The good fishing is still on around the Southern Lakes and Queenstown with the fine weather continuing. The weather has been hot and the rivers  around Queenstown and the Southern lakes  are low and the fish are fairly spooky due to this and the increased angler pressure so being a master of the fly fishing game up your chances along with thinking outside the box a bit.

Time of day…. mix it up …. fish get used to seeing anglers at certain times. Recently I fished a section of water behind another group who had set off at about 0800, we started on it at 1500 and found fish out and feeding happily and we hooked and landed fish easily.

A client yesterday saw benefit from fishing a large Queenstown still water with 6 fish in 1hr ….. sometime rivers are not the be all end all ….. all the fish hit bully imitations.

Don’t piss (more on this later) around, get your fly on the water with limited or no false casts. Flies only catch fish when they are on/in the water and have good presentation ….. the so called “trick” casts work …. learn how to use the right one at the right time.

Find areas where cool streams of water enter the main (warmer river) here you will find fish eager to feed.

Make the most out of your opportunities ….. even if you semi spook a fish be patient and change gear (try a streamer swung in front of it’s nose once you have let things settle for 5 mins).

If you are hooked up on a big fish watch what is happening to the fish and where it’s heading. It will tend to take care of the slack line with out the need for you to get onto the reel immediately. A big fish went begging the other day after we had fooled it, the angler took their eye off the fish to get all the slack line sorted and the fish almost new and proceeded to go down the wrong side of a big rock and into no mans land never to emerge again …. ahh bugger!

Go hard early, know where the limit is of your gear and knots and get that fish sorted out!

Sighted fish on the nymph …. get rid of the indicator ….. watch the fish.

Refusal on the dry? Drag maybe but whatever change that bloody fly and put a similar possibly smaller pattern on and cast again and with no drag occurring.

Be nice to your fellow anglers …. a good way to satrt with this is to leave a note on your vehicle as to wether you went upstream or downstream (or how far you intend on fishing) and the time you started.

My friend and guiding colleague Chris Dore has written a blog recently with some good info that ties into this check it out here.

So here is a quick story from New Years day. After a few drinks the evening before with my client to see the new year in we were on a scenic big fish river river and I was wandering along being ever so stealthy looking for trout to put my guy onto. The mix of the evening before drinks and several morning cups of java and possibly a bit of age creaping in I decided to have my 3hundreth piss of the day. My client was on the other side of the river and a bit downstream so I just did what I needed to right there and then. The wind was the blessed southerly so I sent my stream with the wind and into the grass a touch upsteam of where I was standing. Great, job done time to get back to spotting trout. Two more steps, shit there’s a bug fush and I promptly throw myself to the ground and right into my own piss. The only good news is we caught him! It’s amazing what a guide will do to get you into fish. Happy New Year!

 Book your Queenstown NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions Trip Now

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand

Spotting NZ trout is a bit of an art form in a funny way and some anglers become very adept at it, others do not. I often get asked how on earth did you spot that fish? You know sometimes I don’t even know! Many years of walking rivers and looking at water is a big chunk of it. If you don’t do it on a regular basis it is probably a wee bit more tricky.

Here are some of my tell tale signs for spotting NZ trout:

1. It’s an add on to the river….. I am looking first and foremost for something that is not quite right, a touch out of place. A bit like Sesame Street … this one’s not like the other one! I am never looking for a fish.

2. Movement ….. does it move? Yes, well then it’s a fish (unless it’s a bit of weed – this had me going a few weeks back thinking I had been spotting NZ trout). No, watch a minute or two and see if it does move. Still unsure, make a cast.

3. Shape ….. does it lie the right way? If it’s lying across the current flow it’s is not likely to be a fish although on the odd occasion I have seen large trout lying deep and appear to be sideways to the flow although where they were actually lying they are directly into the current at that depth  i.e. an eddie pool.

4. Colour and flash ….. Not much really but rainbows especially can give themselves away with the red stripe but it pays not to use this as you will miss many that are not coloured up but it may help it some cases.  Often fish can appear as a grey smudge in the water and you might see a flash as it turns to one side to feed.

