Monthly Highlights

Below are photos and a story from the recent month's guided fly fishing trips in New Zealand's Central South Island.

March 2016

My diary for March shows clients from diverse countries including France, Switzerland, Finland, New Caledonia and USA. Many are returning customers, in fact I have guided all but one on previous occasions!

The long dry spell continued and even 43mm of rain mid-month here in Twizel had virtually nil effect on river flows. Normally that amount of rain would have brought all the streams up but the land was (and still is) that parched that practically all the moisture was absorbed before getting into the river beds. Despite the lower than normal flows we were still able to catch fish with patience being a virtue casting to the well educated trout!

I had to dig deep into my book of tricks some days to ensure success.

Alain is a real fly enthusiast. Hailing from New Caledonia, his visits to Twizel have been less frequent in recent years due to a health problem but he and his wife Yani were back this year with a vengence.

"Fly tying"

An excellent fly tyer and extremely passionate about his sport, it is always a pleasure to guide a fellow fish "nut"!

A fly pattern Alain introduced me to a number of years ago still functions today and, like me, he loves creating flies that catch fish!

Young Travis is a budding guide in the States. He is about to start a drift boat operation in Colorado so good luck to him.

The style of fishing he will be conducting is very different to that he experienced with me. Using long leaders and fine tippets are not something Travis was used to but that didn't prevent him from catching some nice brown trout!

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