Fly Fishing Late Season in The South Island of New Zealand

Lots of Mayfly but no fish feeding on the surface? Try an Emerger pattern. The last 2 days with the cooler weather down here has seen me guiding on river "X". Yesterday saw several missed chances - got to be super quick on the strike. I have been running a tundten beaded PT with and emeger dropper ( a special home tie pattern) and have had great success. Yesterday saw two 9lbs brown trout to the bank. Today same river, much lower down on the system, same rig and 9 fish hooked with 3 lost.



As I said in the last post the cold weather would make the difference and it certainly has. The mayfly is on but make sure you choose the right method of attack - surface has not been working but sub-surface with the emerger has. Tommorrow may be different but then again maybe not! Choosing the right rig and fly's for the conditions at the time is a big part of the fly fishing game.

Lates Season Fishing down South New Zealand

The last week since Easter has seen some odd warm (ish) weather with quite large quanties of precip falling west of the divide with some signifacnt spill over. The eastern side has not recieved too much rain but with the temps being warmer (until now) on top of the large floods we recieved about 3 weeks ago in many areas have certainly taken a toll on the the big mayfly hatchs we normally get. Although there has been some good steady action on the lower Mataura and yesterday on the upper “X” saw a good mid afternnon hatch of mayfly with fish feeding on the sub surface on the emerger but no actual surface action.



With the cold and clear weather on us now and steady thru to Friday there should be stronger hatches and we should see trout coming to the surface to sip the mayfly a great deal more on most of the Southern rivers.




With only 9 days left to go before the lowland rivers close it’s nice to see some stable weather for a change. This season has certainly been hard due to the very chanageable weather patterns but with good local knowledge has produces some great fishing at times.

The back country rivers stay open until the end of May and if the weather patterns give us some decent weather there will be some more good fishing available for the keen angler.



I am starting to get ready for some duck shooting and have been bringing bags of feed back from Southland to feed our ponds - (evening shoots preferred) but I will get in a bit more trout fishing before I head up to Golden Bay in mid May for a wee break. I am taking some saltwater fly fishing gear in the vain hope there might be some snapper around still (they usually move on around the end of April to follow the warm water) - we will see.
NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Back country Rainbow

NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Back country Rainbow

My last few days of guiding have been interesting from the tuition front. An interesting point is how detrimental to good fly casting is the habit of wanting to overmuscle the rod to load it up as opposed to allowing good technique to work the rod and allow for clean excution of the presentation. It’s something we are all gulity of now and again and is probably excerbated by “hog fever” and trying too hard rather than feeling the smooth rhythm of good fly casting. To be sure powering the rod up takes musclar activity and especially so when it comes distance casting but the majority of trout we catch is in a 30 -45 ft distance using long (and sometimes very long) leaders. Having the skills to deliver an acurate cast the right length, first time can make a huge difference to the results at the end of the day…….practice your casting. Make the time to practice particularly before going on a trip. Practice casting is best done on the grass in the park and not while seeing a 8+ lbs New Zealand feeding parked in a tricky pool eye. Yes life is busy but do yourself a favour - PRACTICE - it will pay off!

Easter Fishing down South NZ

Thursday as promised the storm had passed and snow was lying low in the mountains we shot down to the Upper M for the afternoon. The river was still up and slightly discoloured but clean enough to spot to about waist deep. We found some nice trout and managed to hook 2 - one to the bank which was about a 5.5 lb jack fish in excellent condition. Very light mayfly hatch around 3 o’clock but no real surface activity.



Easter Friday saw us in Central for the day on the M with excellent conditions, blue bird and no wind. My beginners managed 4 to the bank nothing big, nice 2-3 lbs fish. In the back ground the sound of distant gun fire was echoing thru the valley due to the great Easter bunny hunt - teams of 10 head out on to different farms to help clear the rabbits - each team expects over the 48 hour shoot to nail about 1000 bunnies. With 20 teams out there blasting away you can imagine the sound!

The big O has been producing some good mayfly hatches between 1 and 4 pm and resulting in some nice fresh run trout - still quite full.

Reports from friends driving past the rivers has been plenty of fisherman out enjoying the long Easter weekend with anglers vehicles parked up all over the shop.

Autumn fishing is here.

Daylight saving time has changed back (thank goodness), the leaves are changing colour and there is one month left for the lowland rivers (the ones that run to the sea)these close on the last day of April and the high country rivers close at the end of May.

There is some great fishing from now until the end of the season with some good Mayfly action.

The Pommy had a very big and quite localised rain event about 2 weeks ago that created a very large flood event (it also hit the Waikaia but not as bad) which has seen debris left to very high levels up the banks and has certainly pushed fish back downstream and knocked them about. They will be moving up again.

The Oreti and Aparima have seen fresh fish moving up in last week and spawning runs are getting underway. It is no longer possible to target salmon in these systems due to the seasonal license restrictions in place from F&G. Even on poor light days blinding thru runs and riffles should produce a result or two - forget the aquarium pools unless you want to hit them after dark.

The Greenstone is now free slather (no booking system) again for all (if you have the correct licensing)until next season and is fishing well. The Caples is also fishing well and both are holding good numbers of fish and more Brownies are showing up in the systems. Even getting trout coming for cicadas still!

If you want to catch lots of fish, hitting the Mataura and working the riffles and waiting for the afternoon mayfly hatch is the way forward.

Quinnet salmon have been gathering at the heads of the lakes for their runs and the deltas have been productive.

Certainly now the days are shorter more gentlemanly fishing hours are available and there is some very productive fishing during the shorter light hours - particualry mid afternoon when the hatch is on!

Tight Lines,

Simon