Well guys,
I think ive been to heaven,
just got back from NZ and what a hell of a trip it was.
Didnt do a whole lot of fishing maybe 6 sessions over the two weeks as there is just so much to see and we covered both islands pretty well.
We flew into Hamilton and shot accross to Rotorua did a few of the tourist things including visit to Paradise Valley Springs (Highly reccommend), the trout in the pools here are just something else. Well worth a look.
Well next stop was taupo and my chance to have a crack at the fish.
This was also the venue for my engagement proposal!
We Managed to get onto a few smaller fish straight away before Moira lost a good fish.
Soon after I dropped a good fish but luckily landed a nice rainbow around 4.5lbs.
It was a great day out and I can thoroughly reccommend Dragonfly River Guides to anyone looking in the Taupo district. Great guy and taught us a hell of a lot , Il definitely be back in the not too distant future!
We then travelled down to Wellington Via the Tongariro Trout Centre, also well worth a look for anyone going over to NZ.
The next step was getting to the South Island and hopefully more fishing.
Caught the ferry into Picton (unreal trip), and made our way over to Nelson,
the next day rained so we drove past the buller region and made it to the west coast, still no fishing and I was getting desperate,
From what i had read the westcoast/glacial rivers didnt hold as many fish so we pressed on,
did the touristy things around queenstown and Wanaka etc, before heading to the Eglinton Valley.
We stayed in the cabins at Knobs Flat (Heart of the Eglinton Valley), what a spot.
We did the milford cruise thing and then fished the Eglinton the next day for nothing.
One of the most spectacular places to fish in the world im guessing, definately one of the best spots ive seen.
The only thing is that the fish numbers must be low as i didnt see anything and the water is crystal, crystal clear making things hard.
Next one was the Waiau in TeAnau, This place is chockers with fish, spotted trophy fish all over the place but couldnt tempt any on dries and cicada
immitations. Tried nymphing and before too long i hooked a cracker fish, ran me into the backing in about 5 seconds as it headed for the middle of the fast flowing river. The leader broke about 1/3 of the way down soon after, im guessing he ran me into a snag. My partner also managed a good rainbow here but dropped it at our feet as it containually jumped.
Dropped into Stus Fly Shop on the way down and the advice Mel gave us was great so had to call in on the way back to thank her,
Grabbed a few more flies and had a quick Chat. Great shop an absolute must for anyone heading to the Southland.
Next stop was the Ahuriri in Omarama, Fished close into town and it wasn’t long before Moira had a fish on the bank, she would have hooked over 20 fish in the one pool (spinning), but I was struggling, as we got further away from town the fishing got better with a foul hooked rainbow of about 4-5lb launching a couple of times before pulling the hooks on me.
Next was perhaps the best and worst moment of my life,
Managed to Hook, fight and play out a trophy brown, would have been around the 6lb mark as it was quite a bit bigger than the larger rainbow I had caught in the north. Fought him for a good ten minutes and had moved about 150m from where he was hooked. He slowly came towards me on a shallow bank as there wasn’t really anywhere to beach him. Looking at the fish I knew getting him in the net was going to be a problem, he was just way too big..
I could not believe the colour of him when I got a first look, orange colouring with spectacular spots and prime condition, this fish jumped as well by the way.....I thought browns weren’t meant to...? Anyways I had a few attempts at landing him before finally getting him on the side in shallow water. slid the net into position when the almost dead fish had a second wind and took off catching the first nymph in the net and snapping off the fish.......
I nearly cried as I watched him swim off, the sage nearly went over my knee too.
worst moment in my life, losing the best fish id ever seen let alone hooked
We pressed on and I managed to hook another brown of around 2lb but dropped him soon after the hookup.
Very quiet walk back to the car followed.
Next stop was my last chance to fish so we headed for the Tekapo.
Within the first few casts I hooked up to a good fish,
Soon after I managed to land a Nice Rainbow around the 4lb mark
Fished a few kms of the river for only one small brown and pulled the pin
Made our way back to Christchurch and flew out the next day,
Over all an amazing trip in an amazing place,
I’ve already began the talks about moving there, don’t think IL have much luck unfortunately,
Definitely heaven for any flyfisho.
Heres a few pics for you all,
didnt worry about them all as we took over 1000 photos haha
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Originally Posted by NAGG
