World Wide Fishing!


The Art of New Zealand Flying Fishing

John Knox

By John Knox


As a guide here in New Zealand I sometimes go on a reconnaissance every once in a while out into the field to find a few new waters that haven't been fished. Although we've got our fair share of keen anglers here in New Zealand there are still many unfished streams and lakes still waiting for pioneers like myself to be discovered and accept the first cast.

A few weeks back on one such expedition south of here (Christchurch) I made contact with an old school friend who lives up in the high country and owns a massive sheep station which by all accounts and looking at the map had the potential for some very good fishing waters with mountain streams and lakes that had very little or no road access at all - untouched.

He was delighted to meet me again 20 years on from schooldays and after an afternoon chat around the homestead over coffee and homemade cakes, I suggested we could go and have look for potential trout fishing spots. "The only way", he said "is take the plane". So off and up we went like a couple of barnstormers in the Cessna, zooming through the mountain river valleys and hurtling over lakes with our eyes searching frantically for any sign of a fish. Rather a daunting task and hair-raising ride, which from the experience I now take my hat off to the coast guards aerial surveillance crews.

Now I've seen some big trout in my time and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that when you can clearly see huge Brown trout in a lake that make a wake like a submarine from the window of a wild ride in a plane, they are seriously big fish. At least 25 pound plus big. We saw some long shadows as we flashed by in some of the rivers too and I'll go in on foot for a closer look at those long "shadows" sometime soon with a big "Mrs. Simpson" lure in tow.

I've put the lakes on the agenda for any clients who'd like to incorporate some big game fishing with fly fishing and in the meantime I look upon that afternoon in the plane as the art of fly fishing with a difference. Just in case for the lakes, I've tied up a few "Twilight Beauty" patterns on size 6 hooks and it could well be the case here of these Brown trout deciding who's doing the catching and releasing.

See you over here in New Zealand some day for a cast. ~ John Knox


More Fly Fishing Down Under:

Fly Fishing New Zealand
The Art of New Zealand Flying Fishing
Arthur's Lake, Tasmania
Trout-Tracking in New Zealand
Flyfishing Taupo (New Zealand) Streams & Rivers
Stalking the Large Trout of Australia
Fly Fishing the Northern Territory
Olympic Bass
The Best Trout Stream in the World
Ruakituri River, New Zealand
Matching the Hatch
A Guide to 'Cracking' the Mystery of the Mataura

Fly fishing in the Mitta Mitta Valley of NE Victoria, Australia
Bream on the Fly - Australia
A Very Rough Guide to Fishing New Zealand


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