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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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!

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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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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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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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.
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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

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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.

Tight Lines!

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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!

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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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