I am writing this newsletter on one of my few days off. Its been, and continues to be, a very busy and productive time guiding. During October, I guided 27 days and what a fantastic start to the new season – welcoming back international anglers and many repeat Kiwi clients.
It has been a diverse set of internationals, including those from Norway, the USA, Australia and Malaysia, to name a few. For the most part, the fishing has been fantastic, never easy, but highly rewarding. Mayfly Hatches have been lush, so lots of technical long leader work using a mix of emergers – dry flies and small nymphs one repeat client John Roberts who has been coming with me since 1998, dubbed parts of his first South Island in 2 years as a “Fishcoma” a term I feel in love with so check out #fishcoma.
As always, diversity has been the key within my guiding locations and water types; we have had many long walk days reaching far away into backcountry rivers resulting in some larger Trout i.e. 9.5 Pound Brown for Jason – 8.5 Pound Rainbow for John, along with a swag of good fish in 4-7 pound range most of these fish were taken using heavy nymphs and lots of adventures had and one day we saw Gandalf’s Horse Shadowfax :). Some superbly large and extremely well-conditioned fish near the ocean (Searun Brown Trout) we have been skillfully sight fished using a mix of small nymphs and streamers, the best so far going in an 8.75 Pound for kiwi client Mike Abel. Spring creeks, small streams and meadow creeks have also been our domain and are such a pleasure to be in and around as nature gets busy with spring these small waters throw up some incredible Jewels, such as a wonderful 7-pounder taken on a 4wt rod and dry fly by yet another kiwi angler Tony Gibling. High country lakes recently opened, adding to the wide diversity of options that await clients carefully chosen to match the ever-changing weather and water conditions we have.
November and December are mostly booked up, but I have some availability for next year, so don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like me to help you with a special South Island Guided trip. I am so happy and excited to be back into full guide mode again and sharing my accumulated knowledge with you to forge lifetime memories and experiences !!! ” these are the good old days,” coming to grab some …