Well the big water we got over the Xmas/New Year period certainly has made the fishing much tougher over the last week or so. I have been thru many places in Otago, South Westland and Southland on a Fly Fishing Safari with a couple of anglers over the last 7 days and have seen debris in some places 7m above normal. A friend found a dead trout over 50m in land from normal water height in one river. Needless to say this should give an idea of the size of the floods.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions flood debris over paddocks
We have been able to find trout in all the places we visited but numbers have been lower than normal so making sure when an opportunity presents itself has been of vital importance. The good news is we did get plenty of dry fly action in particular with cicada style imitations that saw hungry fish chomping on them.
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Big backcountry brown trout
In the rivers that have been hit hard finding more stable sections of the river is where we have found the trout. Many of the normal stable sections have been either silted up or the stones so thoroughly turned over they are extremely clean – no slipping and sliding around around while wading!
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions Nice backcountry brown trout
The rivers are all coming back and with some good weather ahead of us the fishing will come back to its more normal state. One thing is the fish will be hungry. We were fishing a small lowland tributary stream the other day and were onto a big fish that was not keen to look at anything much until we threw a big cicada – it moved 2m left and 2m down to suck it in with no hesitation at all. Funny thing is on this small stream we had not seen or heard a cicada all day but there you go, a big food source the fish could not refuse!
New Zealand Fly Fishing Expeditions sunken forest provides great cover for trout
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!!!
