NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand » Fly Fishing Video

Roll Casting to catch more New Zealand trout

Simon — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:22:47 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

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Fly Fishing Casts that catch New Zealand Trout

Simon — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:16:08 +0000

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).

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

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Fly fishing near Queenstown New Zealand producing some good trout.

Simon — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:50:19 +0000

Good trout are being caught near Queenstown New Zealand and the Cicada imitations and other large terrestrials are working well in the rivers. In the lowland streams willow grubs are a main food source for many trout at the moment but we have also been picking up some nice trout feeding in the runs and riffles on emerger patterns.

Fly Fishing Expeditions - Great Condition Mid season Rainbow trout

Well done HB on recent your PB.

Tip of the week – get cracking early to the water you want, the early bird gets the worms as such. If some one else is there already have a chat to them, stick to the arrangement you make. If you don’t know what the etiquette is on the rivers ask someone and what ever you do don’t jump other anglers – it’s a recipe for disaster for both parties.

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Fly Fishing Remote New Zealand Streams

Simon — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:38:44 +0000

Fly fishing New Zealand’s remote trout streams can be a rewarding experience and not just for the fishing alone. The magic of getting into these remote places and the solitude they offer is truly awesome – at least when the weather is good.

I recently took a trip into one of these places – a long, rough 4WD and then a considerable walk gave us the access. The weather was perfect blue skies and hot temperatures. Our initial fly selection was a black blow fly and proved very successful in fooling the trout. Late morning gave us the sound of Cicada’s and so we switched and continued with our success.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Green Cicada

Due to the nature of this small stream of the 12 trout hooked we only managed to get 5 to the bank, all the rest were long line release – pretty happy with that.

I had the pleasure of using a new gadget on this trip. Fly fisherman fall into two categories, the gadget freak and the guy’s that have jack shit but still catch all the trout. This gadget is not for catching trout but for making life easier at the beginning or end of the day or whenever you are back at your vehicle. The C&F Design Magnetic Rod Holder is great, set your rod up and clip it into the rod holder (I place mine on the front of my truck so I don’t forget the rods are there and drive away dragging them down the road) and then rig whatever you need to start your day with no worries of been blown over, stood on, trapped in a door or the myriad of other ways you can damage a fly fishing rod around a vehicle and trust me I know many of them! It certainly makes life easier.

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Weather patterns have changed and spring rains have arrived

Simon — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:29:14 +0000

The last week in Southern New Zealand has seen quite a change in the rivers with the arrival of some wet storms instead of the dry windy ones we have seen over the last 2 months. The rivers have pretty much all come back up to much more normal spring size with the additional flows of water coming from the mountains. The fist series of storms were warm to high elevations and created some good size spates. The next lot of storms to come through were colder at elevation – in fact it snowed up high and the spates were not so big but keep the river volume high.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNBHY3zgF5k]

Many of the rivers have felt the impact with discoloration especially lower on the systems. The upper parts of most system have remained sight fishable but it has been much harder work finding the trout due to the extra volume of water. Generally the trout have been sitting in the same places but now that means they are down much deeper and really heavy nymphing gear is needed to get to them. We have been swinging streamers with some success with some big brown trout hammering the woolly bugger like a freight trains and putting up tremendous fights.

The weather looks like we will see another fairly disgruntled week with some wet storms again towards the end of the week. Lake Wakatipu has gone from being unusually low for the time of the year to just below the first flood warning criteria – watch this space over the next few weeks!

I think its a great thing that we have finally seen some good run off and it will freshen everything up and certainly give the fish some respite going into the busy Xmas and New Year period.

Certain isolated areas down here have mice populations going nuts and the result is the fish in these areas is to be seen to be believed. Most fish even in the areas where there are no mice are in very healthy order due to the easy spring we have had and the lack of big water knocking the trout around and will provide some excellent quarry over the next few months.

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Beat the Wind and there is some great fishing near Queenstown New Zealand right now

Simon — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:36:34 +0000

The windy weather continues here in Southland New Zealand but the smart fly fisherman has been able to juggle the wind by going to the right places to get out of it or just has the skills to deal with and succeed in catching NZ trout in howling gales.

One fine and very rare still day allowed for some spectacular sight fishing and resulted in 6 trout to the bank on a afternoon excursion of a few hours – most of the trout were caught using my emerger pattern again but one nice back water fish came to the surface and sucked in a #16 Dad’s Fav.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKGDHJWySh0]

A small rain fall came thru yesterday afternoon and most of the rivers have had some lifting occur but have generally remained clean. Snow melt from the warm winds over the last week has also seen fluctuations in river flows as it has been coming down thru the systems.

I am still in Southland but will be return to Queenstown over the weekend before the next trip away.

Keep reading – more reports coming soon.

