Waders are for sissies (New Zealand South Island Fly Fishing updates 2011-01-05)

Dear all,

I know some of you are planning a venture to NZ soon, so I have decided to compile a short piece on my findings here so far (since 19 November 2010).  However, this information may also be interesting to others, even though you may not be planning a trip to NZ in the near future.  Here I will discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of NZ trout fishing.

The Good

There seems to be a lot of uncertainty about flies, tackle, boots, waders (leave them at home, you won’t need these!!!) etc. when travelling down South, but I will tell you that the Christchurch airport checkpoints are hassle free, so sit back and relax and look forward to some amazing fishing!  Do’s and Don’ts; do fill in the immigration declaration forms correctly and be honest at all times; NB – clean boots are fine, you don’t need brand new ones, also, bringing in your own flies is fine, just place them in packets or pin them into brand new fly boxes and tell the people that they are “brand new” or shop bought...Do not tell them that the water mongoose fibres in your favourite dry flies are from road kill; do not bring any natural fly tying materials, synthetics are fine, but all other materials can be bought in most towns at local fly shops, which are usually cheaper than our own back in SA.  That’s it, as simple as that.

Flies: big issue when travelling, which flies to tie and bring?  Well, you may have seen big browns swallowing big dries on the movies, but let me warn you, those are exceptions here!  My best flies have been small dries (size 14 and smaller) tied to imitate naturals and a selection of olive, light brown and black bionic nymphs (also size 14-18; note, these nymphs are tied with a foam wing case and fine rubber legs, giving them natural, weightless movement in the drift – try to avoid white foam).  The famous hare and copper may fool the odd fish, but pheasant tail nymphs and almost any other nymph I tried failed to impress the trout or even spooked them.  Parachute flies (Klinks and Adams), especially small yellow foam beetles (those para-foam ones are deadly) and other small bushy dries all work.  You will quickly find your favourite fly or combination of flies.  Some fish will give you one shot, but some will allow you to experiment; if something worked for one fish it will most likely work for the next.  Selecting hooks can be problematic, but the Tiemco dry fly hooks (TMC 9300) in 14 and 16 are probably the best for your dries, whereas Gamakatsu black steel (S10) hooks (size 16 and 18) are good for nymphs (the fish often see the shiny bronze hooks), but I have used Kamasan B170 hooks in size 14 to great effect.  I think the most important part in tying flies would be not to include too much shine; even fine copper wire will stand out in the crystal clear waters of NZ (that accounts for hooks as well).  Knapek barbless fly hooks are OK, but I have lost the odd fish on a broken or bent hook tip (you can pack your Grip’s away).  For the best results, sight fish browns, which are not actively feeding or feeding subsurface, with small nymphs (without any indicator – watch the fish for the take) or a dry and nymph rig (fish have often come up for the dry); when fish are actively rising, fish a dry alone, any additional hook dangling around the fish during the fight may get lodged in rocks or stumps, resulting in a lost fish.  A dry and nymph rig is probably best for fishing blind.  NB, NZ browns are ALL big fish (you are extremely lucky, or unlucky, if you catch a fish under 20 inches, unless targeting small stream trout of course) and have been around for several years, meaning they have seen it all!  In most places they will even spot you sitting dead still behind a tree, 40 meters up in a forest; yes that bad!  So keep a low profile at all times and leopard-crawl if you can!  When spotting fish for each other (which helps a lot), move slowly and take your time, rushing through water will only result in a hell of a lot of spooked fish.  Remember, if you are landing 5 fish a day (and they will be between 22 and 28 inches), you are doing well.  That one 8 lb fish will be the trophy of the day (or even trip!).  Once you’ve hooked that fish, again, take your time and fight it carefully.  I have noticed that NZ locals haul them in; I’ve landed more by playing them gently.  You get terribly spoilt fishing NZ.  As soon as you find a river where the fish averages only 3 lbs, you quickly lose interest; I know, it sounds bad.  So try to indulge on all fishing, even if the fish are only 10 inches, it’s all special!

