We like to practice catch and release in our back country rivers, so the next day we went to a local lake and caught a couple of fish that we smoked for lunch on the side of a river.

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Helicopters open up a whole new world when time is not on your side, and gives the opportunity to go to the back of beyond..

Having a river like this to yourselves for the day, priceless..

Fish on…

Honeymoon on the river..

Nice rainbow to be released..

Happy couple with their rainbow trout..

Clear water, south island NZ

Fish from Diamond Lake, just right for lunch… Cruising browns on the lake edge..

Smoked brown trout 20 minutes after coming to the net, and a cold Speights… keeping it real in the wakatipu.

The best excuse to go back country i reckon is a fishing rod, camera and even a rifle for some venison! Just being in the places we go is special, and to catch a sighted trout on a fly and then release it however big or small is an experience to be remembered.

I love showing people what is sitting on our doorstep and sharing a few stories that go with the place. NZ is a small island at the bottom of the world and at the bottom of that island is the place that i like to hang out in..

Our fly fishing season is nearing an end as the trout prepare to start spawning up into the head waters of what i reckon are the most beautiful rivers in the world!!

Here are a few images of the summer of 2009/10..

Billy Gates with a baby brown trout.

Billy & Randy, pinot riverside, why not?

Going fishing, back country NZ

Randy, hooked up!!

Typical Rainbow, that dont give up easily!!

Randy with another good Rainbow.

Helicopter time, beats walking for 7 hours 1 way!

Billy Gates, Good times..

End of the day, pinot noir, riverside waiting for the heli.

Jesse and his family having fun on the river!! The wind was blowing hard on the nose and had quite a chill with it.They were well prepared for what the great outdoors can throw at you, and had a great day of fishing, shared and enjoyed by all!!

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”

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.

Walking through groves of Matagouri Tree’s on the rivers edge is pretty cool. Everybody was up for some adventure but especially to see one of the main reasons we go Fly Fishing… because you see all the beautiful palces.

The river was running a touch high and smokey from a combo of rain and snow melt. 

Theresa with a good sized Brown to contend with.

Having a tussell with a wild Brown Trout is an experience to be experienced, they are good fighting fish!!

A great fish to the bank, Terrie and Theresa holding the largest trout ever.

It only takes 1 fish to make a day!! After hooking a couple of  other fish and having one other tussell with a rainbow that finally got off, this brown  was the reward.

The “Golden Girls” with an awesome brown.

The river was running a touch high and crossing had to be done with care. These  guys were up to the task and will have some great memories of a day of that was spent in a beautiful place , hiking, fishing, crossing rivers, bird song and beech forest..

Never ever thought they would cross a river, they did it well.

The walk home….. That was a great day….. next time the boys will be here i reckon….    

Tim Pope-Ellis from Cape Town South Africa, was in Queenstown for 3 days and had 1 day to go fishing. We went out towards Glenorchy and spent a day hiking and fishing a beautiful valley that holds nice Browns and Rainbows.

If you are travelling to N.Z and want to catch fish, give us a call. If we are unavailable then we can put you on to somebody who can help. Point is if you love to fly fish for trout you need a professional fishing guide, all things being equal we will put you into the business end of your fly rod and have you casting at fish and making your dreams come true.

Lake Wakatipu, on the way to Glenorchy. Just driving to  and from our rivers is amazing.

The choice of water around here is awesome, and walking the tracks through the beech forest makes you think of nothing else but the moment.

Tim Hooked up on his first N.Z Rainbow

A nice Rainbow in Gin clear water, destined to fight another day.

Although the fish were not rising, with the right cast they would take a small pheasant tail # 14 unweighted. They are fit and healthy and not shy to walk on their tails to put on a show.

Tim showed some nice casting skills which is a must to get onto fish here in N.Z

After hooking 8 fish and landing 7 we finally completed the quiver and landed a nice brown.

Healthy fish with nice eyes, this one took us about 200 metres down stream and walked on his tail like a Rainbow!!

Dream-water & Dream Trout..

Its all about being river side!! Not only did we see good numbers of Trout but also a few Fallow Deer grazing on the bush line. Nice place to be, certainly beats the office on a good day!!

Another fish eye view of a fish eye view.

Stalking mode on some dream-waters, Tim Pope-ellis.

Tim hooked up and loving it!!

Another nice Rainbow to the net.

Beautiful water, and the catch and release. An awesome day on some dream-water with Tim pope-ellis who’s life long dream was to fish in New Zealand. I have a feeling you will be back Tim!!

Self portrait time, last fish of the day before our 1 & half hour walk back to the car. Was it worth the walk? look at our faces and have a guess?? You bet it was.

What a day on the river!! Do your home work with accurate casting before you get here. Tim showed his great skills with a howling head wind to contend with. Casting technique was important to get our flies into the zone and Tim could deliver!!

Not only is  great casting needed, but the strike and the play is when the game gets really exciting!!  Catching wild trout here is the dream, yee haa!!!   

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…

If there was ever a lesson in casting and playing a fish then Kobayashi-san is the man to watch, and on the river we fished he was definitly the boss.

Using his faithful SCOTT ROD  #5 of 10 years the experience of fishing some dream-waters was made even better….. after 9 years of travelling to N.Z to fish Yasu and Kazu finally made it to the top of Lake Wakatipu, after today it won’t be the last.

I say the fish were there but they weren’t going crazy to jump on our flys!! We hooked fish and landed a few and over all had a great day out on some Dream-waters.