouths over the next while, a perfect time to get some of those streamers in action. Word has it the upper Clutha is fishing very well with rainbows being the sport. Time to leave the skiing in Queenstown for a couple of days and head over to South Westland via a session or two on the Clutha. A good time to get some kaimoana!
Make sure to hit my bookings page to secure your New Zealand fly fishing expedition for this coming season.
I have a 15% discount (GST free) on my guided Southland Homstay fly fishing trips during October 2010.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports, Salt Water Fly Fishing, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with brown trout, expeditions, fish, fishing, fly, fly fishing, guided, kawhai, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, nz, Queenstown, rainbow trout, streamers, trout.
By Simon
September 6, 2010
As Louis Pasteur said, luck favors the prepared, so it’s important to make sure that you have the supplies and knowledge necessary to respond to any emergency you might encounter while fly fishing. Taking extra precautions may seem like more trouble than it’s worth, but when you find yourself in an unexpected situation, you’ll be glad you made the effort. The following are some helpful tips and techniques to help get you started on a fly fishing safety routine.
Supplies to Stock
• Whenever you’re out in sunny weather for extended periods of time, it’s important to keep a reasonable supply of water. You might take a small cooler with a few bottles that you can attach to your belt with a carabiner, a large canteen, depending on personal preference, a hydration pack is an excellent option.
• Even if you apply sunscreen before you embark on your fly fishing trip, you should keep a bottle of it handy for re-application to the areas of your skin that receive the most sun exposure. Although many fly fishers are out in the sun consistently, it’s important to stay protected against UV rays and potential skin cancer.
• Keep some insect repellent within reach and use it before you start fly fishing. This will help keep your experience more enjoyable while reducing the risk of disease carried by mosquitoes or other biting bugs. Some repellents can cause plastics to break down, so be sure to check the label for a “fishing-friendly” designation.
• Grab some power bars to stash in your waders so you can stay energized and alert all day.
• Bring along a first-aid kit. It doesn’t have to take up a lot of space, but gauze, bandages, and some type of antiseptic should be included.
• Make sure you have a cell phone on hand. You can turn it off, but in case of emergency, it might be necessary to contact paramedics.
Mental Checklist
• Have you dressed in UPF-rated clothing? An ultraviolet protection factor woven into your shirt can provide a helpful shield against harsh solar rays.
• Are you wearing a wading belt? Remember that if your waders are waist-high or more, a belt can keep them from filling with water and weighing you down if you fall below the surface.
• Did you remember to wear eye protection? Sunglasses can improve your vision and response time while helping to prevent stray hooks or sinkers from blinding you. A hat can also prevent excessive brightness from distorting your vision.
• If fishing with others, have you pinched the barbs on your hooks? When you do this, you make it easier to remove these hooks in case they become accidentally embedded in anyone’s skin.
New Zeland Fly Fishing Expeditions - When casting goes wrong
• If fishing alone, have you informed someone about where you’ll be and when you plan to return?
• If you’re about to go fly fishing in unfamiliar waters, do you have a wading staff? This can help you navigate new underwater territory by providing extra stability to keep you from falling and sliding beneath the surface.
Bio: Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She spends much of her days blogging about Education and CollegeScholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Equipment, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with fish, fishing, fly, fly fishing, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, nz, saftey, trip.
By Simon
September 2, 2010
Well it’s a little over month out from the 1st of Oct opening of the rivers (anything that flows directly from mountains or lakes to the sea) and is then followed a month later on the 1st of Nov by the rivers and streams that flow from the mountains to the lakes. Make sure to check the regulations out. The 2010/2011 licenses will be available online on Tuesday 31st August 2010.
Fly Fishing in the early season can be one of the best times of the season to hit the water. Trout haven’t seen an angler for 5 months and their general spookiness has diminished somewhat. They are hungry and other than the opening couple of days angler numbers are very low through Oct. The weather can be a bit unsettled but we can always find some great opportunities even in the worst conditions spring can throw at us.
Here’s a clip from last season opening.
My place in Lumsden is a great location to base from over a few days to maximize the early season trout fishing opportunities and this year I am offering 15% discount on my 3 night, four day, guided Southland homestay for the month of October.
If you are keen to make the most of this awesome opportunity to have a great early season fly fishing trip hit my bookings page and and fill out the form. Make sure you select the Southland Homestay option and make a comment in the comments box that you would like the 15% discount during Oct for this trip.
Here’s another clip from last season opening.
You may find cheaper options to fly into Invercargill airport rather than Queenstown airport but either is good for me to pick you up from. Within 45 mins (or less) from each airport we can be fishing. Make sure to fly in on the earliest flight possible and leave on the latest flight to maximize your time fishing or better still if your time and budget allows, fly in the day before and leave the day after your trip. I can pick you up at your accommodation.
I will look forward to chatting with you to make your early season fly fishing trip to NZ a fantastic experience!
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports.
Tagged with anglers, fish, fishermen, fishing, fly, fly fishing, guided, Lumsden, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, Queenstown, Southland, streams, trip, trout.
Carl is going to be releasing a new DVD (in Nov) of fly fishing casting technique and this is part of the series – well worth watching! It will certainly up your fly fishing game massively by being able to master these casts and the end result will be more trout to the bank.
Anglers – get stuck into it, now is the time to practice before you come on your fly fishing trip to NZ.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Video, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with anglers, casting, fish, fly casting, fly fishing, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, nz, roll cast, trout.
