The month of Feb has been a little better weather wise with at least one week that was stable and hot with heaps of terrestrial action and the rest of the time so far has be a bit variable with a disturbed SW system. Even so the trout have been fairly willing to hit a cicada or other big terrestrial dry fly so the fishing has been pretty exciting.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions
One of my regular clients maximised the really nice week of weather and we got on to some great water and some super fish. One particular fish did not want a bar of coming to the surface and continued to feed very deep. I selected one of Simon Uglies (a great mate a excellent fly tier and angler) – a pink and green double tungsten bomb and even though it’s super heavy and pretty streamlined the trout still had to lift about half way up the water column to chomp it. It was a no indicator, me calling the strike with the angler fishing a tight line so as to be super quick and bingo we are into what we quickly realized was a double figure “HOG”. After about 10mins of a very doggard battle my client landed a 11.25 lb big bad brown trout. This blew his personal best of 7lbs from the previous day out the door and needless to say made him extremely happy.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions
Being the absolute gentleman angler after this fantastic fish was brought to the net I was offered a chance to have a fish and managed to get a couple as well but not so big of course. Just being able to have a cast in such a great environment makes me happy.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions
We have been eating pretty well while out on Safari as my last few clients have found out. It’s pretty wild to be able to do a roast in a back country hut accompanied my some vino of course – sorry about the timing of the shot HB.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions
Getting the timing right with the dry fly set on these big back country beauts is super important and as you can see we managed to get it right on more than one occasion – although a few trout are wondering what on earth was that thing they chomped that suddenly flew right out of the gaping open mouth. Having the patience to wait until the mouth has closed can be quite hard!
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions
I can’t tell you how much I appreciated everything you did to make my fishing trip unforgettable. That trophy brown was totally unbelievable! Frankly, I’m surprised we were able to land him. That was one of the longest fights I’ve ever had with a fish. Fighting that trout and the river current was a whole new experience for me. Your advice and help were invaluable. I will definitely call you the next time I get to New Zealand. And I really enjoyed your website article and photo. Thanks again for putting me in position to catch the fish of a lifetime. And it was almost a few fish of a lifetime. All in all…brilliant!!!
