4 Seasons in One Day

.......!

Old Man Nor'wester blowing like a b.....d!

Yes Akihiro, brown trout do jump!

My friend Akihiro has been visiting New Zealand in the worst possible fishing conditions with storm after storm lashing the mountains. He now knows what a Nor' west wind feels like rocketing down stream, head-on into your face. Thankfully though, he caught a few nice trout. It was a steep learning curve, hooking and landing heavy trout requires a lot of knowledge and skill. Akihiro raised his fishing skills to meet the challenge. The rain again is rattling on the tin roof as we sit inside and think of the next place to go........ 1 afternoons fishing left!

Wonderful Wets

I remember days of old, swiping Karl's wet flies (which he had inherited from an old timer) when we fished on the lake together. I've tied him a batch of his favourite moleflies for xmas and have been playing around with some new designs inspired by English patterns. These will be tested in the week to come as we both head off on a xmas fishing mission to chase lake fish.

The Golden Pheasant tail wing is bright with a natural speckle. These should work well!

Mike Tyson

In the gold corner - 70cm of pumped brown trout!

Where's my dubbing wax?

The summer holidays have arrived and I've been busy stocking up my boxes ... it's best to have just the materials you need on the bench!

Marc Petitjean

Marc's Parachute

Explaining the magic head

Leech with the magic head

Marc, Peter and Karly...3 good boys!

Marc Petitjean has been travelling around New Zealand catching trout and promoting his CDC tying techniques. Marc entertained his audience with stories about the history of CDC tying in Europe and with some amazing tying techniques. A range of Marcs products will now be available through 4 stores in Christchurch. (This is a pretty big deal for the 8 or so fly tiers in NZ!) Marc's background in engineering helped him to design some amazing tools, including his new bobbin which is threaded externally.

Marc caught some nice fish in New Zealand and only used 2 flies, both CDC of course. A CDC nymph and emerger style dryfly with deerhair. His patterns are sparsley tied and are quick to tie. As he said, "I'd rather be fishing flies, than tying flies!"

It was a real pleasure to meet a guy who is so passionate about tying and developing new ideas.

A-may-zing

A warm afternoon, birds gather, dancing over the river catching mayflies. A small trail of mayfly wings scatter the rocks where the birds briefly stop to feed. Some mayflies escape, drying their wings before take-off and chancing their luck.

Electric Fishing

Dobson fly Lavae and Pupae.

A young Brown trout.

Electric fishing in action.

A nice snack for a hungry trout.

Fish and Game Officer explains Electric Fishing.

Today there was an event at a local stream held by Fish and Game. They are the organisation that manages New Zealand's freshwater fishing and water fowl resources. Two small brown trout and a few bullies were zapped and netted. There were a few mayflies about and this Dobson fly lavae, which I have never seen before. The event attracted about 15 people.