In my last post I recommended up-skilling your fly casting ability before coming on your fly fishing trip to New Zealand.
Carl McNeil has a great clip below that shows some of these casts that will really up your chances of catching more fish while in NZ (or anywhere).
Carl is also one of the makers of the fly fishing film “Once in a Blue Moon” which is filmed in Fiordland and Southland, New Zealand where I do a great deal of my guiding. This is a great film and one certainly worth purchasing.
Make sure you check out the guided fly fishing trips and expeditions that I offer and be sure to get your time booked by making your inquiry now.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Video, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with casting, casts, expeditions, Fiordland, fish, fishermen, fly casting, fly fishing, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, nz, Southland, trip.
If you haven’t read Preparing for a New Zealand Fly Fishing Expedition Part 1 – do it now. If you have keep reading.
The gear to bring with you should be right at the top of the list now.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions, Carlin Bamboo
If you are into a bit of comfort with a roof overhead, hot running water, a real bed etc during your fly fishing trip follow this link for some good ideas of what to bring, make sure to scroll to the gear lists.
If you are looking at the more adventurous options of camp out style fly fishing or multi day hiking fly fishing try this on for size for some good ideas.
One thing about gear however is that especially when it comes down using the rod I see many an angler that can have a very frustrating time fishing in New Zealand and this usually stems from poor presentation in adverse conditions. We fish into a lot of wind particularly in the South Island. If you want to maximize your chances make sure you get some serious practice in before you come. Learn how to cast accurately into the wind, make sure you have a good variety of different casts up your sleeve. Roll casts, reach casts, the wiggle cast, curve casts, double hauling can all be very handy. These will allow you to maximize your chances and get more NZ trout to the bank. When you are out on the water fishing and particularly in an environment such as New Zealand it is not really the time to be practicing these things. Get out on the grass and do the hard yards before you come fishing in New Zealand (or anywhere for that matter).
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions, preparing for battle
Choosing a guide can also be a very important aspect for many when coming fly fishing in New Zealand. A top notch guide will be able to help you with many aspects of your trip to NZ prior to your arrival into the country. Guides often specialize in different things so be sure that you ask them the right questions to solicit whether or not they will be the most suitable guide for you.
For example I specialize more with multi day fly fishing trips with either homestay or camp out options into the remote back country of New Zealand. I have a sports teaching background as a internationally recognized ski instructor which offers a good transfer of skills when it comes to fly fishing casting tips and instruction but there are other guides who have actual fly fishing teaching certification and really specialize in the teaching arena and there are many other types of guide who offer a variety of different skills in different locations.
Make sure to ask if your prospective guide is a member of the New Zealand Professional Guides Association,the first place to go when choosing a guide in New Zealand.
Check out the guides testimonials page and ask to get in contact with one of the people who have written the testimonials – it shouldn’t be a problem.
You and the guide will be working as a team on the water and good communication right from the outset should be expected and enjoyed.
New zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions, on the job
Check out this post for some handy gear to get for your trip or when you get to NZ, comfort is key.
Make sure to SUBSCRIBE and get the latest posts from www.flyfishingexpeditions.co.nz coming to you.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Equipment, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with expeditions, fish, fly fishing, guide, guided, guides, guiding, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, roll casts, trip.
Skues was a nymph man, then Halford went dry.
When we see the way the press and media go on about events in our lifetime, you have to shake your head. And think fly fishing is the best. Wet or dry. A kind of escapism with the best possible conclusion. A fish. Be it a brown coloured one or a rainbow coloured one or a funny coloured one. They all count be they small or big.
So, it’s refreshing to know that for some of us the only argument going on in life is the nymph and the dry argument. Things could be much worse.
The history of angling has come far. I think that’s why it’s called History.
Skues, whose full name was George Edward MacKenzie Skues, had a mouthful of a name and so stuck with just Skues. But despite the name he managed to write “Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle” in 1885. Whether our language has progressed since then is debatable. He also wrote “Minor tactics of the Chalk Stream” in 1910. More major tactics are required these days. Booking flights to NZ notwithstanding.
Both books make excellent bedtime reading though.
In those days they used the term “angle”. Which was all well-and-good when you had a mobile sundial and a good angle on things. Especially an angle that hooked you a fish for dinner in the days prior to Catch-and-Release.
He wasn’t a bad tier of the fly either.
Interim: A good song to have running through your head when the fish are Spooky or Spooked though is this. And if the music doesn’t tickle your fancy the images are a pretty good representation of the best films ever.
_________________________________________________________
Rod technology has come a long way, too. From silly underwear with spears, to greenheart rods, to hexagonal bamboo, then impregnated hexagonal bamboo, to high-tech graphite, all in the space of a few decades or two on our human timescale. I’m just hoping that it will never come to wearing Kevlar vests and using bazookas.
Yet we find ourselves in not a dissimilar situation to our casting brothers from times gone by. And we still catch fish like they did. The bloke with the fish-stick is entirely responsible though, and what he can hook he can land under the right circumstances. Even with a horrible Nor’ Wester.
And if all else fails, there’s always the trout-tickling option, although I’ve never seen it done myself. My last experiment with the TT maneuver was most amusing, but sadly just had me lying in a prone horizontal position tickling algae-covered rocks all afternoon.
