NZ 2015 Report
Mid January 2015 and friends old and new gathered under the guidance of Fly Odyssey’s Mat McHugh for our annual assault on New Zealand. This was my sixth consecutive trip and having previously spent plenty of time fishing and spotting with Mat, I felt as prepared as ever. Thankfully, a cloudless sky gave us a flying start on one of New Zealand’s stunning backcountry rivers. One of our party, first timer Alan Swann couldn’t have asked for a better introduction. Returning rods Sarah and John Hodgkin got amongst them too, netting a brace of impressive fish. Those initial days are so important, not just for the morale of the group, but as a great confidence booster too. Yes, my spotting skills still worked and all those new fly patterns I’d dreamt up were fooling some handsome trout!
Weather plays a significant hand in any form of fishing, yet when it comes to identifying the faint smudge of brown trout over a carpet of boulders, sunlight becomes your best friend. Three days then of forecasted cloud and rain drowned our spirits. We needn’t have worried though as knowing certain areas like his own back yard, Mat advised all on where might be worth a punt. Better still the rivers in question produced some amazing fly hatches, treating us to top drawer dry fly action. Amazingly the icing on the cake was still to come, late afternoon saw clouds of spinners drop to the surface, tempting some pretty impressive trout from their lairs.
Week two and the carnival moved north to Mackenzie District. We won’t mention the conditions, expect snow and gales wreak havoc. You’d expect that of a UK winter, but not in New Zealand during high summer. Admittedly the trout acted moody for a day or so. Despite that, someone somewhere was clearly smiling on us. One river in particular produced superb sport for all with browns topping 7lb for yours truly!
With Alan and myself staying on, generous to a fault, Mat pointed us towards trout heaven for the remainder of our trip. I had the opportunity of experiencing some proper backcountry fishing, which involved a bout of serious leg work and a fair bit of camping too. The upshot though was a privileged glimpse at total wilderness wheretrout were growing fat on mice and cicadas. To be in such surroundings untouched byman is a rare thing these days. My prayers were answered too as those hefty trout were on the “chew” allowing us to sample New Zealand at its very best.
