fly fishing travel

Taupo and big browns, here I come.

Am leaving in the morning before the first sparrow un-tucks it’s head from under it’s wing and completes it’s ablutions for Taupo, (central North Island NZ).

With Autumn now fully entrenched it is around this time big brown trout start to move into the rivers that flow into Lake Taupo. Big fish, but not easy to catch, still, I like the challenge.

Will also be trying and reviewing two new Sage 5wt, 10’ rods.

Watch for more.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing gear, my fishing trips, New Zealand Fishing

‘The Last Best Place’ – a celebration of fly-fishing in New Zealand.

mirfincover

In a word, ‘stunning’, is the best way to describe this new book of photographs on fly-fishing in New Zealand.

In his introduction, Bob South, award-winning editor of Fish & Game New Zealand magazine, makes a case that Zane Mirfin’s superb photography confirms that New Zealand, head-and-shoulders above anywhere else, warrants the tag The Last Best Place for fly-fishing. South maintains that Mirfin’s uncanny camerawork allows us all, even the most cynical, to know that, in terms of fly-fishing, we’ve certainly come nowhere near the stage where all is lost here, either in the pollution-susceptible lowland systems, in didymo-invaded mountain streams, or deep in the fragile backcountry. In fact, quite the opposite is true.
Zane Mirfin – fishing guide, author, and award-winning photographer, has captured the essence of what makes fly-fishing in New Zealand unique and special. Over 100 remarkable images reveal the drama, splendour, and excitement that is fly-fishing in New Zealand. The images stand alone as a feast for the eye of any angler – each worth more than a thousand words. Each telling its own story.

In place of the usual narrative, editor Bob South has selected quotations from angling icons, writers, and celebrities to complement each of these stunning photos of The Last Best Place.

mirfinlanding

mirfingone

Posted by Tony Bishop in Fishing Photography, New Zealand Fishing

Big Rainbow Trout Time In North Island, NZ

trtfly_150

For North Island, New Zealand, fishermen it is coming up to the peak rainbow trout season. From May through to October, our Winter and through to Spring, these beautiful silver fish, rainbows flecked with red, fat with autumn feeding will make their way from the lakes up the rivers and streams to spawn. Top fly-fishing time, top fish, and time to make sure your gear can handle it.

Have a look at this checklist.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing

The Winterless North


The Taupo region, central North Island, is best known as a winter (May – August) fishery. This is the time trout move out of the lake into the many rivers to spawn.

But this ignores the wonderful fishing that is available over summer, when the restriction on sections of most rivers to allow uninterrupted spawning are removed. It also ignores the fact that many fish enter the rivers to spawn all year round, although in nowhere near the numbers of winter. It is also true that there are far fewer anglers as well. A couple of weeks ago I fished the upper regions of the one of the most popular rivers and saw not one other angler, on a Sunday, and 7kms each way up and back.

The fish in general will be smaller than the winter on average – but big fish do lurk in deper pools. From Febuary on, browns move up river, some of these fish are really big.

There are also so-called ‘resident’ fish. These are fish that have moved up river to spawn and then stay upriver.

The only real annoyance is likely to be hordes of 8″ to 12″ fish, last winters crop feeding up before heading down to the lake in Autumn.

As an idea of the fish available, here are two photos of fish caught by my youngest son a few weeks back. The silver fish is a maiden hen on her way up to spawn. She would be close to 18″. The other darker fish is a hen that has very recently spawned and is on her way back down river. She would have been over 20″.

Posted by Tony Bishop in Fishing Travel, New Zealand 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