_________________________________
Now, obviously, I’m not fortunate enough to have lived through the generations of those that have been amongst us fisher-people who love to simply be by a river with a rod and await a hatch.
So, I’ll continue with the not-so-latter-day-take on recent fishing events.
To the Land of the New Zealand Land. The Land of the Beautiful Scenery, with the fish that care not a dot about Skues’ or Halford’s issues about dry vs wet.
At the end of the day, trout, whatever their colour, are much like ourselves:
They need to eat.
As humanoids we have decided to put this into a 3-part daily thing. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.
Trout however are far cleverer than us and just eat all day. They don’t pay for delivery and don’t worry if the food hasn’t arrived in 30 minutes as one of their brothers or sisters downstream will happily pick up what’s missed, clung to a small rolling stone or just floating by on the surface.
I’m not a statistician, but I reckon the chances of one of those bugs whizzing past with a hook attached to some furry or feathery size 20 and up hook is pretty remote. Yet we land the odd one sometimes.
Fishing Poem
The Nymph v The Dry
Nymphs run deep
I’t's their very nature
Dry flies float high
It’s there nature, too
But both get gobbled from under or above
By fishes that want a meal
And hence the Human invention of the hook
Funniest River Names
Nile. Should have been called Miles and Miles and Miles River. ‘Cos it is.
Wangapeka. Beautiful river to fish on even if you catch no fish. You can always have a giggle about Woodpeckers and Rivers.
Ribble (Lancashire, UK). Never ripples. Always in flood.
Upukerora. When I first heard the name I was baffled by the sound. Later on though I realised it meant, “If you pack her, you gotta wear her”.
And I’m lucky enough to have a wife who doesn’t mind a day out fishing.
Tight Lines to anyone who reads this. And slack lines to those that don’t.
HB
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Edward_MacKenzie_Skues
http://www.fishandfly.co.uk/bookrevs/halford.html
http://www.flyfishinghistory.com/dryfly.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_tying
http://www.midcurrent.com/articles/history/law_halfordandskues_1.aspx
http://www.anglingclassics.co.uk/Greenheart_Irish_Custom_Fly_Rods.html
Posted in Fly Fishing.
Tagged with anglers, bamboo fly rods, brown trout, dry fly, fish, fishermen, fly fishing, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, nymph, nz, rivers, rods, trout.
5 Great iPhone Apps for Fishermen
No matter where your interests lie, there are iPhone apps available that are perfectly suited to you. The modern angler is a case in point. So you have an iPhone and you love to fish? Then try these five great iPhone apps for fishermen on for size, and we are sure you will find at least one that you can no longer do without.
5. Angler Knots
Angler Knots and Fishing Knots are similar iPhone apps that prove very useful for new or less experienced anglers who want give it a go on their own. Both apps provide in-depth, step-by-step, easy-to-follow instructions for tying all of the most useful and popular fishing knots. The graphics are detailed, clear, and precise to the point of being just as good as having dad or granddad there instructing you. An angler will eventually outgrow this app, but the investment is only several dollars.
4. Flick Fishing HD
Flick Fishing will not exactly help your fishing game, but it will give you something to do while stuck on the train or waiting in the doctor’s office. Flick Fishing is inexpensive, looks great, and packs in a lot of realism. It is certainly not a full-fledged simulation, but it will leverage your knowledge enough to entertain you during downtime.
3. Google Earth
While not an angler’s iPhone app per se, the mobile version of Google Earth is an invaluable tool for fishermen and any other outdoorsmen. It is particularly useful when tackling an unfamiliar area, where the sportsman can use Google Earth to get a bird’s eye view area. For anglers, this is a great way to get that mental image of a delta, lake, or river. Hunters can use it to get their bearings as well.
2. Gone Fishing
Gone Fishing is an all-in-one journal for anglers. It allows the fisherman to keep notes about their catches and experiences, and it even makes it easy to record data such as temperature, wind, and time of day. Best of all, using Gone Fishing’s built-in GPS capabilities, the fisherman can pin the data to its real world location, which is priceless information the next time you return to an area after a year or more away.
1. Fishing Calendar
Fishing Calendar is an iPhone app from SIS software based on a solar-lunar calendar. For only several dollars, this gives you a snapshot view of how plentiful the fish will be in a given area at a specified period. This information is great when planning those fishing tips ahead of time. As an added bonus, it packs in some of the journal functionality found in Gone Fishing, but if you like those features, you might want both.
We had to make some difficult choices in order to whittle this list down to just five entries. There are plenty of great options out there, so make sure to poke around a little. Honorable mention includes Angler Social and TideGraph.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Equipment, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with apps, fish, fishing, fly fishing, iPhone.
If you are coming from far shores to fly fish in New Zealand for that first trip that you have been thinking about making for years a bit of advance preparation can make a big difference to your fly fishing vacation.
There are many things to think about when planning your trip and the obvious starting point is figuring out your budget and length of time you can be here to fly fish. One of the important factors in this is understanding that New Zealand is made up of 2 different islands that both offer very good fly fishing yet are extremely different in nature.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ satellite image
In general terms the North Island is primarily a rainbow trout fishery and has by far the best saltwater fly fishing where the South Island is primarily a brown trout fishery with options to chase Chinnook salmon although both islands do have both species of trout. Again staying quite general the North Island has higher fish numbers than the South Island but it also has a higher human population. Approximately 3/4 of the population of New Zealand live in the North Island. New Zealand is quite a small country about the same size of California with about 4 million people in it.
