Mention stillwater fly fishing to most anglers and more often than not you get the big eye roll !
In the Wanaka region we are lucky enough to have 3 fantastic Lakes within 30mins of each other and all of which hold good numbers of wild brown and rainbow trout.

New Zealand is world renowned for it's rivers/streams and fly fishing, in most cases to be successful when fly fishing here wading is required to get to the best sections of water.

A couple of "hot spots" to target sea run trout are directly at the out-flow where the river flows into the ocean ,aswell as the hundred or so metres along the shore either side of the main mouth.As the tide drops the main river channel becomes more obvious ,the slower pieces of water just off the main flow are areas to focus your attention, fish move into these areas looking for crabs,smelt as well as mullet that are sheltering in the shallows

Lakes Wanaka,Wakatipu,Hawea and Dunstan are open all year round and provide some fantastic lake edge and river mouth fly fishing oppurtunities. For those anglers brave enough to don all the necessary warm layers the rewards can be well worth it ! The areas to fish over the winter months (June-August)are the inflowing rivers mouths ,fish congregate around these areas waiting for the right conditions to head upstream to begin spawning.

I have had great success with brown stone fly patterns the past couple of seasons in our more boisterous back country rivers and streams and carry them in sizes 8-14 some heavily weighted with Tungsten beads and lead to get down in deeper faster water and others no weight at all.

Tom is regular client whom I have guided each season for the past 6 years and usually for a duration of 5 days.He is a fairly competent angler and enjoys sight fishing in the lower South Island region's smaller rivers and streams.He relishes the challenge and technical skills required to catch it's wily brown trout.

Every river or stream is different,but they all share similiar characteristics.Spotting trout is one of the most, if not the most important skill an angler can posess if he or she is going to consistently catch trout so knowing where to look for trout is very important.Trout are the masters of disguise and can at times be found in any part of a river or stream,but some sections of water are far more productive than others and anglers should focus more time searching out these areas of river.

A distinctive looking insect with its bright green body and,long darkish head and pincer like fore arms ..a must have fly pattern for any visiting fly fisherman to New Zealand!

The South Island of New Zealand has numerous spring fed creeks that can be found in most regions,from our lowland pastoral land to the wide open tussock lined river valleys.

A large Brown trout that was lying along side a submerged log at the side of a deep pool,Bryan cast his cicada pattern well ahead and once spied by the trout drifting down the feed lane was quickly engulfed.

Today was probably my most rewarding day as a professional guide, my client was 75yr old Chuck Pierson from the US who had dreamt about coming to NZ to fly fish for years and to hopefully land a brown trout on a dry fly.

A must have pattern for any travelling anglers visiting our shores over the summer months!

New Zealand has some of the most pristine rivers and lakes in the world.  Please help us keep it that way.

We are into the 3rd week of November as I am writing this BLOG entry and the past 10 days have been amazing! We have had little or no wind and day after day of hot weather.

Well finally the new season has rolled around . And conditions for the river we chose on opening day were fantastic !

I personally look forward to the winter months and getting out my Airflo switch rod, skagit line, differing sink rate polyleaders and of course big streamers !

The UV worm is a very simple pattern to tie but very effective at times.

Some images from the first week of the new season here in the NZ back-country

The Blowfly or "Blowie " as it is commonly known here in NZ is a favourite dry fly pattern used here by anglers during the summer time .