Monthly Highlights
Below are photos and a story from the recent month's guided fly fishing trips in New Zealand's Central South Island.
February 2026
We're into Autumn now and sockeye salmon have arrived in force in most of the rivers around Twizel. I've observed the behaviour of trout, when sockeye are present, over many years and generally speaking they are not particularly bothered by their presence. It is true they can be suckers for an egg imitation while the salmon are spawning.
I was watching a trout recently sitting motionless in pocket water surrounded by salmon but completely unfazed by their presence. The only time he moved is when an SBN 010 nymph drifted over his nose proving irresistible to a 2kg+ brownie!
Don and Curtis, fresh off a very successful stint of cicada fishing on the West Coast, are regulars at this time of year. Very relaxed and easy to guide it's always a pleasure to be in their company. It wasn't as productive a stint this time around over our 4 days together although we were on a high after one red letter day when the stars really aligned for us. One brownie, on another day, must be counting his lucky stars.
It had been a bit of a slog until finally 'hallelujah' a feeding trout and on the surface to boot! I'm sure it had a magnetic field around it because we would cast to it and by the time the fly had landed it had moved a metre the other way. To be fair, the trout was moving a long way between rises and quite quickly to complicate matters. Eventually the rising stopped and the fish disappeared into the depths. Never mind, we'll get him next year!
A welcome back this month also to one of my original clients/friends. We go back 30 years or so and even though it's been a while since John was last here, it's always nice to see him!
Curtis happy with this one
You can't go wrong when you get perfect conditions! Curtis with an up country beauty
John still hasn't lost his touch!
Don gets in on the action too
Don dug this pretty brownie out without the guide's help or net!
Brown trout just love the SBN 010!
[click image to enlarge]
