The following three excerpts perhaps best illustrate a typical guided fishing experience in New Zealand and the services we provide.

I have fly fished New Zealand usually for a week or so per trip for over a decade. Having fished in many other places, I consider it to be the best trout fishing in the world. But even for an experienced angler like me, it is challenging, often difficult weather, savvy, huge trout and gin clear waters. To meet these challenges, I have had the honor and pleasure of working with ace New Zealand guide Martin Langlands. Martin is a master at his craft. From long experience, he knows weather, waters, strategies, big trout, battling big trout, and what flies big trout eat {like me, you may be surprised}. Given my years with Martin, I could tell you many stories about his expert guidance in catching life time memory big browns, but you might not believe them. I encourage you to live your own stories with Martin. You may be amazed! In addition to his fishing expertise, Martin is an accomplished artist and naturalist. For a long time, Martin has been not only my NZ fishing guide, but also a trusted friend.

Meet the challenge with the best.

My first guided trip with Martin was in 1998 and I keep coming back for more.

Martin is a committed guide and expert fisherman. In the six years we have fished in all conditions, flood, drought, rain, snow and gale force winds but Martin always seems to have some spot out of the weather and onto the fish!!

Martin continues to introduce me to new water at each visit and his knowledge extends beyond the standard fly patterns - he makes flies that trout want!

My own skills have improved under his tutelage and I can’t recommend Martin’s dedication enough. See you in another six months!

Dr John Roberts   Sydney, Australia

 
Jim and Martin at the start of day

Dear Martin, I wanted to thank you personally for a wonderful trip. I learned the most from you of any guide I was with, you are tops. 

Jim Vincent  Owner  Rio Products  Idaho Falls USA

I enjoyed some of the greatest fly fishing of my life past December{2003} with Martin Langlands. Martin has a voluminous knowledge of the Canterbury region waters, and of the habits of their estimable trout. The tremendous diversity of these waters-from classic spring creeks set against stunning mountainscape, to coastal rivers brimming with sea-run browns, to alpine freestones with willing rainbows, and more- offers a fest of fishing opportunities. Martin always seemed to make the right call among these tantalizing choices, matching water, weather and other fishing variables to my fishing interests and abilities. The more I fished with Martin, the more I realized this wasn’t just luck or even good instincts, but instead the product of long experience and everyday diligence. Martin was up early every morning, had checked water and weather conditions region –wide. The result was that we had interesting, challenging, and fun fishing every day we fished together. Martin, like all of the great New Zealand guides, has great fish –spotting abilities. But unlike some, he also is a thoughtful and inquisitive fisherman and fly tier, and not just a follower of fly fishing convention. I left not only with fond memories of some great fishing, but with profoundly improved fishing knowledge.

George Bisharat  Ca USA 

"The first morning our very competent guide, Martin Langlands, took us to a small meadow stream in beautiful pastoral country. My first impression was the kind of little stream where we catch 6- to 8- inch brook trout back in New England. I asked Martin to name the stream. He very politely didn't tell me, and later I found out why. The stream wasn't 15 feet across in most places. There were some riffles you could walk across without getting your ankles wet. Yet in most of the deeper pools, there were monster brown trout. Approach and stealth were everything. We were told to wear earth-tone clothes and fish a New Zealand gray line... We mostly used slightly weighted nymphs. We caught several nice brown trout, none under 4 pounds. The largest was 6.5 pounds. We lost several much larger fish, one the guide estimated at 9 pounds.

   The second day out of Christchurch we went to an entirely different area and fished a feeder stream of a lake called Colleridge. This was a very fast flowing little river coming off some rather high mountains which are quite famous for the hunting of chamois.  It was primarily a rainbow river. The fish weren't plentiful, but they were magnificent. Romi and our friend Tommy Reese each caught  7- pound rainbows. I worked some fussy rainbows in a feeder spring creek with little success and finally broke off on a monster that ran under a tree root.

  The third day was, again, an entirely different river similar to and larger than the brown trout creek we fished the first day. We caught and released, and lost several very nice brown trout on dries and nymphs"

Email received from Steve Cain   Chicago IL, USA

"well i've been limping around today and actually loving it because its a constant reminder of the great day i had yesterday. the fishing experience that i was lucky enough to encounter will be in my memory for a lifetime. it was not only the amazing fish that i will never forget, but it is the beauty of the canyon, the observation of the big wild brown trout and the nice thoughts and conversations i shared with you. it was so exciting running down the river banks chasing a trophy fish while you yelled out instructions. in my opinion that is an experience that 99.9% of people will never have and its a shame because its as thrilling as anything i have ever done"

"...Martin provided a memorable experience which far exceeded my already high expectations.   Most remarkable about Mr. Langlands are his abilities and his knowledge of the resource. He is very intune with the fisheries of his area and the factors which effect them. We fished new waters every day and covered a lot of miles. Conditions varied from stream to stream and even from hour to hour. Martin was not only prepared for this diversity he seemed to thrive on it. In fact, one day we encountered conditions so severe that we considered calling it "quits" shortly after lunch. With Martins guidance and spirit we persevered, and at the end of that long day I landed the best fish of the trip. Martin Langlands is  truly a professional, He has perfected his craft. On top of all that, he is a fantastically interesting fellow. I anticipate many happy returns to fish with Martin, and I could not recommend him more strongly." Brian Hilden San Francisco, California

Brian Hilden in Paradise