Exploring New Water

When you get a chance to go fishing, you generally want to get the biggest bang for your buck. You will often want to catch plenty of fish and this usually means fishing a water you know like the back of your hand and catching fish you have given names to. While fishing your tried and true rivers and lakes can be a nice nostalgic experience, there is nothing like the reward of catching a fish on water you have never fished before.

So how does one find new water? For a start, it is highly improbable that you have fished every single stream or lake that is listed in the Fish and Game regulations booklet. Give a new one of these a try, especially the lesser known ones. You may not catch as many fish as you would on your reliable, regular waters but you may just find you stumble across an underfished goldmine!

Then there are the streams that aren't even listed by Fish and Game. These streams are usually very small with tight forest coverage and very remote but can actually provide some really awesome fishing. With advances in technology like Google Maps, finding these streams has become a whole lot easier.

On Tuesday, Josh and I hit up a western King Country stream we hadn't fished before. What we found was a beautiful stream surrounded by typical New Zealand bush and plenty of rainbow trout in the 1 to 3 pound range. We didn't catch as many fish as we would fishing a stream we know really well like the Mangatutu but we did learn a whole heap and had a really rewarding experience.

New water success!

I understand that most people don't get to go fishing as much as we do, we are pretty lucky like that. Because of this, when most people do manage to get out, they want to head somewhere that will net them some pretty good results, which is fair enough too. However, as Josh mentioned in the last post, fly fishing is not just about catching as many fish as possible but enjoying yourself and finding enjoyment in the little things. There are few things more satisfying in fly fishing than discovering a new area that may become one of your favourite spots.

Josh leaning into one

So I challenge you to go beyond what you know next time you head out and find something new, you may be pleasantly surprised!