If you have ample time (lets say 2 to 4 weeks) you may be able to split the time half and half fishing both islands but if your time is more limited (10 days or less) you will be better suited to spending all your time fishing in one island – maybe save the other island for your next trip because once you have been here you will want to come back!
Each fishing region (state) of New Zealand offers quite different experiences and each has many different sorts of water ways ranging from the true back country experience to fishing estuary’s for sea runners with everything in between.
New Zealand is not a expensive country to fly fish in but nor is it cheap. Travel to New Zealand is the first thing you want to look at and a good site to check out is One Travel where you can check out your different options on how to get here.
A NZ season fishing license is around NZD 105.00 and allows you to fish everywhere with the exception of the Taupo fishery where a specific additional license is required.
Once here you will require a vehicle to get around in the fishing areas in. Renting a vehicle is probably the best way forward and a great starting place to look at especially if you are fishing in the South Island is Overland 4WD Rentals. Not all rentals are equal with many rental companies not allowing you to take their vehicles over certain roads in NZ – you will lose your insurance cover if you do! Overland have a great variety of fishing vehicles that do not have rules of where you can and can not go (within reason of course) and can also supply camping equipment. Our roads are in good nick but it usually takes longer to get somewhere than you may think – bear this in mind with your time constraints.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - 4wd drives are the way forward
New Zealand has many accommodation options to take care of all fishing budgets. Using backpacking type hostels and also our many designated camping areas around New Zealand can keep the price down considerably. Of course there is everything else from farm stays, bed and breakfasts, self contained units motels, hotels and of course the luxury lodges.
This article is a part one of a series so be sure to subscribe so you can get the next ones that come out.
If you want help with organizing the New Zealand Fly fishing trip of a lifetime please get in touch with me.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with expeditions, fish, fishing, fly fishing, new zealand, north island, nz, south island, trip, trout.
The Newfie vs. the Warden
A Newfie was stopped by a game warden recently with two ice chestsfull of fish. He was leavin’ a cove well-known for its fishing.
The game warden asked the man, ‘Do you have a license to catch those fish? ”Naw, sir’, replied the Newfie. ‘I ain’t got none of dem derelicenses. I don’t need one. You must understand, by, dese here ismy pet fish.
”Pet fish?” Yeah. Dat’s de trut’ bye. Every night, I take dese fish down to decove and let ‘em swim ’round for awhile. Den, when I whistles, deyjump right back into dese here ice chests and I takes ‘em home.
”That’s a bunch of hooey! Fish can’t do that. ‘The Newfie looked at the warden for a moment and then said, ‘It’s de trut Mr. Government Man. I’ll show ya. It really works. ”O.K.’, said the warden. ‘I’ve got to see this!’
The Newfie stood on a rock and poured the fish into the cove. Then he stood and looked out to sea. After several minutes, the warden says, ‘Well?’ Well, what?’, says the Newf. The warden says, ‘When are you going to call them back?’ ‘Call who back?” ‘The FISH’, replied the warden! ‘What fish?’ , replied the Newfie.
Moral of the story: We may not be as smart assome city slickers on De mainland but by the lardtundering jaysus we ain’t asdumb as some Government employees.
Posted in Fly Fishing.
Tagged with fish, fishing.
Recently I have been exploring some different ways to catch New Zealand trout. I had some saltwater flies sitting around that I use for offerings to kawhai and decided on a recent foray to a couple of local rivers to try using them.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Saltwater Fly
I was using a switch rod with a skagit head with about 11ft of fast sinking leader and then my very bright green and white kawhai fly. It wasn’t long until I had a hit which gave me some hope. A short while later I felt a good solid tug and I tugged back – yehaa fish on. A few more fish have succumbed to this set up so I figure yes you can catch New Zealand trout on saltwater flies.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Brown trout caught on saltwater fly
At the end of the day if you put an offering in front of a hungry trout that is fished appropriately chances are it will have a crack at eating it. There are a few variables with water colour, light conditions, moon phase etc but really if the trout is eating and you present to it correctly yehaa fish on!
What do you think? Leave a comment.
If you like this article and want to read more be sure to subscribe.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Salt Water Fly Fishing, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with brown trout, fish, kawhai, new zealand, Queenstown, saltwater flies, trout.
Over the last week or so I have been putting in some practice on a couple of our bigger local waters that are still open for fishing in the lower South Island of New Zealand with a 11′ 8 wt Airflo Switch rod and a skagit head.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Big Water
Now this is new to me as I have been a single hander rod man for all my fly fishing and I have a fair bit of learning to do. I am starting to get the hang of it and better still have hooked and landed some fish with this system. It really just goes to show there are always things you can learn in the world of fly fishing. Knowing how to use different gear in the right situation can open up a lot of water and fly fishing opportunities. Being prepared to take the plunge and look like a bit of a knob as you learn should not deter anyone as the results will pay dividends – more fishing and more catching of fish.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Big Water
I am looking forward to putting this gear to the test in the summer in certain waters down my way where the water is big, back casts are limited and large NZ trout reside. Now is a good time for me to get the hard yards in and also have a bit of fun along the way.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Big Water
Three things I have done that have helped me with this gear is spend a bit of time time on You Tube watching videos of masters of the skagit and spey casting, practicing on the grass and getting a colleague of mine who is a casting instructor to give me a bit of feed back on my casting while we have been fishing together. Now I know not all of you have friends who are casting instructors but they are very valuable and I would thoroughly recommend spending a small amount of money and time to do a session with one. It may not be on spey/skagit casting but on other elements of casting that you will be able to practice and the next time you hit the water you won’t be practicing you will be fishing with those finely tuned skills you have developed. End result is more time fishing effectively which usually translates to more hooks ups.
