Kiwi Fly Fishing

So after many years of imagining fly fishing in New Zealand for big Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout, the reality finally came true for me. I have read and researched so many times about fishing in this country, learning about how hard it can be, the fish very wary and difficult to find, casting in the heavy winds and very long walks to get to where the fish are. Well, all that is true and then some...

I was lucky to find a great fishing guide from the town of Glenorchy, NZ. He has been guiding in the South Island for over 15 years and to say we hit it off right away would be an understatement. His name was Gordy Watson and he knew exactly where to find the fish. We fished the Mararoa River and the Oretti. Day 1 the fishing was a bit tough, a strong wind was coming in and the fish were pretty difficult to find with the lack of sun. Here in NZ you mostly sight fish. One person walks the opposite side of the bank, watching for trout while the angler is on the other side, being told where the fish is laying and then hopefully you put your fly in the right spot and he takes it. Day 2 was the best of the three days, the wind layed down and the sun came out, we spotted over 50 fish that day and I made some good casts and was rewarded with some true trophy trout. The Browns are my favorite, very agressive and strong fighters, some thrashing you into the bank trying to get the hook free.

Day 3 was good conditions but most of the fish werent really cooperating with taking the flies. They were either scared of it or simply not interested. Most of the time, if your cast is not perfect the trout will shoot off upstream and out of sight. They have really become very smart in this area, that is why they average 5 to 6 pounds! We spotted a few Browns that were well over the 10 pound mark but they were not interested in anything I threw at them, one of them came to the fly twice and looked but just didnt want any part of it. Just seeing a trout that size was mind blowing.

I cant wait to come back to this part of the world, it really is difficult to describe just how beautiful it is, the pictures just dont do it any justice.