5. Shadow…… A fish will cast a shadow from it to the bottom, using sunlight (if you have any) correctly helps.

6. Go slow, slower than you think ….. no slower still! Many anglers miss spotting opportunities just by walking too quickly.

7. Look into the water not at it …… good Polaroid glasses are key. I use Maui Jim

8. When necessary choose to have back drop. Great on cloudy grey days. Spot where you can and blind where you need too.

9. Know where to look ……  Pool eyes are where most people see fish easily. Other likely spots include: lips and drop offs. Seams and bubble lines = food = fish. Structure …… rocks just behind or just in front, logs too. The outside of mild bends just on the seam and especially if the bank has little bays. The tail of pools just before the next rapid starts. Generally where the water is knee deep and has one or more of the above.

10. Shitty places to get to because of foliage or river structure ….. as the season goes on this can really be important.

These tips will get you seeing more trout and if you can see them you can catch more of them!

Summer is on the way so make sure to book your fly fishing expedition with me now!

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand

Queenstown fly fishing can be particularly good when all the water opens at the beginning of November and you have the full array of water to choose from. A lot of the water which opens up for Queenstown fly fishing in November is rainbow trout dominated waters and sometimes they can produce some spectacular trout.

12.5lbs of rainbow trout

This fish was caught using a interesting set up. My father had passed me a message from an old family friend saying hi which reminded me that I had not yet this season got out the classic  Pezon et Michel bamboo rod he had given me. So the old bamboo rod with a spanking new reel, the Lamson Konic. Yes it does sound a strange set up but hey if it can catch fish like this…….? The Konic was great during battle with this hog as it has a fantastic  smooth powerful drag system and even with my bamboo being bent like it has never been bent before this fish succumbed after about 10 mins to my strange set up for the day. Needless to say the old friend wants his rod back now with the fish of course.

Big fish no match for the lamson konic

The other thing is that many anglers rush to these newly open fisheries and leave the water that has been open since the beginning of October alone for a bit and this offers some great opportunities for some exciting brown trout fishing.

Nice low country brown

The last few days has reminded me about how important it is to watch the fish (if it’s possible) and ignore what may be going on with your indicator. In fact if you can see the fish take the indicator off. Unless your cast is so perfectly accurate the fish will need to move to take your offering. Maybe this is only a few inches or maybe a few feet. As soon as the fish stops the sideways move …… hit it. Chances are he has chomped and if you don’t do anything the fish will spit it out. Many times I have seen fish chomp and indicators not move at all, I have been calling strike but the angler has been convinced that as the indicator hasn’t moved there is no possible way the fish has taken……wrong! Removing the indicator also has the advantage of reducing the chance of spooking the fish. If the wind is blowing it can also help reduce windage on the line. Recently I saw a fish come up to an indicator and engulf it, I was patient and did not strike, the fish spat it out turned and promptly took my nymph …. dumb rainbow (not the one above)! Yet another reason not to use an indicator if you can get away with it.

Queenstown Fly Fishing

Queenstown fly fishing book now but remember one day is good  but it’s really just a tease, book a multi day trip to really get amongst it!

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand

The Queenstown fly fishing season has ended. Gear cleaned, tidied and packed away ready for next season ….. well almost but more about that in a while. Maybe a quick round up first.

Looking back to when the Queenstown fly fishing season opened back in Oct 2010 the weather was brilliant all the way thru to pretty much Xmas. Lots of blue bird days, little wind, lots of mayfly and then brown beetle and the fishing was hot. All the fish were in great condition and we manged to get some early season crackers to the bank, including the one pictured below which was the fish of the season ….13lbs of New Zealand trophy brown trout.

Queenstown Fly Fishing

In fact the weather was so good that many rivers were starting to get to levels you would usually see in late March/Arpil. This was as good a spring as I can remember. The farmers were not happy with what appeared to be a bad drought about to slap them round the chops. I was worried too and actually ended up getting some Airflo Ridge Clear floaters to have more stealth on presenting to fish as the rivers continued to get lower and lower.