Posted in Fly Fishing.
Tagged with rods.
Monday the 31st of May was the last day of the season for being able to fish the mountain rivers and streams that flow into the the lakes and they now stay closed until 1st November.
Some mates and I decided instead of chasing trout we would head down to the South Coast and doing some codding in the roughest and most dangerous strait in the world – Foveaux Strait to stock up the freezers. Lumpy South Easterly’s didn’t deter us from heading out in my friends very well equipped boat and we got a pretty good haul of cod for our efforts. We will be back periodically over the winter when the weather is good enough to replace the freezer stocks.
While the rivers are closed over the next 5 months until the re-opening of the lowland rivers and streams on the 1st of October there still are opportunities to get some good fishing for those who are keen to brave winter conditions near Queenstown. Where rivers meet the lakes are hot spots especially just during and after a rain, the big rivers and especially the Clutha which remain open over the winter can have some great fly fishing and there are options on the lakes themselves. If you are visiting over the winter and want to do some fishing, drop me a line and I will head you in the right direction and/or be able to hook you up with the appropriate guide or charter service to maximize your time if you require it. I am busy with my winter work in the mountains over the next 4 months or so and you can follow what I am up to by reading my ski blog. As time permits I will be updating this blog with bits and pieces of useful info to help you with the upcoming season starting in Oct.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports.
Tagged with new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, Queenstown, river, rivers, south island, streams, trout.
Fly Fishing can certainly be a sport (or art) that requires a fair bit of decent equipment. As a New Zealand fly fishing guide I get to use and test many bits of kit, some of which cuts the mustard and some that doesn’t. Over time you refine what you use, when you use it and where you use it. I can tell you if it lasts a season with me and comes out unscathed it’s a bloody good bit of kit!
When you do a hundred plus days guiding fly fishers in New Zealand, a great deal of time is spent walking over bouldery terrain, fighting with horrendously spiky native plants, dealing with amazing extremes of weather and climate all the while trying to find fish for your client to hook into, not to mention the time spent in quite precarious positions with your hands and knees bearing the brunt of the load – torn knees and ripped hands can be the norm. Guiding fly fishing in the back country of NZ is not for pussies!
A few bits of clothing that work very well for me and have been well tested are Salomon hiking boots, Cactus climbing pants and hiking packs, Ice breaker thermals, Stony Creek hunting jacket, Black Diamond hiking pole, William Joseph Exodus vest/pack system, Black Wolf Bivvy Tents.
The reason for this is as follows:
Salomon Hiking Boots – Very comfortable, super light and don’t need to broken in. Can cover any ground day in day out no problem and great used in conjunction with hiking pole. Beat any wading boots I have tried so far.
Black Diamond Hiking Poles – lighter than a wading stick (tip – take off the basket and take one only), great telescoping system, awesome for getting up or down banks and wading across rivers full of slippery stones, you can lend it to a client (friend) for the same, makes for a great pointing device (see the fish), handing out beatings when it all goes pear shaped (just kidding) and as a excellent splint should the proverbial hit the fan.
Cactus Climbing Pants - semi water proof, prickle proof for forays into that nasty Matagouri or Gorse patch, very hard wearing, easy cleaning and bloody comfortable.
Ice Breaker Thermals – very comfortable, doesn’t get really smelly for over a week, super warm (I go for the 260 grain) hard wearing especially if you use in conjunction with Cactus pants and feels great against the skin.
Stony Creek Hunting Jacket – really water proof, doesn’t rustle (great for sneaking up on 10lbs+ trout), camouflaged so even if they do hear you they wont see you, heaps of good pockets, very hard wearing and fits like a glove.
Cactus hiking packs - well thought out packs for multi day missions, hard wearing, super comfy, makes light work of big trips in tough NZ terrain.
William Joesph Exodus pack – great one day mission vest pack system, well thought out design, hard wearing, can remove vest from pack easily and use pack or vest separately, hydration pocket, blends in well with other a fore mentioned garments and is generally something that I hate going without.
Black Wolf Bivvy Tents – spacious for a bivvy, keeps bag off you and minimizes condensation, light weight, very water proof, easy to set up (even I can do it with out referring to the destructions).
Everybody who spends serious time in the outdoors has their way of doing it but that is some of the kit I really couldn’t do with out. If you are looking back at your season of fishing and thinking what could I do to have more enjoyment in my pursuit of big elusive NZ trout in hard core terrain, have a really good look at this stuff. Sometimes a pair of stubbies worn over some polyprops and a really old shower proof (if you are lucky) jacket, a pair of boots that really have seen better days while a carrying a serious load in an f*#king poorly fitted pack really does not make life much fun.
TTWWADI – That’s the way we’ve always done it. Bollocks – there are countless ways to improve your fishing experiences . By no means just gearing up in certain areas is the be all and end all but it is worth consideration.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with Black Diamond, Black Wolf, Cactus, fish, fly fishing, guide, guiding, Ice breaker, new zealand, nz, Queenstown, Salomon, Stoney Creek, trout, William Joesph.
