Californians Dylan and Kate Garrett contacted me earlier this year wanting a guided full day of fly fishing around Wanaka or Queenstown in late April . April is a great time to fly fishing here in the Central Otago region . They decided to drive over from Queenstown early morning and meet me at an arranged location , we would then head off from there to a local river for the day . They both had done a reasonable amount of fly fishing around the US , both fresh and saltwater so their casting ability was right up there !

Over the past couple of seasons I have played around with several different emerger patterns , both for my own fly fishing and also for my clients. The first is a very basic para-style tie , with a body dubbed in brown or Adams gray CDC dubbing , micro fibre tails , custom dyed brown grizzly hackle and bright orange polypropylene sight post ,as for hook choice either a curved style such as a Kamasan B110 in sizes 14-18 or another I like to use is the Tiemco TMC 100 Dry Fly hook as it has a slightly wider gape and increased wire strength in smaller sizes which makes this a popular hook for tying small emergers . I like this emerger tie as the body takes on a very slim profile once wet and sits lower in the film line like the natural .

Wow what an amazing New Zealand fly fishing season its been !
 Lots of repeat clients as well as lots of new folks. My last booked day of guiding for the 2015/16 season was with Jerry, a relative newby to fly fishing who was here with his wife for 2 weeks of sight seeing and a little fly fishing.

You just have to roll with it when planning your New Zealand fly fishing adventure as the weather will always have the last say , you need to be flexible in both river choice and techniques employed if conditions are not great upon your arrival , be prepared for anything

Rick and Bub were in Queenstown for a work conference and had a free day to explore a local river. Both had never fly fished before but were keen to give it a go.
 We arranged a 9am pick up and headed South to the Mataura river for the day. The forecast was goodand the river had been fishing well over the previous few weeks

Boom ! A streamer eater for Angus , this fish was hugging a bank along a deep bouldery edge . When fly fishing here in New Zealand you quite often need to change your approach and adapt to the conditions to get results , and you must be prepared to use what ever technique's are required on the day , get out and practice your casting before you arrive here in New Zealand !

Laurent emailed me June of 2015 to inquire about a multi-day New Zealand fly fishing adventure for mid February 2016 . After several emails and a couple of phone calls a fairly loose 5 day itinerary was formed taking in several different fishing regions all of which offered different types of water ranging from larger braided river systems to smaller spring creeks and mid sized freestone river's and stream's

I recently spent a day on a small stream fishing with my Epic Olive 580 that I had built a few winters back. The stream we chose was perfect for this rod as it requires delicate presentations of small nymphs and dries to large spooky brown trout in gin clear water, the exact conditions this rod was designed for !

I recently guided a client who through medical conditions was very limited to what he was able to do . Herb (74yrs old) has severe arthritis in both knees and suffers from a debilitating heart condition that prevents him from being able to walk any great distance

What does a guide do on his day off you may ask ? Go fishing of course ! I had a couple of free days in my diary and after a phone call to a friend had locked one of the days in for a days fishing.

A super fun day fly fishing on the Upper Mataura river with honeymooners Andrew and Christie from the USA, perfect conditions to fly fish New Zealand today !

After years of using all types of different brands of floatant I have finally found my favorite.Loon Aquel is long lasting, silicon based and won’t melt when it’s hot or harden when it’s cold, perfect for our New Zealand fly fishing conditions.

As for fly choices when prospecting I like to use larger Attractor style patterns ,these patterns do not always accurately represent any particular insect but they incorporate proven fishy features that will attract fish to the fly. Patterns such as Stimulators, Royal Wulfs and rubber legged Deer Hair cicada patterns just to name a few, something that floats well and is highly visible to both the angler and trou

The fish in general have been in great condition ,with most in the 3-6lb plus category making it to the net each week. Several clients have opted for a multi-day fly fishing adventure which has seen us heading into the Southland and Mckenzie regions both of which offer plenty of variety with their fly fishing rivers and streams.

The warmer summer months are upon us now and fish are beginning to look up to the surface.Time to do away with the wool indicators and tie on a well hackled dry fly from which to suspend your nymphs

The 1st of November sees the opening of the New Zealand backcountry rivers and streams.My regular client Bassam and his 2 sons Simon and JP contacted me earlier this year and were keen to fish the first 3 days of the new season.We decided to head to a new region and spend a couple of days chasing some fit rainbows in a few smaller streams and then spend the final day on Mataura river, a river that has fast become a favorite of theirs !

I was lucky enough to have a window of 4 free days in early October to head away and explore some new water.

After an hour of walking we decided to stop and begin fishing. We took it in turns casting to sighted fish and fishing riffles and runs blind. We didn't see many fish in the first hour and had a limited amount of shots, the day was overcast with the odd blue patch of sky appearing every now and then making spotting in the tea colored water a little easier at times. Dirk was the first to hook up , he was blind fishing through a likely run when his bright colored indicator took a dive, opening day rustiness and a slight glare off the water resulted in him not seeing or being quick enough to get a good hook set on the fish, a quick head shake and it was off, Fish1   Anglers 0

There are many bully species to be found in New Zealand waterways .The common bully is more often seen than the other species and can be found in a large range of habitats ranging from estuaries and rivers near the coast, and in many of our South Island lakes where they are an important food source for trout . In rivers, they mainly inhabit still or slow-flowing waters and thus are probably one of the most likely bullies to be seen.They live along the shallow stony edges of our rivers and lakes hiding among the rocks and weed beds.Trout can often be seen darting around in the shallows pursuing them.

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.