jmckinl1
Well-known member
I took advantage of my current situation (2yr work assignment in Australia) to make the trip at the top of my 'Places to Fish' list - South Island, NZ.
I have been fly fishing for only a few years, but thought my skills were mostly up to the task. I have watched and read enough about NZ fishing to know how tough it can be and I went in with what I thought was pretty low expectations. Boy was I wrong initially and my expectations were not tempered enough. But, with the help of my guide, I had an amazing trip and my fly fishing game jumped a few notches.
My awesome, infinitely patient guide (Anton Donaldson - nztroutadventures.com) picked me up and we made our way to the mouth of the river. Cold (High 30s F) and clear morning with stunning scenery, snow capped mountains, crystal clear water, huge eels, and large cruising trout. I could barely contain my excitement.
We dumped our gear at the cabin and hit the mouth. Spent a bit of time warming up casting to cruising fish along the banks of the lake, but scaring them all away. Very quickly, I realized my casting game was not where it needed to be and I started to feel the pressure, which certainly affected me mentally for the rest of the day. We slowly began working our way up the river and spotted the first trout. 30-40 feet behind him, little slip on the gravel, and off he goes.....Next trout, managed to get into good position but first cast hit him right on the head with the BH fly. I gave myself a case of the YIPS and this set the tone for most of the rest of the day - stumbling, bumbling, not casting how I know I can, scaring nearly everything away.
However, by the end of the day, I managed to calm myself down and my casting, accuracy, and stealth improved greatly. Got in position to a few fish, casted well, threw every kind of the fly with only one taker, but too slow on the hook set. Spent 30-45 minutes on a fish a couple of different times. Then the rain and hail started...capping off a very frustrating day. Hiked back to the cabin, calmed myself down, and promised myself tomorrow would be a better day. Got a good nights sleep despite the other people at the cabin snoring like freight trains.
Day 2 - Woke up more positive and determined to an amazing morning, mid 30s, crisp, clear, fresh snow a couple of hundred feet above us. Warmed up a bit and then started working up the river. Scared the first fish we targeted before ever throwing a first cast......not an auspicious start. However, we came up behind the next trout actively feeding subsurface - crawled along the bank, and got into position about 15-20 feet behind him. Threw a few errant casts, luckily not close enough to spook him. Then got into the rhythm and starting throwing good casts but no interest in the flies. The fish kept actively feeding and we spent a good 30 minutes casting to him and continually changing the set up, increasing leader length, switching flies, etc.
THEN IT ALL CHANGED - Casted, flies gently hit the water 3 feet in front, guide whispers 'that is the one', the trout almost indiscernibly twitched his head (maybe an inch), guide yelled 'LIFT', tight line, huge gill flare, then zoom, reel screaming. Couple of minutes later he is in the net - a beautiful 26", 5 pound trout. Shaky knees, huge sigh of the relief, and I just lay down in the tall grass staring up at the mountains - that is what I came for and anything else is just gravy - huge weight off my shoulders.
Confidence restored and very relaxed, we continued up the river and the fun began- no spooking fish, vastly improved casting, and just having the time of my life. Hooking into nearly every other fish we came up on over the next few hours, hooked into 5 but only landing 1 - a 29", 6.25 pound stunner that we got on a dry:
Even though I lost a few, each one had that amazing thrill of setting the hook and then so much fun fighting. So hard to control and keep up with 5 to 10lb trout and they broke me off all kinds of ways - 100 yards downstream before I could blink into the fast deep current, wrapped around thick branches, leaping into the air (yes, NZ browns love to jump)
An amazing trip from start to finish and so glad I hired Anton as my guide. Even through the frustrations of the first day, I learned a lot and I appreciated just being there in that amazing setting. I am in the process of booking again for next year and I hope to make this an annual trip no matter where I live!!
