fly fishing

Winter in The Other New Zealand Fly Fishing Destination

If you were to read the magazines, watch videos, and view reports on the net, you could get the impression that New Zealand fly fishing was confined to the South Island – or the ‘Mainland’ as South Islanders call it – and confined to Summer. Not so!

The South Island Fishery has a great deal going for it; big fish in clear water, demanding fishing even for good and better fly fishers. Most South Island waters are open during Summer, but closed during Winter. But the North Island too, has superb fishing, in clear streams and rivers as well, especially throughout the central North Island, and especially for anglers prepared to venture off the beaten tracks. But many of these streams and rivers are closed over Winter as well. So what do do over Winter, apart from tie flies, tell lies, and wait?

The good news is that much of the Lake Taupo area, on the Central North Island Plateau is open over Winter (May through August), and it is the time Rainbow and brown trout head up the rivers and streams (all 47 of them that flow into Lake Taupo) to spawn. (Most of the rivers, have closures on the upper reaches to facilitate undisturbed spawning from the end of June, and many smaller streams are closed over Winter.)

So what is the attraction of this fishery; remembering it is often colder than a mother-in-law’s stare? Well trout that average 2.2kg (4.5lb) is for starters, for more go here.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing

The Mystery of the Ratty Fly

“It’s an ages-old question: Do trout sometimes prefer a beat-up pattern?”
The excellent MidCurrent blog features an excellent (of course) article by Paul Schullery on the old question of whether ratty, beat-up flies catch more fish than neat’n’tidy offerings.

I’m a believer. I have written a couple of articles on this theme, Rufazgutz, and Imitation or Approximation.

If you buy store-bought flies, have a read of these articles and then take to your flies with something rough like a piece of hacksaw blade or a piece of Velcro. Picking out some fur with a pin or needle will help too. And as the article says if your fly gets a bit ratty, but is still catching fish, for goodness sake keep using it.

Commercially tied flies are tied to meet the demands of the first rule of fishing tackle retailing; ‘First Catch Your Fisherman’. I should know – I owned a tackle shop for ten years.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing flies, fly tying

How to Land a Trout

It is one of the most important aspects of fly fishing, yet it is one of the most often ignored in books, magazines, videos and the like – sadly, my books included.

You can read and view plenty about flies, fly tying, knots, casting, presentation, finding fish, tackle selection, et al, but what about playing and landing the fish once you have inwardly digested all that stuff and actually find yourself attached to one of these fabled fishes? Help is at hand.

O.K. so there you stand, thinking about how much you would like to be back at work, stripping the line in through you rod-hand forefinger. Suddenly your reverie is broken by some damn-fool fish grabbing your fly. What happens next?

Find out more in a new article on my site, see this.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing how-to

Hook Removal From Humans – Update

I have just updated the hook-removal article to include information on how to use both the ‘loop’ and ‘forceps’ method one-handed to remove hooks from yourself. This is usually required when the hook is buried in a hand or arm.

When using the loop method, make the loop long enough to go over some immovable object, such as a tree branch. Hold down the eye of the hook and pull your hand away in the direction shown in the diagrams in the article.

If using long-nose pliers or forceps, hold the hook eye down with the thumb of the hand holding down the forceps.

Full details here.

Posted by Tony Bishop in Articles and stories on fishing in general, fly fishing how-to, salt water how-to and tips

Does Fly or Lure Colour Matter

This article on the Midcurrent site is an excellent insight into the way fish see colours, and how this information can be used to refine flies and lures, and select lures and flies for varying fishing conditions.

While the article was primarily aimed at saltwater flies, it offers much to learn for all kinds of fishing.

There is one telling comment in the article – “Selecting a fly based on contrast, rather than on specific colors, is often the key to enticing a fish to strike.” (Someday they might learn how to spell colour ?

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing tips, fly tying, salt water how-to and tips

Sharpen Your Hooks Myth

It is amazing how some tackle myths persist way past their use-by date.

A case in point is contained in this article Sharpen Hooks
This advice is so out-of-date, by twenty or so years.

Books and articles sadly written just two or three years ago still contain encouragement to sharpen hooks before fishing with them. ‘No hook is sharp enough to fish straight out of the packet’ is the advice. If you use ‘laser’ or ‘chemically’ sharpened hooks which have been around for twenty something years now, this advice is bad. In most cases trying to sharpen chemically or laser sharpened hooks will actually blunt them.

