New Zealand fly fishing 2008

Have just had the chance to spend a month in New Zealand fly fishing the North and South islands. The fishing as always has been great fun with no shortage of fish focussing their attentions on the surface and taking big terrestrial dry fly patterns. Spent many days fishing the various spring creeks scattered throughout the high country as well as spending a good portion of my time polaroiding the lake edges of the McKenzie basin where brown trout cruise searching for food. Sight fishing to these spooky fish was always rewarding.



I also had an enjoyable week fishing with Charles Rangeley-Wilson from the UK and Andrew Groom from Australia. For those of you who don't know Charles, he has written several highly entertaining fly fishing books (Somwhere Else, The Accidental Angler) and I highly recommend you try and get hold of these as they are a great read. Charles opened my eyes to a few fly patterns that really got the fish to come up to the surface from their deep holding lies. Several of the patterns I probably wouldn't have even considered and I will definately be tying plenty up for next years trip. We were blessed with the weather and managed to land some great fish in the central South Island.



Now is the time to start planning your 2009 New Zealand summer trip. We have a month worth of hosted trips during the prime dry fly period between mid January to mid February. Check the special offers page for details. For those who can't make these dates we can put together customised self drive itineraries as well as lodge stays on both the North and South islands. We can also help in getting you out fishing while traveling around New Zealand with non-fishing partners on a touring holiday so please get in touch to discuss your options.