This has to be one of life’s treats, going fishing with your son. Doesn’t really matter wheather you are on a boat, a jetty or a lake really, it’s all about being there when a fish is on!!

Paul and Barney Fairbanks were in New Zealand for thier first time and a trip into the back country was the first of many to come.

We flew with Brendan from Alpine Choppers and had an amazing time with both rainbows and browns coming up to dry flies. The boys got a taste of what things can be like when everything comes together just right.

Barney and Paul, hanging out in the hanger before lift off.

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John and Peter were into some exploration of our high country rivers. The weather in the west was rough so we hit central Otago. This place is Cowboy and Indian country that offers some challenging fishing and will give your skills a test. We mixed up the accommodation with Local Pubs, and a overnight Tent camp.

Managed to fish the Greenstone for a day, flying with Brendan at Alpine Choppers. Over all we had some great fishing with a few shots at some good fish. My personal definition of a good fish is 7 pound + and we had shots and hook ups on more then a couple of good fish. One fish up in the Nevis would have been 10 pound + easily!

Cheers Peter and John, looking forward to the next mission code” FIORDLAND”

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Richard Armarti joined 2 of his buddy’s for 3 days of fishing around Queenstown. The weather allowed us to get 2 great days before the rain set in and put most of the local rivers up high and coloured. Richard was an expert with his casting skills and on 1 of our days hooked well over 30 fish, well that’s a guess because we lost count after 20.

Trust me that is not a usual day by any means, but everything lined up on the day and when you understand about casting, presentation and getting the right drift things can work out just right!

After about an hour and making about 7 good casts this beautiful brown finally took a small pheasant tail (#18)  and we reckon he also had a go at the dry. What an amazing fish!

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Gordy Watson (Trout Stalkers), Bruce and myself went Back Country for some R & D

The pictures will tell the story..

Couldn’t help ourselves, these are healthy fish that run and jump, so much fun!!

Wind on the Nose.

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Terrie, Theresa, & Liz Golden escaped the approaching winter of Chicago (usa) to New Zealand for some Adventure and especially to celebrate Terri’s birthday. (What a GREAT idea!!)

Turns out they left their husbands behind to fend for themselves, while the the Golden girls Hit the West Coast with some heli-hiking, Milford Sound, Canyoning in Glenorchy, TeAnau, and Queenstown.

Also turns out that the boys back home love Fly Fishing. Research and Development was the order of the day, and it wasn’t long before we were somewhere up the Head of Lake Wakatipu.

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Pictures paint a thousand words they say, and for Gordy Watson and myself  well we reckon the place where we went was worth more than a thousand words, much more!!

Myself,Gordy Watson, Craig, Wendy & Shane Cole, Just being there is special. If there was ever a place to go fly fishing in your wildest dreams?? This could be it!!

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Bruce and I went for a drive south of Queenstown and went exploring in some head waters of one of our favourite rivers. The weather could not be matched with blue sky and a slight tail breeze, perfect to help roll out our 15ft leeders.

We spotted a few fish and even though it was the first day of the season, they were not making it easy for us!! The stretch of river we chose is known for large fish, but also for the fact that there are not big numbers.

For us as always it is about being there!! And the valley we were in was looking at its best. Lunch and a nice cup of tea or coffee riverside is always a pleasure.

We did get to meet some locals up close and personal and a bonus with one fish happy to take a dry fly. All in all a nice day out in our back yard. Bring on the rest of the fishing season!!!

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6 mill of rain on the ground in Glenorchy was enough for us to expect some powder up on Mt Larkins?  Call it an educated guess? At the end of the day we had to go to find out for ourselves.

The result was 1 load of Japanese Snowboarders doing a photo shoot for Burton, and 2 loads of skiers and riders who had the best days riding of their life.

Landing at around 2200m and getting picked up at 1550m gave us some powder and fresh lines to yahoo about until next season…

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Untracked powder snow, Great snow boarders, a helicopter with a great pilot and this is the result…..

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Queenstown has had the coldest and driest months of June and July in its history of recorded weather!! When i am Ski Guiding with Alpine Heliski  i often chuckle to myself and think about the spring time when the snow i am skiing on melts and eventually makes it way down into the river systems that sustain all of the Rainbow and Brown Trout we hunt in the Summer time.

I know for a fact that at the bottom of this particular valley where we skiied with Rob Morrison and family and friends there is one such river that is home to some of the best dry fly fishing around.

Once a fisherman, always a fisherman!!