Chemically sharpened and laser sharpened hooks are made in much the same way. Once the hook is formed, the points are treated with a chemical and then introduced to a laser beam, or other control source, which wears away the metal leaving a very sharp point. Mechanical methods cannot get the hook any sharper.

If you do sharpen non-laser or non-chemically treated hooks there are a number of factors to bear in mind.

All sharpening produces heat. Too much heat will reduce the temper of the hook and can soften the point. This can lead to points bending over, or breaking off. It is important when sharpening hooks to use a slow stroke with the file or stone.

Be careful not to remove too much metal from the point. There is a fine line, no pun intended, between a sharp point and a weak point. It is too easy to think of a hook point as always being pulled into a fish in a straight-line pull. However, this is not always true. Many times the pull is at an angle to the point. If there is not enough metal in the point it can break off or bend over.

One piece of advice about sharp hooks worth following is to check each hook before using it to ensure an un-sharpened hook has not sneaked through the manufacturer’s Quality Control systems.

For more information on hooks in general see this:The Sharp End

Posted by Tony Bishop in Articles and stories on fishing in general, fly fishing how-to, salt water how-to and tips

Trout ‘dumber than goldfish’

The myth of goldfish having a memory span of just three seconds has been shattered.

Research by Queen’s University in Belfast shows that goldfish are capable of both remembering and learning. And they are more intelligent than trout.

In the study goldfish and trout were given electric shocks as they swam round a tank. The goldfish quickly learned to avoid the areas where they were likely to get a shock, while the trout kept straying into the hazardous part of the tank.

Posted by Tony Bishop in trout information, weird fishy stuff

Easy Way to Dry Fishing Hooks and Flies

Those little packets that seem to come in all pill bottles, and a myriad other products, contain a desiccant, moisture absorbing beads. Usually known by the name “Silica-Gel”, these little packets are ideal for drying used hooks and flies, and keeping them dry.

Placing one in your fly box will help stop fly-hooks rusting, and fur and feather detiorating. I have a small, lidded box with two or three packets of Silica-Gel inside, into which I drop wet flies. By the time I get home the flies are dry and ready to go back into their fly-box.

And once safe and secure, I add a couple of the gel packs to ensure the flies in my fly boxes do not rust.

I also have a small lidded box for my used salt-water hooks. A couple of Silica-Gel packets in the box stops salt-water doing any mischief.

Used Silica-Gel packets can be ‘refreshed and renewed’ by ‘cooking’ them in a microwave for ten or twenty seconds. If you need more Silica-Gel, good places to try are, camera stores, garden supplies, dried flower supplies, and local pharmacy.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing tips, salt water how-to and tips

what is the true right bank of a river

The following is not going to change the face of fishing, but it is a question I get asked very regularly.

Which side of a river or stream is the right side?

The right bank or side is always on the right side of the direction in which the water is flowing ie facing downstream, and the left bank is always the left hand side facing downsteam.

This is usually called the ‘true’ right bank or true left bank. True river sides are not just used in fishing, all outdoors activties use the same appellation to avoid confusion.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing tips

Fly Casting: Start Slow, Finish Fast, Stop Dead

You would think that after 50 years flicking a fly rod I would be able to cast properly, every time – unfortunately it is not so.

Sure, despite the fact that I am self-taught, I can get my fly out pretty near where I want it most times, but too often when I really need to get it to where it needs to land I duff it up and watch the fish I was aiming to catch dart off where ever fish go when spooked.

I can most times get enough distance, but when the situation calls for an extra 3 or 4 metres I can almost guarantee the line wraps around my head, or collapses in a series of rings in front of me.

Then I got a bit of inspiration from Tiger Woods, when I read that this truly gifted golfer has spent much of the previous year re-building his swing. Good enough for Tiger I thought, good enough for me – so I grabbed a mate who is a very good caster, and club instructor, and we settled in to some rebuilding of my casting stroke.

My friend hit on my problem almost immediately when I fired off a demo cast. “Too fast, too slow”, he observed.

What was he on about? Find out in my new article.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing how-to, fly fishing tips