Staying Sane

When the weather is crap and the rivers are blown out or you have one of those job things that prevents you from getting out fishing, the best way to keep in a reasonable mental state is to sample the fine array of Fish Porn that the internet has to offer.

We at Fly Guys recognise that finding such videos can be an arduous task (haha) and that is why we have decided to compile a small list of some decent videos we have found recently. It is hard to blog about fishing when you haven't been doing any, so thankfully there are some people out there who are willing to share in their adventures.

So sit back, grab a brew and go fishing vicariously through the lens of some other blokes camera.

 

Gear Up

I hope everyone has been making the most of the of the reasonably settled weather we have been enjoying. Although overcast, the muggy afternoons have seen some pretty prolific Mayfly hatches on our local streams. If you find yourself in amongst one of these, fish small dries or unweighted nymphs and you might be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Josh and I have not been able to do as much fishing as we would like recently as we have been trying to save up some coin for out next adventure. You will find us at Fish City most days, scheming about where to go next and what gear we can purchase to add to the already out of control selection.

We have recently been focussing on upgrading out camping gear, to make our trips into the backcountry more enjoyable and practical. Ampro is a NZ distributor of some great brands, including Thermarest and MSR. Check out their website here and come and see us or any of the other lads at Fish City for some quality outdoor equipment at great prices.

While some of the stuff may seem a little expensive, in this case you really do get what you pay for. Some of this stuff can mean the difference between lugging a 20kg pack or a 15kg one. Anyone who has done any hiking will tell you that 5kg extra on your back feels like 50!

On an unrelated note, I found this cool video during my internet travels. It's kind of like looking into the future when I have kids, although ideally that won't be for a while yet! Enjoy.

It's All Go

With the new season well underway, I hope most have managed to sneak out for a fish at some stage. The weather around opening was pretty average which seemed to put the fish down a bit and the fishing became tough. The Mangatutu was particularly tough on opening weekend and we heard that from a few different sources. Well done if you managed to snare a few during that time.

In the last few days though, we have had some weather that is getting us excited for summer! We have also noticed a few improvements in the fishing. On most small streams, plenty of bugs are hatching and the fish are not hesitating to come up to the top for them. With this said, the fishing is not quite back into full swing. We tend to find that you have bursts of success throughout a days fishing at the moment, the 12-2pm period has been particularly good.

Typical Waikato small stream fishing

Standard hares ear and pheasant tail patterns are working well as per usual and a bit of flash in the fly has been very effective. Fish are still holding pretty deep as well so it is worth having a fair bit of weight in the fly to get through the deeper pools. As the weather gets hotter and the flows get lower, we will see the fish start to move into the more oxygenated riffles, making them much easier targets.

The highlight of the season so far has been the fact that several fish have been more than willing to come up for the stimulators we are using as indicators. Although I love all fly fishing, it does not get any better than seeing a fish come up and sip a dry fly off the surface.

Watched this guy come all the way up for a size 10 stimulator

The weather should only get more and more stable from now on. Also, the Lake Rotorua temperature is rising so we will be hanging out at the stream mouths at night very soon. Get out and get in amongst it.

Open Sesame!

Well it's here again! Finally... The new season opening creates quite a buzz within the New Zealand fly fishing community, and with good reason too. The little waterways and backcountry streams are once again open to be explored and enjoy more great times. The lakes also opened up and a few good fish were pulled, as is the norm with the exceptional lake fishing around.

Opening day was within touching distance (if you could reach ahead and touch time), plans were set into motion, bags were packed up late Monday night and we hit the road and headed for the hills. After a restless sleep and a magic start to the day we set off into the bush to get a head start on the season. We had planned to be on the river (10 and 10 on the secretivity vs goodness of mate scale) as early as possible so best option was to sleep next to the river. When we arrived at this totally new water that neither Cameron or myself had fished, we were treated to the sight of some pristine New Zealand fishing water! After camp was set up, we made sure over and over that we were ready for battle the next morning, as opening day wouldn't wait for us for anything.

The first hint of the 1/10/14 was brilliant. The weather gods had been very kind indeed and all that was left was for the fishing gods to follow suit. Camp was quickly dismantled and breakfast pretty much inhaled and wasting no time the first fly was drifting its way down the current. What quickly ensued was my first hiding of the new season also. A solid strike and a hectic bid for freedom almost saw the score at 1-0 to the fish but he wanted his photo taken more than anything so he relented. This seemed to set the tone for the day, as the fish were not shy about hammering even a half decently presented fly and then going batshit crazy during the fight. Perfect!

All day long there were good numbers of fish in most of the pools and decent runs we came across and as well as the excitement felt about this new place (to us) there was also the feeling of awe and great respect. We truly felt privileged to be able to enjoy a place like that. Not many people get the opportunity to do so and even less seemed to be inclined to do so. It made it even clearer that we needed to do what we can to preserve more places like that, as there seems to be a growing disregard for the natural beauty of these sorts of places.

Well that's my little hippy rant over... Fair to say that we had an outstanding opening day and hopefully the same was had by all who managed to get out, even if your opening day was a later date. We managed to get a few snaps of the trip and hope the season continues with the same good fortunes. Get out there and get amongst it!

A little sneak peak at the creek. Cant give too much away now can we?

One of the typical beautiful fish of the trip

One of the more memorable catches. They are in a league of their own in the bush

Now it's time for the monumental crash back to reality. These little trips like this certainly do take the bitter edge off having to work though. Not that my job is at all bad but certainly a long way off beating a bad days fishing. I think there may be a video or two floating around in the editing room so keep your eyes open and we will keep you posted.