Then the heavens opened and the Queenstown fly fishing changed abruptly. Right around Xmas mother nature decided to make up for the lack of rain over the last 3 months and we got slapped by a series of big floods. A big chunk of the South Island got hammered and all of a sudden the fly fishing became a bit more tricky. Summer, what summer! Spring was our summer. We got some ok weather but most of the time it was a battle against the weather to get good fishing in and we had to be prepared to change tactics and fish a variety of techniques you would not regularly deploy over our mid summer terrestrial months. It worked, we continued to bank some seriously great fish.

Queenstown Fly Fishing

One of the great things aside from the really big trout we caught this season was the food on expeditions. A new cooking device this year added to my arsenal allowing for roasts in the back country.

Queenstown Fly Fishing

It’s pretty awesome to be able to catch fish like this and then sit down to a meal of roast pork (lamb, beef or chicken), wicked crackling with home grown corn, potatoes, carrots and beans in a back country hut or in a few cases right beside the river!

Queenstown Fly Fishing

Autumn, is a time a lot of local anglers really look forward to. Big mayfly hatches and fat brown trout. It certainly seemed this years late season hatches were very hit and miss with not many days of really decent action on the dry fly. Maybe it was the floods over Xmas New Year that destroyed a great deal of the habitat where the mayfly lay the eggs. There was still some bloody good end of season fishing but again you needed to think a little outside the box to be successful.

I was lucky enough to get a late season trip in with a good buddy and very fine angler which was a great deal of fun. Actually getting to do some real fishing for myself … a rare thing these days it seems.

Queenstown Fly Fishing

The fishing right up to the end of the season remained great particularly in some of the back country resident rainbow water.

Queenstown Fly Fishing

The weather has continued to be most pleasant with temps about 3 deg above norm in May around New Zealand. I have tidied up most of my gear and have things ready for next season start (Oct 1st 2011), but not all of it has been put way by any means. There are some great winter options around the Southern Lakes. Queenstown fly fishing does not stop over the winter. Yes a great deal of our normal water is closed for spawning and the focus on most peoples minds is fun in the snow. For those like myself who seem to have a deep passion to fish, fish and fish ….. keep those rods handy and get amongst some of the many Queenstown fly fishing opportunities we have over the winter.

If winter fishing isn’t your thing, fair enough but make sure to book your expedition for next season  early.

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand

Fly fishing Queenstown New Zealand in May the temps have dropped. All the lowland streams are closed for spawning but we still have our high country water open until the end of the month. The fly fishing is pretty bloody good! Make sure you come and get some before the season closes!

Here’s  a wee video from a recent trip:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0HNOPsYIJo[/youtube]

It look s much better in HD which you can see by going to my You Tube Channel and then selecting 720p HD

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

A quick tip. Wise choices can get you away from fishing at those tricky browns that are in spawning mode at this late stage of the season. A recent foray saw us go past a tributary that sees quite high numbers of browns.  Getting high up on the main stem where the resident rainbows were all go, chomping on anything we threw at them.

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand

It’s mid April and there are only 2 weeks to go until the low country rivers close for the season but the high country water stays open until the end of May down this way so there is still plenty of fly fishing left near Queenstown.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

It’s a great time to be out on the water right now with some good late season mayfly hatches occurring with the brown trout really wanting to fatten up prior to spawning. I find the best time to be out on the waters to get the hatch is anytime between 11oo and 1600 when the trout are feeding on hatching mayfly. Working the riffle water with a medium weighted nymph trailed by a emerging nymph is also producing good results prior to the hatch actually beginning.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - late season high country 'bow on the mayfly

We have still been catching trout in some of the back country water on terrestrial patterns but again there is certainly mayfly around there too.  In some of these systems runs of browns have been moving thru on spawning runs and the fish are starting to pair up. Just recently we fished a small stream where normally you are finding individual fish but this time there were many cases of 2 or more fish dancing around a pool in a most definite  pairing up mode. Sometimes offering these fish a standard nymph or dry just won’t cut it – giving them a steamer to chase and chomp often does the trick.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - late season terrestrial action

I have some more guided trips over the next 2 weeks and then in early May I am off for a boys fishing trip deep into some rugged jungle country in Fiordland with a good mate and excellent angler so that should be a lot of fun.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - somewhere in Fiordland

The days are certainly cooling as winter is approaching but it really is a great time to be on New Zealands stunning waters hooking into big fat trout and enjoying the peace and tranquility that the sound of running water flowing past  spectacular scenery can and does offer.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Stunning scenery

If you cant make it now for some great fly fishing make sure to start the process of organizing your trip for next season……don’t be disappointed………book in now to secure your time for next summer!

