Go on line and purchase your license now at Fish and Game www.fishandgame.org.nz and you will get a plastic credit card style one sent to you. Read the regulations!
Check what state you left your gear in at the end of last season and take the required action to have it ready to go for opening day - you want to be fishing not buggering around!
Check you leader and change it should it show ANY signs of wear and tear. Test all the knots in your rig!
If you have felt soled boots that are in good nick try taking them to your local shoe repair guy and see if he can do something for you. If they are in a average state just buy a new set of rubber soles (with tungstan studs)and be done with it!
Take a spare rod with you just in case one of those big beaded nymphs has hit your rod at the end of last season and is just waiting to go and really piss you off on opening day!
As time goes on I will publish more top fishing advice for you light reading enjoyment.
Tight Lines.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Cowboy guides
There's plenty of dodgy fishing guides out there, the fly by the seat of your pants and hope you don't get caught kind of guides who generally are poor at what they do, endanger people in all sorts of ways and give fishing guides a bad rap.
The question is how do you spot them so you can then stay clear of them?
Well here's a couple of things to remember:
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys!
Many cowboy guides prices are considerable cheaper than professional fishing guides as they do not adhere to the costs of actually running a business or the regulations of running such a business and are highly detrimental to the fishing guiding business and NZ tourism in general.
Examples of this include:
Not having commercially licensed vehicles or the correct licensing to drive them. Not having Department of Conservation (DoC) concessions to guide fishing while on DoC estate.
Not having commercial insurance.
Not having a audited safety operations plan.
Not having up to date first aid qualifications.
Not having secure means of taking payments.
Excepting only cash payments.
One of the first things you can do to avoid the cowboys is only hire guides who are New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides Association (NZPFGA) members as they have MOST of the above covered by their membership with the NZPFGA. Once you have got that far you should then check a couple of things with them:
Have they got a commercially licensed vehicle and the correct licensing to drive it?
How much experience do they have guiding fishing in that region?
What is the time length for the guided day?
If you do this then you stand a great chance of getting a very good guide but yes you will have to pay a bit more for it but it should make the overall experience so much better and also so much safer.
Tight Lines!
The question is how do you spot them so you can then stay clear of them?
Well here's a couple of things to remember:
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys!
Many cowboy guides prices are considerable cheaper than professional fishing guides as they do not adhere to the costs of actually running a business or the regulations of running such a business and are highly detrimental to the fishing guiding business and NZ tourism in general.
Examples of this include:
Not having commercially licensed vehicles or the correct licensing to drive them. Not having Department of Conservation (DoC) concessions to guide fishing while on DoC estate.
Not having commercial insurance.
Not having a audited safety operations plan.
Not having up to date first aid qualifications.
Not having secure means of taking payments.
Excepting only cash payments.
One of the first things you can do to avoid the cowboys is only hire guides who are New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides Association (NZPFGA) members as they have MOST of the above covered by their membership with the NZPFGA. Once you have got that far you should then check a couple of things with them:
Have they got a commercially licensed vehicle and the correct licensing to drive it?
How much experience do they have guiding fishing in that region?
What is the time length for the guided day?
If you do this then you stand a great chance of getting a very good guide but yes you will have to pay a bit more for it but it should make the overall experience so much better and also so much safer.
Tight Lines!
Friday, September 5, 2008
If you don't ask you won't get!
If you don't ask you won't get! If you do ask you might!!
One of the things I find interesting is that many costing structures fishing guides use includes having to pay a commission to agents who send them business. This may be up to 20% and is one of the costs of running a business based in the tourism industry in New Zealand. Because of this, that cost gets built into the retail price and that what is offered as the advertised retail price (unless the business owner is either dumb or is not dealing with agents - unlikely)to you the general public.
In the quieter months of the season (October, November, April and May)in the South Island ask for a discount and you may be pleasantly surprised. The guide may not offer you a 20% discount but I think most people would be happy getting a 10% discount. Of course as the busy months of the season arrive (December, January, Feburary and March the answer is more the likely to be "no, bugger off" if you had the audacity to ask in the first place. Basically it is a supply and demand issue and everybody is busy over those months!
Ask me for a discount in October or May and I will most certainly offer you 10% and you might be lucky and get 15% off but it depends on your bargaining skills.
Another scenario that pops up all over New Zealand is the many "fly by night guides" who are operating completely illegally - check out my next post and I will give you the low down on how to avoid the cowboys!
Tight Lines
One of the things I find interesting is that many costing structures fishing guides use includes having to pay a commission to agents who send them business. This may be up to 20% and is one of the costs of running a business based in the tourism industry in New Zealand. Because of this, that cost gets built into the retail price and that what is offered as the advertised retail price (unless the business owner is either dumb or is not dealing with agents - unlikely)to you the general public.
In the quieter months of the season (October, November, April and May)in the South Island ask for a discount and you may be pleasantly surprised. The guide may not offer you a 20% discount but I think most people would be happy getting a 10% discount. Of course as the busy months of the season arrive (December, January, Feburary and March the answer is more the likely to be "no, bugger off" if you had the audacity to ask in the first place. Basically it is a supply and demand issue and everybody is busy over those months!