Plane Ticket: US$600
Car Rental: US$50-60/day
Hotels/Lodges: US$100-200/day
Food/Beer/Wine: US$50-100/day
License: US$100
Guide: US$1300 (2days with overnight)
I have been fly fishing for only a few years, but thought my skills were mostly up to the task. I have watched and read enough about NZ fishing to know how tough it can be and I went in with what I thought was pretty low expectations. Boy was I wrong initially and my expectations were not tempered enough. But, with the help of my guide, I had an amazing trip and my fly fishing game jumped a few notches.
My awesome, infinitely patient guide (Anton Donaldson - nztroutadventures.com) picked me up and we made our way to the mouth of the river. Cold (High 30s F) and clear morning with stunning scenery, snow capped mountains, crystal clear water, huge eels, and large cruising trout. I could barely contain my excitement.
We dumped our gear at the cabin and hit the mouth. Spent a bit of time warming up casting to cruising fish along the banks of the lake, but scaring them all away. Very quickly, I realized my casting game was not where it needed to be and I started to feel the pressure, which certainly affected me mentally for the rest of the day. We slowly began working our way up the river and spotted the first trout. 30-40 feet behind him, little slip on the gravel, and off he goes.....Next trout, managed to get into good position but first cast hit him right on the head with the BH fly. I gave myself a case of the YIPS and this set the tone for most of the rest of the day - stumbling, bumbling, not casting how I know I can, scaring nearly everything away.
However, by the end of the day, I managed to calm myself down and my casting, accuracy, and stealth improved greatly. Got in position to a few fish, casted well, threw every kind of the fly with only one taker, but too slow on the hook set. Spent 30-45 minutes on a fish a couple of different times. Then the rain and hail started...capping off a very frustrating day. Hiked back to the cabin, calmed myself down, and promised myself tomorrow would be a better day. Got a good nights sleep despite the other people at the cabin snoring like freight trains.
Day 2 - Woke up more positive and determined to an amazing morning, mid 30s, crisp, clear, fresh snow a couple of hundred feet above us. Warmed up a bit and then started working up the river. Scared the first fish we targeted before ever throwing a first cast......not an auspicious start. However, we came up behind the next trout actively feeding subsurface - crawled along the bank, and got into position about 15-20 feet behind him. Threw a few errant casts, luckily not close enough to spook him. Then got into the rhythm and starting throwing good casts but no interest in the flies. The fish kept actively feeding and we spent a good 30 minutes casting to him and continually changing the set up, increasing leader length, switching flies, etc.
THEN IT ALL CHANGED - Casted, flies gently hit the water 3 feet in front, guide whispers 'that is the one', the trout almost indiscernibly twitched his head (maybe an inch), guide yelled 'LIFT', tight line, huge gill flare, then zoom, reel screaming. Couple of minutes later he is in the net - a beautiful 26", 5 pound trout. Shaky knees, huge sigh of the relief, and I just lay down in the tall grass staring up at the mountains - that is what I came for and anything else is just gravy - huge weight off my shoulders.
Confidence restored and very relaxed, we continued up the river and the fun began- no spooking fish, vastly improved casting, and just having the time of my life. Hooking into nearly every other fish we came up on over the next few hours, hooked into 5 but only landing 1 - a 29", 6.25 pound stunner that we got on a dry:
Even though I lost a few, each one had that amazing thrill of setting the hook and then so much fun fighting. So hard to control and keep up with 5 to 10lb trout and they broke me off all kinds of ways - 100 yards downstream before I could blink into the fast deep current, wrapped around thick branches, leaping into the air (yes, NZ browns love to jump)
An amazing trip from start to finish and so glad I hired Anton as my guide. Even through the frustrations of the first day, I learned a lot and I appreciated just being there in that amazing setting. I am in the process of booking again for next year and I hope to make this an annual trip no matter where I live!!
Plane Ticket: US$600
Car Rental: US$50-60/day
Hotels/Lodges: US$100-200/day
Food/Beer/Wine: US$50-100/day
License: US$100
Guide: US$1300 (2days with overnight)
