You would think that we might go and check out some hot springs or do some general sightseeing by this stage ... but no, we just went fishing every day instead. We weren’t exactly here to procreate with arachnids or skinny dip in the warmest water you could find – I’ve seen Paul’s man-back and it aint my cup of coffee!
We kept ploughing away on the big T river and checked out some others during spells of enthusiasm.One such river was a full days’ mission and we snuck off, keen as ever.
It was kind of back country, but also quite accessible for those who know how to get there. We stomped off downstream to walk as far as we could to then fish our way back before dark.
There was some very cool fishing here and most of our fish came to dries but we still encountered tricky fish that would only eat the nymph and sometimes after many presentations. At one stage, I gave up on a school of 7 or 8 fish only to have Shauno come through and catch two of them in quick succession – The kid has gills.
We all scored a few fish and spent around 40 minutes trying to tempt a really great fish on the edge of the main flow. This fish was probably between 8-10lb and has become way bigger with every person I tell! Paul reckons it ate my fly at one stage but I’m a stubborn bastard and refuse to admit it.
I managed to catch one fish that took me into the backing twice and I thought it must have been huge, only to learn that I foul hooked the thing, still fun though!
We finally encountered a couple of browns paired up and Paul converted his target. Shaun had a crack at the next one and got it to eat after a few attempts. He played it well but the fish busted him off, only to jump clear out of the water 2 or 3 times trying to throw the hook. It was pretty cool to watch and I think Paul filmed that bit. It’s in the film I’ll embed below.
On the way back to the car it was starting to get dark but we couldn’t resist smacking a few pools, it would be a crying shame to leave them out.
Paul blamed the fading light but I reckon it was his casting that caused this…
The next day we fished a very low ‘TT’ River – It needed rain but it was beautifully clear and a pleasure to fish. Some sections were far to low to hold fish but due to the masses of water that often rush through here, holding water was a plenty and that holding water is what we aimed for. We caught a few fish here and there but it was pretty tough going and the fish were exceptionally spooky.
Not helped by the fact that we encountered a family swimming, some rafters coming downstream and a guy who’d been fishing upstream of us all day. Still, I was happy to get a couple more on Stu’s Deadly Cicada which along with my own patterns, had been pretty good to me.
They say all good things come to an end but I wasn’t too deterred, we had experienced some unreal fishing in tough conditions and the scenery was to die for. The people were friendly, the country has their act together in terms of their fishery, their tourism and their amazing environment.
We fished hard to end the trip and I was happy to finally trick some fussy feeders on the evening rise with the trusty old F-Fly the night before I flew home. The boys stayed on a few more days where they had some rad fishing with Fishy Steve and Shauno landed a beauty.
Thanks for the run fellas and thank you to everyone who helped us along the way. I’ll see you next time New Zealand ... you really are fully sick eh bro.
Many thanks to Brendan, Paul and Shaun for letting me use the article. If you like all things fly fishing or would like to see more images and video footage shot on this trip visit www.iheartthefly.com
Later this year Paul is off on yet another epic fly fishing adventure. Starting with some bone-fishing in Hawaii just to loosen the arm a bit. Then he's revisiting the Kenai peninsular in Alaska for a few days steelhead fishing. Then Iceland for 19 days chasing sea trout, salmon and Arctic char. After that a quick three days in Finland before popping into Mongolia for the final leg ... fishing for the worlds largest trout ... the Hucho taimen !
Its like we always say ... keep on the move to catch the fish.