So what rod & line to use???  A 5 or 6 wt loaded with an olive fly line with 4-5X tippet will be your bread and butter setup.  Fluorocarbon has its place, so bring some, but mostly normal (good) tippet material will suffice (Rio Power Flex or Scientific Anglers tippet material = Good).  NB – do not leave your rods outside the tent when fly camping, possums WILL damage your rod!  I lost my Sage XP due to possum curiosity and had to hike out and shoot through to the nearest big town for a new rod ($$$!).  With that said I got the new Sage VXP on special as back-up and man what a rod!  It is very affordable and out-performs its predecessor (the XP).

Where to find fish: NZ is a place to explore, I noticed this after speaking to several guides; they all pointed me to different “favourite” rivers.  If someone refers to a place as being good, the river is most likely exceptional.  Locate those “good” rivers and fish them.  I asked for places to fish “simply to catch trout, regardless of their size” and everywhere I went there were huge trout, HUGE!  The point is, almost all rivers in South Island grow big trout (and you will be lucky to find rainbows, you mostly catch browns), the conditions are just perfect.  A number of rivers were stocked back in the day; the trout have since migrated through the sea to all other suitable rivers on this island.  Important note, do not ignore sea-run browns, fish of 15 to 17 lbs (even up to 21 lbs!) are regularly landed in the mouths of larger rivers.  A lot of the larger rivers will also have salmon in them over the months of January to March.  Bring a 9 or 10 wt for these fish, they are apparently very strong and should not be underestimated.  Oh yes, and there are brook trout in NZ as well.  Although several waters were stocked with brookies, they have only successfully populated two small lakes.  I have been privileged to fish one of these (Lake Emily) and managed to catch one brook trout.  Something you have to keep in mind is that brook trout are char and not trout.  Their feeding habits differ slightly, which is very noticeable in Lake Emily.  This has caused frustration amongst many who have visited this little lake with fishing in mind.

The Bad

Sandflies...SANDFLIES!!! Beware of sandflies, they are the second worst thing you will encounter in NZ besides Kiwi English.  Locals may say “Oh, there are sandflies, but they’re not that bad, just cover up...”, but I’ll tell you, they are BAD (worse than the worst tsetse infestation you have encountered, and I am not over exaggerating)!  The good news is that you can buy effective insect repellent almost anywhere in NZ, even at petrol stations.  Besides repellent, bring gloves and a buff to cover your hands and neck, it will also protect you against the harsh NZ sun and weather.

The Ugly

Didymo is a problem in South Island; it is important to clean all clothes and boots after fishing infected waters (use normal washing powder).  A lot of the really good spring creeks have also been closed due to didymo, so find out whether the rivers you planned to fish are open before coming here (check out the fish&game website: www.fishandgame.org.nz).  Interestingly, the NZ Department of Conservation (DOC) and researchers have noticed that most of the spring creeks carry spores, but no visual growth of didymo.  The water seems to have some sort of natural “immunity” against the “infectious” algae, which is good news for flyfishermen.  Accordingly, the DOC is considering opening all waters from next season onwards (hold thumbs!).  Besides these findings, didymo, although present, is not as bad as originally feared.  You may bump into the odd clump of didymo in infected rivers, but the alga does not overgrow the substrate.  In some rivers you will have to look really hard to find the stuff.  However, there are some areas, such as the outflows of certain lakes, where the atrocity of didymo is prevalent and distinct from other algal growth.  Didymo should also not be mistaken with other natural (indigenous) algae when visiting NZ waters.  A useful and simple test is to rub the algal growth between your fingers; natural algae will “vanish” in your fingers while didymo will remain as a brown, spongy matter.

For now, that’s all I can tell, but feel free to contact me for more information (mobile for sms: 0220856164), I will be here until end of May 2011.  Good luck with the packing!

Cheers,

Leonard