Of course it is fishing but, quite different to other forms of fishing, what we do is 90% sight fishing, yip we don’t even make a cast until we see a fish.

This changes the game and turns us into more of a hunter fisherman, then just a chuck and chance fisherman.

The weather of late had been rainy to say the least and most of our rivers were high and coloured. Taking a boat to the mouth of a nearby river was the best option, and look for some lake edge cruisers.

The main river was pretty colored up, and running higher then normal. It dosn’t look like much of a flow but we take crossing rivers seriously and even though the worst thing here was getting wet and cold, we just don’t want to go there full stop.

We are a team when we go fishing, the only boss out there is the fish. It is all about being there and enjoying a new and challenging experience. If it goes right, it can be the start of something new..

We were on a farm station and being in that environment was awesome, got to meet the local farmer and his dogs doing thier farming thing.

David was at home, with a farming background back home in Australia he was pretty comfortable in the country. Could have been in the lord of the rings as well with that sheperds croof he come across in the paddock.

Time to get some fish to the bank, Darcy with a fish on..

Darcy and his first trout..

The release..

Davids turn to fight a fish, good times, this fish was going to be smoked for our lunch..

First trout for David..

David with a couple of fish for lunch and dinner. The lake edge holds good numbers of fish, that are not easy to catch. the cast has to be on in the right place at the right time.

Darcy with the ones that didn’t get away, we hooked a few others and released a couple more.

Lunch, as fresh as it gets!! smoked trout, with some of bruces famous bacon and egg pie, olives, strawberries, blueberries, garlic bread, and cold beer.

The boat ride home, nice way to end a day of fishing. David, Steve and Darcy, really great guys to hang out with. They all learn’t about the style of fishing that fly fishing is. Steve spotted a feeeding fish, presented the right cast and hooked his first fish on a dry fly this day. An awesome experience that might just keep him coming back and walking a few more lake edge and rivers, nice … tight lines boys, bruce and Hen…

Fiordland offers a wilderness experience that will leave you speechless to say the least…

Clear water that offers the fly fisherman the dream of casting to sighted fish.

Big boulders and fast water made this place a challenge to hook and land fish, lots of handy foot work was needed for sure!! Robb landed a nice rainbow from this pool.

Shooting some nice line at browns and rainbows that were keen to rise to a dry fly well presented..

Fish on brother!! Robb pulled a few hole in 1’s, at least 5 that day.

Nice brown to the net, 1 of 15 or so for the day..

Fiordland, special country for sure.

The release..

Typical water that makes you think that it is all a dream, crystal clear and full of wild rainbow and brown trout.

If you are reading this and a fly fisherman then i reckon that you would be pretty happy standing in the middle of this river. Over 4 days we never seen a foot print apart from deer and never once did we think about what was going on in the rest of the world..too busy living the moment…

Every corner you turn just gets better and better, this river offered a different clarity of water…chur bro,

More big boulders and cyrstal clear water and a healthy rainbow connected.. and landed.

The Camp Pool..

About to fish the flats, cruising browns coming up and taking drys..

What a river huh, never been to the amazon but i imagine it could look like this in some places?

Typical Brown, healthy and full of fight and keen to take a dry if presented right.

Double hook ups, fishing the flats…totally on…

Fish on..

Another nice rainbow to the net..

Dream water is all i can say about this place..

Another brown for the release..

Rainy morning, but still they came up and took dry’s.

The Camp Pool, Robb had travelled from Afghanistan to Queenstown, One of his requests was to sleep on the side of a river under a tree. The first night was as riverside as you could get, and them beech tree’s we slept under are no ordinary tree either. Next morning Robb even caught a rainbow on a dry from his sleeping mat, now that is priceless. I missed the strike from my sleeping bag a few minutes later!!

chur brother, this is the most amazing river, the water is something else..

The release..

Typical brown over the 4 days, nice fish all keen to take of the surface, hi viz parachute adams #14 all day long.

The reflection pool, robb hooked 5 fish in this pool, landed 3..

Check the water, unreel

Cruising Browns all pretty much the same size, really nice fish.

This is one of the most pristine rivers i have ever seen, just magic..

These are a few photos of 4 days of fishing in the back country. If you are thinking of coming to NZ for the fishing trip of a life time, give us a call we will make it happen. We access these areas by boat and helicopter and camp riverside, use tents, back country huts, or just sleep under the stars.

Wilderness fly fishing will put you in the places just like Robb Meyers, believe me Robb will be back and we have other place just like these to visit, there are 10 lifetimes of beautiful rivers to be fished here, you had better call us and make a start to visiting what we call dream-waters.

New Zealand in my eyes is the ultimate paradise and when those first fish got released into our waterways at that time, i’m pretty sure they thought it was heaven!!

We have the most pristine rivers and lakes in the world, but we also have a number of rivers around the country that are not what they used to be.

This makes the places we go even more special..

Healthy Rainbow Trout, about 8lb

Pristine water, 100%

Nice brown about 7lb caught on a blow fly, lake edge cruiser.

The Release...

Healthy young stock, catch you again maybe..

Photo and release

These are a few of the culprits that keep us going back for more, we like to promote catch and rease especially in our Backcountry rivers. Our local lakes hold great numbers of healthy fish as well and its from these places that we will keep the odd fish for the smoker yum yum…

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.

Flying out of Queenstown, beautiful day to be a bird.

You have to agree, this place is beautiful.

Barney, wow is this place for real??

We chased a few red deer and fellow deer on the way in.

About 3km of water to yourself for the day!

Paul hooked up!!

Paul with a fat Brown Trout ready for the return.

Barney had to have some of the action!

I had to have of the action as well!pretty nice fish!!

A big bull that lives up in the valley

Barney, watching his dad have a go at some rainbows.

Yes NZ does have small fish, great to see!!

Barney hooked up on a rainbow!!

Nice fish brother!!

The kiss before the release!!

Paul and Barney Fairbanks, another great fish to the bank!!

Home Time with Brendan

Dream Water, fly fishing Queenstown back country

Flying home with Brendan Thow, Alpine Choppers

20 Minutes later we were back in town. What a day in Paradise!!

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”

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!

Good numbers of fish about this size were in places where you would expect a fish to be. Don’t be fooled though because they will still give you a run for your money and more often then not will take you for a walk down river if given the chance!!

Probably can’t tell by the photo, but the wind was on the nose and strong!! Wind on the nose is typical here in NZ so you have to prepare if you want to get results.

3 fish came up to the “dry” along this piece of water,  and gave some jumping action!!

The New Zealand Dream, back country river all to yourself!!

Over hanging Beech Tree, our NZ beech forest are masting this year?? Stayed tuned for what can happen to our trout by the middle of March next year!!

This day was Epic, when you boil it down. Richard hooked well over 20 fish with his skills!! Using his Winston 5 piece #6 for what it was built for!!

Fighting Wild Rainbow and Brown Trout in NZ.

As a guide it will be hard to forget this one!!

New Zealand Fly Fishing at it’s finest!!

Typical water.

If there was ever the perfect river that was built for trout, then this is one of them right here.

Richard quietly moved into this position and made 2 casts and hooked 2 fish 1 after the other.

That’s pretty good in my books!

This is the Greenstone River and requires a full season license with a back country stamp.

Many people ask us, what do you get when you take a helicopter??

If you don’t feel like it, or haven’t got the time to do the 5+ hour walk in and out then its not a bad option?

I reckon Richard would tell you the right answer, he’s lining up for more of the same next year.

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.

We found what we were looking for, and managed to get some filming done which was the mission. Stay tuned for the trailers.

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!!!