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!

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

Update from Fly fishing New Zealand

I am just about to post a vid blog but in the mean time:

The lower 1/3rd of the South Isalnd has been fishing well.

The Cicada season on the west coast is at an end and in-land has been reltively poor due to the regular cold snaps we have been getting over summer killing off the grub.

Sea runs have started appearing in some of our better know sea running rivers and also chinnook salmon are showing up. The Clutha River belkow Roxburgh is one example of this where a solid amount of large salmon have been caught.

The latest cold snap produced teh coldest day in QT in March since 1991 and also a solid flush thru most of the river systems. This should only help induce more fish to run up these systems and we are lookinglike getting some excellent mid to late season fishing.

Tight Lines,

Simon

Latest Reports from SW Guiding - Fly Fishing New Zealand

Back from Safari

Going on a New Zealand Fly Fishing Safari

A week in Southland and Otago Fly fishing

Please check out the accompanying video fly fishing blog that goes with this post.

Some tips on how to fight NZ trout

Here are some tips for fighting trout that I always find useful and spend time constantly telling people - they should up your catch rate (unless you count long line releases):

1. Use the strongest leader and tippet you think you can get away with.

2. Make sure you check your leader and tippet for any weaknesses before you cast to that hog.

3. Keep the rod tip up - show the fish the butt (not your's - the rod's). If you have a low flat rod you will shock load the tippet and risk losing the fish.

4. Keep your check (tension) low - enough to stop over spooling only - use your index and forefinger with the line running through it to increase or decrease tension when you need to. If you really need too up the check when you have the chance.

5. If the trout makes a long run away from you that will take care of all the lose line spooling around in the water.

6. Get on the reel.

7. Clear the hand from the reel (completely when the trout runs).

8. If the trout runs at you - strip line in (from behind the hand that the fingers are controlling the line tension with and if possible move away from the fish.

9. If you are in the water - move out of it when you get the chance - it's always fun when the trout swims between your legs.

10. Get your hands up above your head (until you too get tired). the extra 2-3 feet elevation on the rod will lift the trouts' head up (great on brownies) and allow you to maneuver the trout where you want it to go more easily.

12. Soft wrists when the trout goes airborne - if you lower the rod tip and end up with too much slack as you lift you may shock the tippet.

13. Use rod angle to direct the fish where you want it to go as much as possible.

14. Always keep one eye on the fish while you move over tricky terrain during the battle.

14. Be aware of the terrain - as much as a river runs through it, a lost fish is better than drowning.

15. The battle is not over until the fish is in the net or up the bank.

16. The net is unlike a tennis racket.

17. Try not to water net unless there is no other option - keep one foot on the bank.

18. If you are fishing with a friend communicate throughout the battle - generally the guy on the rod is the Chief and the net guy the Indian.

19. Fight Hard

20. Unless it's really necessary don't use a net - beach the fish.

21. Beg, steal or buy a set of knee high stockings - cut the toe end off - wear one on a wrist while fishing - when you go to handle the trout (with wet hands) roll it down and you will find you can get a much less slippery hold on the fish until you release it.

22. You can hold the trout quite firmly just in front of the tail fin (with the stocking hand) while the other rests very gently under the belly.

23. Photograph and take dimensions quickly. While you are doing this give the trout a drink between photos.

24. Hold the fish upstream in light flowing water (maybe behind a rock).

25. Release hands and watch the fish swim away to battle for another day.

Another Spring Week chasing trout in NZ

Local knowledge and good use of the 'net can be key - after the last rainstorm pretty much all the waters dirtied up and many fly fishers would have been disappointed. I did the research on the 'net and then the miles and dropped into a back country river which was at a higher flow but had remained clean while the catchment next door was dirty and all those around were blown out.

It ended up to be a great day with 9 trout to the bank and one long line release with quite a few other chances as well. Some on the dry and some on nymph with the same patterns from my last blog post being effective.

Check out my net vibes page:

http://www.netvibes.com/swguiding#SW_Guiding_Public_Fishing_Info

You will find access to some useful info you can get to for trout fishing purposes off the net all in one neat place.