Ask me for a discount in October or May and I will most certainly offer you 10% and you might be lucky and get 15% off but it depends on your bargaining skills.
Another scenario that pops up all over New Zealand is the many "fly by night guides" who are operating completely illegally - check out my next post and I will give you the low down on how to avoid the cowboys!
Tight Lines
Thursday, September 4, 2008
South Island Rivers to re-open soon after spawning season- Felts soles Banned
With less than one month until our lowland rivers (The South Island of New Zealand) re-open on the 1st October the usual excitement is beginning to build. I am keen to get back on the water and start my seasonal exploratory duties of checking out the various waters around and track down some big trout for standby when the right clients and conditions avail themselves. You can bet your arse that I will do a bit of fishing too!
Felts have now been officially banned by the Minster - see below:
To reduce the risk of didymo spread, Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick today agreed to the New Zealand Fish and Game Council recommendation to restrict the use of footwear with felt soles by fishing licence holders.
“Our world-famous trout fisheries are threatened by the invasive alga ‘rock snot’, or didymo. While didymo is currently only in some South Island rivers, it could be easily spread to other places and we are taking these steps now to protect our precious waterways,” Steve Chadwick said.
The new condition is part of the Anglers Notice and comes into affect from the beginning of the fishing season on 1 October.
“The New Zealand Fish and Game Council has recommended that people who hold a licence to fish for trout, and other sports fish, should contribute to the national campaign to halt the spread of didymo by not using felt-soled waders when fishing.
“Given that felt-soled waders, and similar footwear, are very difficult to clean using the ‘Check Clean Dry’ approach, I have accepted the Council’s advice.
“It is important that fishers realise that this restriction does not remove the risk of didymo spread – it will address one particularly high risk, but we still need them to continue to be vigilant about cleaning other equipment.
“The ‘Check Clean Dry’ practice is critical to fight against didymo and other freshwater pests. Fishers have a special responsibility to help care for the trout fisheries that are the basis of their sport, and I urge them to continue to vigilantly follow Biosecurity guidelines.
“I will also be asking both the Department of Conservation and Fish and Game councils to increase their monitoring and education work relating to other vectors of didymo in freshwater, as part of the Biosecurity NZ nationwide campaign.
“I acknowledge that some anglers will need to change the types of soles they use, however, no-one wants to see didymo spread further, and the negative impact of didymo reaching their favourite fishery would be far greater than meeting the costs of this restriction.”
Some waders and boots used by freshwater fishers have a sole made from a thick felted material, which poses a very high biosecurity risk as micro-organisms, such as didymo, can become trapped in the felt, and cannot be killed by the normal cleaning methods used with other footwear. There are alternative soles available, and waders can be re-soled.
Check Clean Dry
Check Clean Dry
Check Clean Dry
Felts have now been officially banned by the Minster - see below:
To reduce the risk of didymo spread, Conservation Minister Steve Chadwick today agreed to the New Zealand Fish and Game Council recommendation to restrict the use of footwear with felt soles by fishing licence holders.
“Our world-famous trout fisheries are threatened by the invasive alga ‘rock snot’, or didymo. While didymo is currently only in some South Island rivers, it could be easily spread to other places and we are taking these steps now to protect our precious waterways,” Steve Chadwick said.
The new condition is part of the Anglers Notice and comes into affect from the beginning of the fishing season on 1 October.
“The New Zealand Fish and Game Council has recommended that people who hold a licence to fish for trout, and other sports fish, should contribute to the national campaign to halt the spread of didymo by not using felt-soled waders when fishing.
“Given that felt-soled waders, and similar footwear, are very difficult to clean using the ‘Check Clean Dry’ approach, I have accepted the Council’s advice.
“It is important that fishers realise that this restriction does not remove the risk of didymo spread – it will address one particularly high risk, but we still need them to continue to be vigilant about cleaning other equipment.
“The ‘Check Clean Dry’ practice is critical to fight against didymo and other freshwater pests. Fishers have a special responsibility to help care for the trout fisheries that are the basis of their sport, and I urge them to continue to vigilantly follow Biosecurity guidelines.
“I will also be asking both the Department of Conservation and Fish and Game councils to increase their monitoring and education work relating to other vectors of didymo in freshwater, as part of the Biosecurity NZ nationwide campaign.
“I acknowledge that some anglers will need to change the types of soles they use, however, no-one wants to see didymo spread further, and the negative impact of didymo reaching their favourite fishery would be far greater than meeting the costs of this restriction.”
Some waders and boots used by freshwater fishers have a sole made from a thick felted material, which poses a very high biosecurity risk as micro-organisms, such as didymo, can become trapped in the felt, and cannot be killed by the normal cleaning methods used with other footwear. There are alternative soles available, and waders can be re-soled.
Check Clean Dry
Check Clean Dry
Check Clean Dry
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