Monthly Highlights
Below are photos and a story from the recent month's guided fly fishing trips in New Zealand's Central South Island.
January 2017
"Wild Wind"
It's like the needle stuck in the groove of an old LP record but, at the risk of sounding repetitious, the wild and windy conditions just keep on keeping on!
I counted only 6 windless days for the month and even then some of those 6 days would have had wind later in the evening.
Ron and Penny were actually "lucky". Out of 5 days angling only 3 were conducted in a howling gale! We originally had planned on an extra day's fishing but given the wild conditions we mutually decided to wave the white flag.
Below you can see the strength of the wind and a very persistent plover!!
It's a real test of will power going out fly fishing when the trees are swaying, the dust flying and most of the birds hunkered down in the trees. But we did!
The biggest issue with fly fishing in these conditions is being able to control the drift. It is possible to get the fly in the right zone but line control is nigh on impossible after presentation.
The fish unfortunately don't make allowances for all of this so if your fly drags they won't take it! The only good thing with wind is being able to get very close to trout allowing for a shorter cast.
Ron and Penny stuck at it and were rewarded with some really nice trout and I'm sure they will remain memorable given the difficulty in trying to catch them! Ron in particular persevered, where others would not have even considered fishing, in a run whilst being sandblasted by a howling head wind and was finally compensated by a really nice brownie hooked almost under his rod tip. You can't help but remember a fish like that!
Even Ron's will power weakened at one stage but I managed to persuade him to make those final few casts and the best fish of the day was his reward.
Penny was the unofficial photographer in such conditions but when the wind dropped it was, exit camera and "let me at 'em"!
Very good at being able to put the fly "on the money" she too caught some beauties.
We, kiwi guides, keep saying you need to have 6wt rods to handle our conditions (a 7wt would have been even better) and if there was ever a demonstration of that, this was it - just ask Penny and Ron!"
 |
 |
|
| Action shot of aerial rainbow. | ... and the end result. | |
 |
 |
|
| Another cracker for Ron. | One of nature's little gems - matagouri! | |
 |
 |
|
| Only one way across! | Penny's first cast nabbed this beauty. | |
 |
 |
|
| Rod working overtime to dig a fish out from under the willows. | The bend in the rod says it all! |
