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 2019
This trout took us on a long run!It's been a complete transformation from the incessant rain prior to Christmas. The land has dried up considerably and the river levels on the plains have dropped dramatically. The hot weather is far from ideal for trout fishing unless you are fishing in colder spring or mountain fed waters.
That said, we recently witnessed an incredible event. The day started off very warm and muggy and unlikely to produce any kind of mayfly hatch. There was an occasional rise here and there - nothing to key into then all of a sudden the temperature plummeted and the trout really got going. A very intense hatch which unfortunately lasted less then 10 minutes ensued - just enough time to bag two lovely emerger feeding brown trout.
As quickly as it started it was all over as a southerly change put paid to any further surface activity. That is part of what I call "luck". No matter what your skill level is, at the end of the day a lot of trout fishing comes down to that old cliché of being in the right place at the right time .......
This month Kei, Thomas, Dan and Ben were among my guests. Kei is a real character. A very likeable chap, very keen to learn and great company.
A highlight of our time out on the water was the rescue of a merino ewe lamb. The lamb had dropped down the bank on the far side of the river for a drink at the edge of a very deep pool and just couldn't figure out how to get back up!
We hatched a plan which consisted of me crossing over to try and catch it while Kei acted as backstop. The lamb panicked as I approached and plunged into the water dog paddling downstream into the waiting arms of Kei. After Kei's great catch the lamb was safely back on terra firma. A couple of photos later I returned the terrified lamb back to the far side to rejoin the others in the mob. I'm certain that without our intervention she would have
eventually jumped in only to be swept downstream by the fast flowing current into the willow trees where she would have been trapped and drowned.That rescue was a "buzz" for us both - not an every day occurrence by any means and something to tell your mates about. We've got the photos to prove it!
Just good friends!
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| Beaut rainbow on the Twizel River. | Dan scored this great brown trout on a one day trip. | ||
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| From the big smoke to a peaceful country stream! A happy Thomas with a pretty brown trout. | I was just minding my own business and then this fly came along..... | ||
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| Kei with a lovely spotted brown trout. | This trout has had enough of us! | ||
