Switch It Up

While many out there patiently wait for the winter to bugger off and the warm days of summer to come back, there are those of us who just need our fishing fix. Wet, cold, windy and almost verging on horizontal sleet won't keep us off the river. An unquenchable appetite to be out there are more than enough of a remedy to make the shittiest day weather wise more than worth it. Add a good pair of dry waders, a decent jacket and a big switch rod to haul a few big flies across the river countless times and you get a pretty good picture of what you will encounter with us.

These big switch rods have really opened up a new world of fishing for us. Initially it was explored with eyes set firmly on the big wild waters of North America as a destination but once we slogged through a few days of learning from each other, a broken rod (mine) and no short amount of flies embedding themselves in us we realised the potential here. It's not that it's a new style of fishing, it's far from it in fact, as it originated in Scotland some time in the 1800's. It's more the fact that it is hardly utilised as an effective method of fishing here in New Zealand.

There are plenty of decent sized rivers here that are perfect for such fishing. The Tongariro being the prime candidate. Its fish come up in big schooling runs from lake Taupo the same as steelhead runs come up from the sea during the right conditions. It has a fair amount of swift current and very good pools where fish are likely to congregate, making for good amount of high percentage fishing water.

The thing is though, that these fish see day in day out see a massive coloured blob float over their heads, invariably followed by a large and rather heavy piece of metal covered in all sorts of colours and dead animal bits. These flies are generally very similar and believe it or not there is generally another mini me of the same fly trailing by later. Be it that or a Globug. Certainly don't get me wrong here. I'm not bagging this set up as it has probably caught more fish than any other in the river but fish certainly will see it as a bit of a warning.

So try change your techniques up a bit. Swing a fly downstream. Give the big two handed rods a good crack and let the heavy nymph set up have a bit of a well earned rest every now and then. I'm sure that the same thing has been said before but that doesn't matter a whole bunch. There is just no harm in trying something totally different and new. You might love it.

Anyway, upon my travels of the internet and its plethora of fantastic fish porn, this video keeps getting watched so may as well put it up here. Enjoy this sweet little video of some pretty awesome fishing maybe with a glass of some good quality scotch to keep the belly and soul warm against the winter.