The tidal sections of the South Island lowland rivers on both the East Coast and West Coasts are well known for their sea run/estuarine trout fishing. Its a highlight on our fishing calender, and each spring my son Louie and I plan a couple of trips to specifically target these fish.

Sea run trout are very mobile and move between the salt and freshwater in search of food, especially during the months of Sept-Dec when white bait enter our river systems in large numbers. They also feed on smelt, yellow eyed mullet, native bullies, lampreys, juvenile flounder, crabs and other small crustaceans such as prawns.

The river was dammed in 1958 and is under the control of Contact energy .Lake Hāwea is New Zealand's ninth largest lake. The only flat land around the lake is at its southern end, surrounding its outflow into the Hawea river , a short tributary of the Clutha river , which it enters near the small township of Albertown. A stunning rainbow taken on the swing in the mid section of the Hawea river on a sunny mid winter afternoon.

A good 10 min battle was to follow before i was able to subdue one of the better rainbow trout I’ve caught in the Clutha river over the past couple of winters. Fishing your fly at the appropriate depth is everything when swinging for trout and therefore choosing the right sink tip is the key and can be the difference between getting your net wet or not some days.

n orange hot head woolly bully in brown pulled across the top of the shallow weed beds, deep gutters and drop offs proved the undoing of both the above fish.The Airflo Clear Camo Intermediate fly line is perfect for this type of fishing as it blends right into its surroundings. The ultra supple Camo Core and clear PU coating blend to create a suppleness making it perfect for gentle presentation and a distinct lack of knotting on a hand twist retrieve, even on the coldest of days.

My son Louie and I decided we needed a back country fix and planned a day on a local river that we hoped would fish well after some recent heavy rain. This time of year sees some good numbers of browns begin their migratory runs into the head water streams on their annual spawning pilgrimage and we hoped to encounter some fit, well conditioned browns and the odd rainbow too !

Several of my local rivers have good populations of these large carnivorous nymphs and I have had some success fishing artificial patterns over the years. Ive used large Hare and Coppers over the past few seasons, along with several fly patterns I’ve created my self that have produced the odd fish here and there. Martins DVD gave me some inspiration to try some materials I’d had sitting on my tying desk for some time and never really had any use for !

Semperfli's synthetic rabbit adds a new dimension to many traditional flies and will not water-log like traditional rabbit zonker strips making it much easier to cast. The below pattern is one that Louie has recently tied for when we get out of the ‘ lock down’ period and we can get back out into the rivers !

This was Laurent’s 6th trip to New Zealand fly fishing and probably the trickiest in regards to the river conditions and weather. The lower South Island had been hammered by record flooding back in early December then again a week before he arrived with some rivers reaching flows never before seen since records have been kept ! The beauty of the Multi-Day trips is we have the flexibility to move around based on what the river conditions and weather systems are doing.

With the recent break in the weather and a little bit of sunshine cicadas have begun to show up …finally ! And as per usual Ive left the filling of my Terrestrial fly box until the very last minute, despite having all winter free to do it ! I always enjoy sitting at the vice cutting out foam, prepping rubber legs and making wings out of varying materials dependent on the type of cicada pattern your wanting to imitate.

I have been over twice now with Louie in the past month and seen several behemoth Rainbow trout caught by the canal walls both times the water clarity has been poor due to all the rain we received in May and the flows were very high we were told by other anglers. It seems to be the time to catch the big Rainbows as they get ready to spawn, many of them head up the canals to the intake gates perhaps triggered by their natural instincts as the gates are beginning to be opened more as winter approaches ?,

So my last fish for 2018 on was a perch ! A first me on the fly , we’ve hooked a few whilst trolling the lake from the boat but never caught one on the fly. The New Zealand Perch came from the Tasmanian stock that were brought out from England in the 1870s . They are well established in both Otago and Southland and prefer the slower moving moving and still water habitats where they feed mainly on common bullies, inanga, smelt and fresh water cray fish.