The 1st of November sees the highland and backcountry rivers open.

We’ve had a mixed bag with the weather but some good fish have been brought to the net, in fact the largest Brown Trout I have got a client onto was caught this month and weighed in at a whopping 15lb.

Federico Caloi

It was such a treat getting this fish,Fedrico had booked 2 days but the night before our first day it rained very hard and all the rivers colored.

Frederico said he wanted to go, even if he just had one shot all day, I told him of a spot I had seen a good fish while hunting down south over winter, it was a long drive and a good walk. Federico got 3 shots before she took the fly, it was quite a sight watching this girl, tail walking all over the show.Well done Federico, we caught some fish the next day but this is the one we remember.

Wilderness Fishing

One of my favorite parts of fly fishing is where it takes you, I often say to people if you travel with a fly rod you will see some of the best sights a country has to offer.

When you get to go places like this the job never gets old.

Most of these places we never see another person let alone another angler.

Camping out is always a good way to make the most of your time on the water, and sitting around the camp fire telling yarns is always good too.

This month we have had some good wilderness fishing, some being accessed by helicopter, some by boat and some by 4WD, but really, it still comes down to putting in the effort once your on the ground.

I work a lot with a mate Henare Deewes from dreamwaters.co.nz, people say we are a great team and sometimes on our real wilderness fishing trips, we go one on one with clients, its a great way to get the most out of it. We have been working that much together with fishing and other trips, we have started another website, check it out sionz.co .

This is classic example of wilderness fishing, but still putting in the effort.

I caught this fish with Henare, but don’t think these beauties come easy, this is on day 3 of a 4 day camp out by ourselves, we didn’t see one other person.

You need to be fit and prepared to put in a good effort for these type of fish, but man it sure is worth the effort, to be honest it is this type of fishing I find the most rewarding.

A beautiful Rainbow.

5 nice fish hooked and landed in this pool alone, well worth the walk and extra effort, just to be here was so cool let alone the fishing.

Tom and Meg Gordon understand NZ fishing, the rivers got a load of water before we went out, they knew using the boat and doing some yards was the only way we were going to make it happen on that day.

I have a few more days booked to round out the month and am looking forward to summer really kicking in.

Next post will be end of December so merry Xmas everyone, take care and of course, tight lines.

October was a great month with the rivers opening and conditions being good.

The fish have been in good nick and for the most part the weather has played it’s part well.

Now, we are into November and the highland rivers have opened, this is great as it opens up our back country water and gives us more options of where to fish on any given day.

With the Rugby World Cup being held here during Oct we were quite busy not only with the fishing but with a bit of our other work as well here are a few snaps of the month.

www.trout-stalkers.co.nz

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves….

Looking forward to the next few months, it’s looking like there are going to be some good fish to be had.

Tight lines

www.trout-stalkers.co.nz

Well only days any now and the season will be open.I’m really looking forward to it.

Early season often has great results and with the Rugby World Cup here at the moment bookings are coming in so if you are thinking of getting out make sure you book to avoid being disappointed.

Most of the water we fish in Oct are Brown Trout streams and as they have had no pressure over winter they do fish quite well.

Come Nov our highland rivers open and most of these hold Rainbows.Fishing these back country rivers is my favorite, camping out and being on the water on multi day trips is were its at for me, after the days fishing sharing the camp fire and sharing fishing stories, it starts to be more like two mates out there rather than a guide/client situation.

Because no two people are alike I like to customize each trip to suit the individual so feel free to contact me to discuss options and we can put together a package that suits you.

Last week I had the pleasure of guiding two very good fishermen from Italy,Angelo and Gianfranco.

We spent 6 days on the water with a mixture of camp outs and Motels.

My favorite type of guiding is camping out and doing the yards, it puts you in the best places and maximizes your time, we caught over 100 fish in the 6 day’s but it was more about where we were fishing and hooking up in beautiful locations.

If you travel with a Fly rod there is a good chance you will get to go too some of the most scenic places a country has to offer, these boy’s were fit and we did do some good walking….well worth the effort.

Angelo would be the best fisherman I have taken out, he could cast both hands and was very quick to pick up on local patterns and understanding our style of fishing.

Gianfranco was very good as well, at night the guy’s would tie a few patterns as they were keen to catch trout on there own fly’s, and they all worked.

We fished a mixture of freestone rivers, spring creeks and small streams.

Fly fisherman’s paradise.

It’s a tough job when you have to go to places like this.

A nice Brownie.

You almost expect a T-Rex to come running out.

A beautiful wee Bow.

If you want to catch great Trout in some of the worlds most dramatic scenery get in touch I can can put together a package for you, many of my clients have fished all over the globe and they tell me these trips are world class, for me I have only fished in the south island of New Zealand so it’s hard for me to compare, but I do know it’s pretty bloody good.