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand

I meet fly fisherman from all over the world and I have found over the years that almost without exception they are wonderful people. Maybe it’s just one of those pastimes or passions that people with certain attitudes gravitate towards. After all they are out for a good time on the water for one reason or another.

There seems to be a progression of development in a fly fishermans life, it’s a bit like Maslows hierarchy of needs in a fishy way. Certain requirements need to be fulfilled before the angler can gain the next level. Here’s my theory:

Level 1:      I just want to catch a fish, anything will do.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

Level 2:      I want to catch a lot of fish.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

Level 3:      I want to catch a big fish.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - 13lbs of NZ trophy brown trout

Level 4:         I just want to be out on the water, catching a fish is a nice bonus.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

Level 5:          I am a dumb arse guide!

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

Now the interesting thing about this theory is that many anglers make it to level 4 bypassing level 3 but I don’t think many make it to level 4 without first obtaining  levels 1 and 2. Most that make it to level 5 at some point want to be back at level 4 and almost always level 3 comes into play no matter where you are at in the progression.

Did I miss any levels? Where do you fit into this progression? Use the comments and let me know.

My father (who is a great fly angler) has a saying: ” Man with hands in pocket feels cocky all day and man with fly in water catches fish”. As a guide I have my hands in my pocket all day (usually to stop being bitten by sandflies) so  I don’t often have my fly in the water. Maybe he’s just telling me in his wise old way that I am a cocky prick and it’s time to go fishing with him soon!

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand

Just back from a weeks guiding south of Queenstown with a couple of fly fisherman from the USA. The weather did not make things too easy for us with 2 really nice days out of 7 and the rest were a combo of hurricane like winds, heavy rain, chubby rain (sleet) and generally below average weather for March. We did get on to plenty of fish and even managed to fool a fair few of them. One of my clients  got to realize a 50 year dream of hooking and landing a true New Zealand Trophy brown trout.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Trophy Brown Trout

Hooking this fish took quite a lot of perseverance as it was spending about half of its time chasing two other pretty large fish out of its feeding area before making the big boiling rise of a fish zoned into a certain food source. Each time the other fish were chased off it would chomp of the surface hard out for a couple of minutes and then the other fish would reappear and compete for the food source before again being chased off.

Finally this awesome 12lb fish was in just the right place, the fly was drifting thru the feeding zone and with absolutely no hesitation it charged up like a ballistic submarine engulfing our cicada pattern before a doggard fight eventually saw it to the bank. The area it was caught in favored the angler during battle as there was nowhere for the hog to run for cover (and it knew it),  it just used it size and weight component until the angler finally got it to the net.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCSn3-GWrgo[/youtube]

The fish was carefully weighed at 12lbs with a length of 27 inches and a girth of 16.5 inches. These measurements along with some photos will be given to a good taxidermist and the mounted replica will take its place of pride on the mantle piece along with the fly that caught it while the fish gets to live on to provide sport for another lucky angler down the line.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

Some other bloody good fish were also landed including two of 8lbs which certainly went along way to make up for a rough week of weather and some fairly tough fishing.

So cicadas are still on the menu but things are changing and there are mayfly nymphs developing nicely in many streams and as we near the beginning of April these will come to the forefront of the trouts dietary patterns. The trout below was caught using an emerging mayfly  pattern.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

Another  flood occurred a couple of days ago with most of Southland seeing muddy water and rising rivers but they are dropping and clearing again fast now. As we move further into autumn we should start to see more stable weather patterns although the temps are dropping quite a bit overnight but on the fine days the daytime temps are warming up nicely. Although 2 days ago I was forced to wear waders, damn glad I did because guiding in chubby rain and very cold southerly winds would have been unpleasant…….just goes to show you need to be prepared for all sorts of weather down here.