Taking your pack off, removing wet boots from tired feet at the end of a long days fly fishing in a remote New Zealand back country river valley then sitting around the hut fire as dinner is simmering away while you chat about the fabulous highlights of a days fishing is an awesome and inspiring thing, especially when you know that you have another day of of amazing fishing ahead of you.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Browns, browns and more browns
Our recent guided expedition saw us hooking into trout after trout, both rainbows and browns. Many of the brown trout were well into spawning mode and at times were hard to hook as they were interested in other things but using a streamer fished up stream and ripped back past them got some good responses as well as my special pattern X. Many of these fish were holding in very small, shallow areas of the river and you could find groups of 10 fish together looking at pairing up.
The rainbow trout were generally holding in deep long rocky runs and employing Czech nymphing tactics worked well – get deep fast and stay in contact – wham, bam, thank you mam.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions great late season back country rainbow
It just goes to show that May is an awesome time to fly fish near Queenstown, New Zealand. Most NZ anglers have switched to other recreational pursuits and the foreign anglers just really are not here and there is tons of very good fly fishing to be had if you are prepared to do the yards to get to these incredible back country waters. Yes, the days are shorter and colder, dry fly isn’t so much a part of the game but getting to fish as my last client said for trout that average over 22 inches and many going into the 24 – 26 inch range (or as we kiwis like to measure our trout not in length but pounds 4 – 8 lbs) and with shots at fish well into double digits (lbs) it blows all other trout fisheries in the world out of the water. Add to that, over the two days he fished with me he landed about 20 fish, lost another 10 (including one trophy) and blew good chances on another 20 or so.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions just an average rainbow trout!
Tight Lines!
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with anglers, brown trout, expeditions, fish, fishermen, fly fishing, guide, new zealand fly fishing, nymphing, nz, Queenstown, rainbow trout, streamers, trip, trout.
Well we missed out on the snapper running up the Kapiti Coast but we did get into some Kawhai both on the fly and surf casting which was a bundle of fun.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Surf casting on the Kapiti Coa
We only picked up some small kawhai on the fly but even those were great fun on the light fly gear – they sure go like the clappers.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Surf casting on the Kapiti Coast
With long casting rigs even young fellas can have a great time surf casting to Kawhai. It’s a technique that bundles everything up together so you don’t have bait and weights flying around separately and lets you get better distance.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Surf casting on the Kapiti Coast
Our best luck came with the change of light (dusk) when all of a sudden whack, whack, whack the kawhai were everwhere.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Surf casting on the Kapiti Coast
We are now going to head back down into the South Island and work our way back to Queenstown fishing the coast as we go.
When I get back to Queenstown I am off on a guided overnight safari fly fishing trip chasing trout and then another couple of single day trips before the season ends.
My friend Rene from Manic Tackle Project has released his new (and very good) online magazine Fly Fishers Inc check it out!
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports.
Tagged with Kapiti Coast, kawhai, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, nz, Queenstown, south island, trout.
Rain, rain and more rain. We have seen some of the biggest rain events in 10 years or more and many rivers in the Southland region blew out to epic proportions. Lake Wakatipu is flooding into Queenstown although thank goodness because of the lack of snow in the mountains the damage should not be to bad.
I snuck in a quick overnight guided helicopter fly fishing trip from Queenstown into a back country river as this storm system started.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions rain on the way
Although it rained both days we had some amazing fishing with over 20 trout to the bank and about the same number busted off.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions don't let the weather deter you
Maybe the trout were keen on feeding up hard to weather through the big storm and flood waters!
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Happy days
Today is the last day of fly fishing in the lowland streams as they are closed for spawning until October 1st. You would probably have better luck fishing in the paddocks at present! The high country streams stay open until the last day of May so this are some excellent opportunities to get in to some fish before the season is fully closed.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions first NZ trout
My attention is headed towards the opening of Duck Shooting 2moro and a few more days fishing before the end of the season.
I’m off to the North Island for a couple of weeks and will no doubt find something somewhere to catch along the way.
Tight lines and good shooting!
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports.
Tagged with fish, fly fishing, guided, heli fishing, helicopter, new zealand fly fishing, Queenstown, queenstown heli fishing, Southland, streams, trout.
Autumn can be a great time to fish for trout near Queenstown New Zealand for many reasons and one of them can be the last of the cicadas left in the back country. They have darkened right off to almost black and on a nice hot afternoon if you hear the odd one still chirping away it can be a great option to run past a trout as they are still zoned into that as a food source and being such a big morsel of food a trout may find it hard to resist.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions late season Rainbow trout
Fishing a small beaded streamer as a nymph can also induce strikes from fish that are not responsive to anything else. Try not using a indicator and watch the fish, strike went it finishes the sideways movement or if you feel a knock or tug, tug back.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Brown Trout Underwater
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with cicadas, fish, fly fishing, new zealand, Queenstown, streamers, streams, trout.
Some anglers want to catch lots of fish, others want to catch big fish and others just want to be in remote locations that rarely see anglers and have an opportunity to cast to one fish that hasn’t seen an fisherman all season and there are quite a few other scenarios too.
My last client, a regular who fishes with me once a season for a for a 5 day period falls into the category of the remote location angler and who has most if not all the skills required to catch some bloody good trout.
NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Brown trout
Over the trip JC had quite a few chances on some big (10lbs +) trout and unfortunately each time we hooked in we got absolutely smoked. The biggest fish we got a hook in would have been around 15lbs, maybe more and the battle only lasted about 1 minute before the leviathan blew us to bits – just having the chance to get a crack at a trout like this is extraordinary yet alone actually hooking it – after that well it all has to be a combination of some serious luck and skill to beach such big trout.
NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Nice brown trout
Sometimes getting to remote locations involves some serious hiking and some locations you just can not hike into at all – an airborne chariot is required!
NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Extremely Remote
A remote location somewhere deep in Western Fiordland where no anglers had been that season (we think) we found some trout but the interesting thing is in these super remote places the trout can be far more spooky than in places that see regular pressure. All of a sudden having something in a trouts presence that has not been there before seems to up the anti hugely on stealth and perfect presentation.
NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Remote location brown trout
The last morning of JC’s stay on the way back from the middle of nowhere there was just enough time before the flight out of Queenstown New Zealand to have a last quick nudge at a fish. A few casts, a quick change to add some more weight and a lovely last minute brown to the bank.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Sweet brown trout
See you next season JC – some more remote locations and some big trout await you!
Posted in Fly Fishing.
Tagged with anglers, brown trout, Fiordland, fishermen, fly fishing, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, Queenstown, remote, rivers, trout.
My last guiding trip went well hiking into a remote valley south of Queenstown New Zealand for 3 days fly fishing and 2 nights camp out using cocoon bivvy’s.
NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Cocoon Bivvy's
The weather was about as good as it gets although bloody cold at night with frost developing on the bivvy’s by 19:30 which is just on dark at present. The fishing was pretty damn good too with plenty of both rainbow trout and brown trout to the bank, a few spooked and some that just spanked us – no slowing them down once hooked and firing under rocks in this majestic little mountain stream.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Mountain Brown trout
Carrying a heavy pack for a mission like this into a boulder strewn back country stream and catching fish with it on is no easy task and certainly by the end of the trip we were both a little footsore and tired but very happy.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Hardcore fly fishing
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - woo hoo!
I even had the chance to cast for a fish or two and enjoyed the success of a well presented special pattern x – the Wilkie Wonder.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - chunky mountain brown trout
These sort of trips hiking into the back country and doing the hard yards to fly fish for trout are not for everyone but those that are willing to carry a heavy pack and sleep out certainly get to enjoy the spoils of fly fishing for trout that often have seen no pressure (or at least not much) and puts you into places that helicopters can’t legally land and are simply superb for the peace and solitude they provide in New Zealand’s stunning wilderness landscapes.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Wilderness rainbow trout
I’m at home for a few days now, enjoying family life before my next guided trip starts next week, a mixture of the Southland Homestay fly fishing trip and Safari trip and we might throw a heli fish in for good measure depending on how the weather pans out.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports.
Tagged with brown trout, expeditions, fish, fishermen, fly fishing, guided, heli fishing, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, queenstown heli fishing, rainbow trout, south island, streams, trip, trout.
Wow – the finish of daylight seems to make such a difference down here to the light. It seems so much softer during the day.
The last week saw a very wet storm front stall over the Fiordland and South Westland which dropped around 400 – 500ml of rain. This stuffed my plans to helicopter into a remote west coast river to do an overnight guided expedition with a client so when wisely changed plans and headed east away from the rain and had some good fishing in quite low water conditions and still got trout to lift and take cicadas and blowflies.
Another big rain came thru and hit Southland and many of the rivers that way saw the biggest floods of the season with the Oreti going to near 500 cumecs. It’s dropping and clearing now but in some of the mid sections has radically changed the lay of the river as much river bed has moved. It will certainly be a matter of finding old channels with good rocky structure and there you will find the fish.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - an ugly snout on a trout
I had a day in the backcountry yesterday and although the Southerly wind was cold the sun was out and the cicadas were singing happily and we got stuck into some nice fishing in an extremely beautiful little mountain stream with some good success.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - wee rainbow
This afternoon I pick up a client and we are heading out for another mission into the wilds with one night in a remote hut and then one night in the bivvy cocoons further up the system before we finish back in Queenstown late Friday night. Hopefully we will track down some big trout that were eating mice early in the season and are super chunky and haven’t seen a fisherman in a while. The weather is looking conducive so it should be a great trip regardless.
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports.
Tagged with cicadas, expeditions, Fiordland, guided, helicopter, new zealand, new zealand fly fishing, Queenstown, trout.
The weather has been pretty rough over the last couple of weeks near Queenstown NZ with many storms fronts coming thru delivering plenty of wind, rain and snow. However the last few days have been pretty nice and brought plenty of welcome relief for fly fisherman to hit the water. Good thing is as we are near the end of season the waters are not seeing so much pressure. In fact there have been plenty of times I have not seen a vehicle at many of the popular access points and have been able to stand almost square to many a fish with out spooking them while they continue feeding oblivious to the fact they are about to get a rude awakening.
Targeting rocky riffles and runs with nymphs have been the name of our game and this has been producing great results with plenty of trout moving into these areas to feed like this 9.5lb beauty
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Big Buttery NZ Brown Trout
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports.
Tagged with brown trout, fishermen, fly, new zealand fly fishing, Queenstown, trout.
