Monthly Highlights
Below are photos and a story from the recent month's guided fly fishing trips in New Zealand's Central South Island.
November 2014
Since returning to Twizel from my annual exodus to the northern hemisphere, the main topic of conversation has been the weather!
As can often happen in New Zealand, the spring has been very unsettled with wild swings in the weather. Gale force westerlies followed by cold southerlies bringing rain and snow on the hill tops has been the norm!
I can recall spring conditions where the wind blows for weeks on end but luckily that doesn't happen too often.
For the fly fisherman, obviously conditions are far from ideal. The name of the game is to find the more sheltered spots where even with the wind it is still possible to cast a line.
Rufus and I didn't escape the wild conditions. Strong winds were forecast and rain was falling in the southern alps when we set off.
Weather like this generally favours the trout. The rippled surface made spotting nigh on impossible and also meant that surface mayfly activity was substantially reduced. That didn't perturb Rufus who showed resolve and experience to hook a good number of fish!
Netting them proved to be more difficult as the browns used the current to streak off downstream to escape under bankside vegetation where it became a lottery to extract them!
Ending the day wind burnt but happy, I think we were both relieved to finally get out of the wind and into the truck for the drive home.
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| Nice brownie on a very windy day! | Back he goes! | |
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| The guide gets a "biggie" in the canal. No point in releasing these guys! | A windy Spring day on the Tekapo. Note the snow on the hill tops! | |
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| One of the very few fine days in the first month of the 2014/2015 fishing season! | Flowering lupins on the Tekapo River bed |
