Heading towards the coast to fish

When the conditions are really bad inland [ like TODAY!!! ] its always interesting to head towards the coast [ sunshine -no wind -no rain =:) ] its one of the many great aspects that sets this area apart from many other locations and to have options can be VITAL, so often super interesting things…

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Photos from a Recent South Island Angling Trip

Here are a few images from a recent and fun 3-day trip I was on in the last week of January. Each year it’s great to make a point of sharing time with good friends and for me, it’s just nice to get behind the rod again and make some of the mistakes I often…

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Beetle Mania !

We have for the past 3 weeks had the most amazing days, blue skies and high temperatures have brought on lush hatches of terrestrial insects the main species being beetles. Three types we have been seeing lots of are Green Beetles that live on NZ’s fabled Manuka plant (well known the world over for its honey).…

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Differing Views

This is has been so diverse in so many ways, in particular, the range of anglers I have guided in last week weeks from Malaysia, Norway Sweden, Japan, Australia and let’s not forget my growing list of New Zealand clients. Throughout November and December, we have travelled widely and for the most part, had fantastic…

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Season of farewell

  I feel remarkably humbled that Yukari Watanabe wanted some of her ashes placed in one of her favourite Canterbury Streams, and so today Yama did that and am not afraid to say I had tears in my eyes. Yukari first started with me in about 2003 and came over from Japan most years until…

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Heli Backcountry Fishing

Heli backcountry fishing. It’s not easy but again it gets results. It’s all about the “A GAME ‘ bring it with you – aim for it – work towards it and remember to look at the biodiversity of trout food from a small sample. Posted by Troutlands on Thursday, 26 October 2017 Posted by Troutlands on Thursday,…

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The new 2017-18 season starts

Well the new season is well underway having guided 8 days already with a total of 42 trout up to 9 pounds all clients very happy and we are only half way through October, this, however, is only numerics and speaks little of the experiences that make our days so engaging, adventuresome, educational and inspirational…

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Higher Flows, Scouting and New Streamer Patterns

As early spring is here and the days warming up I have been out and about fishing, scouting, exploring and testing out a few new streams patterns in a few rivers that are open all year round. This past winter we have experienced higher rainfalls and snowfalls than previous years so it’s fantastic to see…

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New Zealand Mayflies

As I fished this week it was heartening to see a very lush mayfly hatch about midday it’s not widely known but here in South Island we often get some of the best mayfly hatches during the early and late season. We have 3-4 common types of mayfly the most majestic being the Coloburiscus humeralis,…

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Introduction of Brown Trout to New Zealand

It is hard to believe that this year is 150 years since Brown trout were first introduced to New Zealand and how well they have done. The first live trout ova arrived at Lyttelton on 23rd September 1867 and there the story that I have a lot of passion for begins in a hatchery based…

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