Time flies

Well some how it's been nearly 3 weeks since I wrote my last blog. I have been busy guiding and been all over the shop in both 4WD and Heli fishing mode with single day trips and multi day trips. The weather has continued to be spring like but there has been some absolute stunning fishing days. The fishing has been a mix of nymph and dry fly fishing with more of the latter starting to come into play. We have been enjoying the use of the usual suspects - Green humpies, Royal Wullfs and Blow flies and there has been some reasonable brown beetle activity around in the evenings too. Nymphs will continue to play a valuable role through out the season. I have had good success with emergers and soft hackles also over the last 2 weeks.

All the backcounrty fisheries I have evisited have been holdinng good numbers of rainbow trout higher up the system and the brown trout seem to more abundant lower down. The brown trout are all in seeming great condition early season and of the rainbow trout are post spawning with the exception of course as is the always the case when it comes to fishing.

I am seeing a great deal of masting in the beech trees and there might be a good mouse season coming up around the place!

The next week looks a little unsettled again but lets wait and see and take it as it comes.

Get in to Queenstown Sports world and get geared up.

Remember Check Clean and Dry.

Tight Lines

Another week in the Southern region

After the last storm that brought snow to low levels throughout Southland and into Otago and even Canterbury as expected the rivers flows remained low due to the cold keeping the snow from melting. We had one of those rare blue bird days with a light southerly yesterday - the southern fly fishers wet dream! Being a Sunday many folks were out to enjoy some fishing before or after voting and I am sure many had great fishing. We certainly did with most fishing taking nymphs but the odd fish free rising from time to time and a quick switch to a black gnat proving a wise change.

We did see something a little off putting yesterday. On a river that has a series of beats and anglers access signs right beside a main road but not a single vehicle at any of them we decide to stop and use one of the beats for our mornings fishing. We rigged and walked over to the river and dropped about 100m below the vehicle to start walking up and very shortly encountered a vehicle on the far bank that doesn't have public road access and is all farm land. I walked up to the one figure I could see and he informed me that he had driven down that side and dropped 4 fisherman off (so there was 5 fisherman in total) spread out over the next 4 fishing beats upstream. I said ok mate we are out of here and headed off to another area and had a successful day. Now I have no problem with other parties of fishermen, its parr for the course in rivers with roads beside them, however trying to be a sneaky and driving down the other side of the river thru farm land dropping of so many other fisherman when there are public anglers access signs from the other side is not really fair in my book. We were lucky that we realized what the situation was very early in our day and got out of dodge city but it could easily have been different and our day would have been wrecked. These jokers could have used two road public accesses and put 2 parties of two fisherman together, left the vehicle at one of the accesses and a sign at the other rather than spreading them out over 4 beats with no indication of them even being there from the public accesses. I am pretty sure that most other anglers would have been very annoyed to see this kind of conduct going on and it should not be condoned in any way.

If there are public accesses, use them. Leave a sign in your vehicle saying which way you went, UPSTREAM or DOWNSTREAM and if you want to be really nice write the time down you started off on the sign as well.

New Zeland Southern Spring Weather and fly fishing

Yesterday I had the opportunity to drop down to the Lumsden accommodation and do some work around the yard etc and then took off from there on a big circuit checking water out.

Upper Mataura - big flow and green murk - no sight fishing - fishable
Lower Mataura - Big flow green/brown - no sight fishing - worm country!
Oreti @ Lumsden - Big flow green/brown - no sight fishing - Woolly buggers and worm country
Oreti @ Mossburn - Big flow green/brown - no sight fishing- Woolly buggers and worm country
Aparima - Big flow brown - no sight fishing - Woolly buggers and worm country
Hamilton Burn - Big brown - no sight fishing - Woolly buggers and worm country
Waraki - Medium flow - clean - sight fishing
Borland - Medium/big flow - tan clean - semi sight fishing
Lower Waiu - Big flow - brown - no sight fishing - woolly buggers and worm country
Mararoa - Big flow - brown - no sight fishing - woolly buggers and worm country
Upper Waiau - Big Flow - clean

More rain overnight turned to snow this morning for a short period so more water has been sent into the catchments and when it warms up again there will be plenty of melt coming off too.