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Fly Fishing from Queenstown New Zealand

Simon — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:28:00 +0000

Half day fly fishing trips can be great fun for clients to get a wee taste of what fly fishing is all about near Queenstown and offers a chance for fly fishing anglers to pick up a few tips they can take with them on their travels in the South Island of New Zealand.

My last days guiding was just like this – showing a client some great water and improving his general casting technique and also some of the fine arts of successful nymph fishing tactics as this was not something he had done much of.

Get down to where the fish are feeding – it’s no point having the nymphs above where the trout are feeding in the water column. Sometimes they will lift and take it but more often than not they won’t.

To add quick weight to get that nymph deeper I often use a tungsten bead head that is threaded onto the tippet and then slides along the tippet and down to the hook eye – free running. This is especially good when you do not want to use a double nymph rig for certain reasons.

Sometimes the area you are in has other attributes than just the fishing and this trip was one of those as we had a close encounter with a NZ Falcon. I spotted a nesting Falcon and warned my client that a dive bomb run was likely and if or when it occurred to keep the rods raised above our heads in a vertical manner. Sure enough the New Zealand Falcon buzzed us twice but stayed clear due to the rods. At this point I decided to see if I could do something to film an attack and promptly gave my rod to the client and asked him to stay put. I got the cam running and walked ahead about 10 meters and sure enough in came Mr Falcon – he swooped past and rolled up behind me lining me up and came straight at my head on his attack run with no fear of the rod in its way – whack he got me – bloody brilliant. My instinct to trust the sturdiness of my fishing hat was right but don’t try this at home!

Here is the footage – enjoy.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW6AahGLOCs]

All the rivers around the Southern Lakes, Queenstown, Southland and Otago are fishing well at present although the usual Spring weather is making life interesting with some big winds around. and some rivers getting snow melt in the afternoons.

I had some friends hit a Fiordland stream that I gave the direction on how best to approach and they had a very successful trip landing some nice rainbows and browns all in super fat nick – the boys thought there might have been some mouse action going on to create these super fat hogs although they never kept one to find out for sure – but if so bodes well for some big fish over the summer.

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Fly Fishing New Zealand’s Back Country Rivers

Simon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:24 +0000

Sometimes getting into the backcountry fisheries in New Zealand can be an arduous experience unless you can afford a helicopter to take away the hard yards but other times it can be as easy as driving to the end of the road and going for a wander up a stunning NZ stream. This is especially so in many areas of the South Island and my theory is get out the door early to make sure you have the water you want before somebody else snags it.

Nice NZ back country brown trout

The other day the weather forecast was terrible with 120 kph winds forecast (accurate too) and heavy rain falls. As wind is the bane of most fly fisherman I chose to do something a little unusual and instead of running away from the weather I decided that it was in our best interests to have a successful day to head straight towards it. My theory being that we could get under the leading edge of the front and beat the wind knowing full well that we would get rained and face a rising river – better than hurricane!

It turned out to be the right call an we got out of the wind, got rained on but spotted some good fish and better still my client got 3 to the bank and missed a couple to boot – not bad for a 1/2 day guided trip.

Check out the vid [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hhdyCD3wr0]

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New Zealand high country waters open 2moro

Simon — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:16:59 +0000

New Zealand high country streams open 2moro being the 1st of November. It’s a Sunday too, so every man and his dog will be heading into the hills today or making an early start for their spot in the morning chasing the pristine waters flowing from the Southern Alps of NZ and the large trout that inhabit them. A front is on it’s way in so that will deliver some wind and a bit of rain later in the day – spring fishing in the roaring 40′s, bring it on!

I am out guiding 2moro but will avoid the mountain streams and will head from Queenstown to stick to the lowland streams which should be relatively vacant of fisherman as most anglers make the mad rush to the high country and will be a much better option for my clients than being in the opening day gaggle of super hyped up anglers hitting the mountain rivers. Let the keen Kiwi fisherman get their fill and then I will get into the high country next week.

Although it’s not a legal thing New Zealand Professional Guides have a unwritten rule and will stay away from heli guiding these waters over the first week to let the kiwi anglers get a good crack at it. There will still be plenty of untouched high country water after it all blows over.

Check out the vids below with some early season action from down in Southland

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIhzrvFOIVU]

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rBsUyPPCIU]

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mDG8SDuppU]

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1hZTN1hWi8]

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Huge New Zealand rainbow trout

Simon — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:32:42 +0000

With the recent spate, over the next few days more rainbow trout will be heading up the streams for spawning.

Make sure you reserve a guided fly fishing trip to ensure success and a chance at one of the huge NZ rainbow trout.

Check out the footage here – try to guestimate the size of this wild New Zealand rainbow trout!

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dF4sDbIh5Y]

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