Don’t forget to book in for some great fishing during April and May

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand

Fishing Queenstown and the surrounding areas sometimes you just have to do something different to get a fish to hit. It’s the time of year when trout are really zoned into chomping cicada’s but sometimes you have to thrown something bigger and uglier.  On my last Safari trip guiding a father/son combo we stayed on a high country station (ranch) for 3 nights to access some of the back country rivers nearby. We did get to present cicadas to plenty fish with some good results but on one particular occasion I put the young fella on to a trout feeding happily on the surface to cicadas. Due to the nature of the position we could not get a decent drag free drift and the fish went deep but continued to feed. I shortened the leader up and put on a big black double bunny and got the angler to lob it upstream like a nymph, letting it sink on the way back downstream before stripping to swing it past the trouts nose. On the 3rd  swing the double bunny was in the right place and the fish could not resist – man trout fight hard with a big arse streamer hanging out their mouths.

Fishing Queenstown

This technique really comes into its own at certain times and recognizing these can give opportunities that many anglers would probably give up on. In this case it was a nice 3.5lb rainbow but the big brown trout love to chomp on a big juicy morsel too. A few days later the wind was blowing into our faces making life fairly tough to turn a dry over. I had found a big brown feeding right on the seam edge and again chose to offer a streamer this time fished as a dead drift – bingo first cast and the result was a great 8lb brown trout to the bank about 10mins later.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

Needless to say Dad is very proud but did mention that I had now ruined his son for life —- better than crack tho!

We did get quite a few fish  on the cicada and here is Dad with a great rainbow, again on the first cast. Make those first casts count and your hook up rate will be higher.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

We ate very well on Safari each night— roast pork, beef, lamb with vege’s from our garden, what a great option to refuel the body after some serious back country fishing and hiking.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions

I think a teenage boy really appreciated the big kai, they seem to have appetites of horses.

Fishing Queenstown

I have a busy few weeks guiding ahead thru until the end of March so keep reading the blog for updates as I get the chance.

Anyone still looking for some great fly fishing should seriously think about booking in for April and May – it is one of the best times to go fishing Queenstown and the surrounding regions, the browns are putting on plenty of weight in preparation for spawning runs, there is some great mayfly match the hatch fishing, the rainbows are beefing up too and the back country rivers really fire up over the last 2 months of the season.

Get in touch with me to make your late season booking with NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions.

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand

Since the big Xmas floods the weather has been quite indifferent with a new front every other day bring wind then rain hard on it’s heels. When we have had fine weather its been great but the fine weather holes have been quite small before the next front has slid in. This has meant picking where to be on any given day to be a very important part of providing a successful days outing. Some of the rivers in areas that got hit hard by those big xmas floods are still recovering with trout numbers a little low – but rest assured they are be moving back up the systems slowly but surely.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - Can you spot the Fish?

Cicadas are about all over the shop at the moment and on the hot windy days plenty are ending up in the water for hungry trout to engulf.

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - zoned into cicadas

Speaking of engulfing food my new camp cooker has proved to be worth every cent. Enjoying Greek spiced roast leg of lamb, pork roast, amazing beef fillet (even some wild Hare loin),  fabulous breads and perfectly cooked vege’s from our garden has been a great add to the Multi day Safari expeditions.  Of course when we move away overnight from the vehicle we are back to a bit more basic food. Overall I think I have been putting weight on -  need to walk faster – yeah right!

New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions - A couple of nights in a remote high country hut

The weather looks looks like it will remain very changeable over the next week although we might see a good high for Friday, Sat and Sun ridge in – great for the weekend warriors. The patterns look like it will stay this way for the next couple of weeks so plan well and have a couple of backstops up your sleeve and make those first cast count!

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New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions New Zealand - Fly Fishing Queenstown, Southland and Fiordland New Zealand