Cicadas are still on the trout menu in the high country on a hot afternoon and can be quite a joyful experience for the fly fisherman but as Autumn is now sliding in and the days are getting shorter and temps are cooling down a bit the ciacada’s will not be on the menu for much longer but the fish are becoming more active and feeding on mayfly nymphs. We have been targeting rocky riffles in some of the rivers and getting some great success with the nymph (no indicator when possible) and also in the afternoons using a Cicada and sometimes a dropper off it.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Colours of Brown trout
My special pattern X has also continued to solicit responses from difficult fish where all else has failed.
It’s certainly getting closer now to when the mad mayfly hatches start that we all look forward to near the end of the season down here in the lower South Island streams and rivers. Remember all the lowland waters close the last day of April so make the most of it between now and then and the back country waters close on the last day of May.
Posted in Fly Fishing.
Tagged with cicadas, fish, fishermen, fly fishing, mayfly, new zealand fly fishing, nz, south island, streams.
Well the weather has been a bit unseasonable over the last week in the Queenstown region with some serious storms rolling in from the Southern ocean and bringing high winds, hail, snow and sunny breaks in between. Certainly made fly fishing a little harder but for those who persist with the right attitude comes success.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions 8.5lbs of brown trout
The interesting thing of note over the last few weeks has been the number of trout we have raised using cicada patterns. Getting the right presentation has lifted the fish to open it’s mouth and chomp the cicada. Many times however after the success of getting the right cast and presentation has resulted in no hook up due to the rod holder being to quick on the strike. It’s a hard thing to get right when you are not used to slow takes of big New Zealand trout and the urge to set the hook too early is strong in many anglers. Remember an appropriate pause is required to allow the fish to close its mouth before you set the hook. There are a few factors that influence when to set the hook.
Size of fish
Speed of water
Speed of take
Upstream or downstream take
My general rule of thumb is to say “God save the Queen” or “God save Dick Chaney” (he really needs it)! This gets altered slightly depending on the variables above to be either slightly faster or slower (slower usually being the case).
Now the above may not work for you – you need to find something that does work for you to create the appropriate pause before setting. It needs to be something that works for you and your personality.
I have had clients say various things such as “not now but now”, “ don’t set the hook”, ” set the hook now”, “what a hog and set”, ” got you you bastard”, “look at the hooters on that”, and my all time favourite ” it’s as big as a thigh wader”!
Ok, you get the point now go catch some big New Zealand trout on the dry fly.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - bent rod on a hog
Posted in Fly Fishing, Fly Fishing Reports, Tips and Tricks.
Tagged with brown trout, cicadas, dry fly, fish, fishermen, fishing, fly fishing, new zealand fly fishing, nz, Queenstown, rivers, south island, trout.
Simon,
Sorry I haven’t got back to you since I was over in December. Just a follow up to thank you for the two great guided days we had. It was a highlight of my New Zealand trip. Also give a big thanks to your dad for coming over to the motel in Lumsden in the pouring rain to pass your message onto me about the river conditions the next day.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Happy Client and Big Rainbow trout
I’ll give you a report on what happened to next day. Well it poured all night and I headed up to the XXXX lakes. I did not quite make it, but stopped on the XXXX river downstream from the lakes. The sun had come out with no wind and the river was clear and running really hard. As you know the river is full and fast. I fished upstream for quite a while struggling to find any fish holding water. I was going to turn around when I spotted a suspect shape in the eye of a pool. I had covered the area blind fishing but it make a huge difference to be able to target you cast to a specific shape. Second cast a lively 4.5 lbs rainbow trout took off downstream with me stumbling along behind. After landing the fish I remember you telling me that rainbows will often be in pairs. Sure enough another fish soon followed. This was a better fish and looked real deep. A few spectacular leaps and the hook pulled.
With a new zip in my step I headed off upstream again I went quite a way until I came to a large pool. To fish it I had to cross the wide tail. A small stream flowed strongly into eye of the pool. The stream emerged from dense native forest and fed straight into the top of the pool. The true left bank was covered in thick native vegitation. I spotted one fish on the sandy slow water below the eye which I caught fist cast. I then worked my way up the pool with a two nymph rig and indicator. There was a deep slot just down from where the creek joined. The indicator was ripped away as soon as it passed. Expecting the river bed, I struck. It felt like a bolder until a solid series of head shakes told otherwise. A few stressfull minutes passed and an very fat rainbow trout rolled into my net. It was about 6lb and in great condition. It had that red arse that mice feeders have. Second cast in the same spot produced another bigger fish and again after that. I had stumbled upon the holly grail of big rainbow trout hole. I caught and released 6 or 7 in a row from 5lbs up to a rotund 8.5lbs. I left with I’m sure more fish to be caught and headed home very satisfied. It shows that if you keep on trying you never know what might happen.
Also on another note I caught a 8.5lb brown trout on the XXXX a few days later. After trying all my normal flys for no reaction at all I remembered the big XXXX fly that I tried on the XXXX. Sure enough first cast the fish bolted upstream to engulf the fly. Unfortunately I lost the only copy of the fly a few minutes later.
Anyhow I hope you have a great year and hopefully I will see you again next year.
Pat
Posted in Fly Fishing.
Tagged with brown trout, fish, fishing, fly fishing, guided, new zealand, nymph, rainbow trout, river, trout.
