Back from New Zealand

We are back from New Zealand's south island.  Here is a slideshow with a few photos from the trip.

The trout fishing in NZ is out of sight!  Actually, its all about sight.  We didn't cast to one fish that we didn't spot first.  Stealth and accuracy are paramount.  NZ browns are extremely wily.  The waters we fished were hugely diverse.  Bouldery creeks lined with ferns and brush, tiny crystal clear spring creeks flowing through meadows with snow caped mountains in the background, high gradient coastal streams, meandering lowland rivers, high country rivers, I even fished a lake!

The type of fly fishing changed throughout the trip.  While it was all sight fishing we started out dropping larger sized stonefly nymphs under dries... the nymphs had to be olive colored.  We got a few on dry flies at first, but the best dry fly fishing started a few weeks into our trip.  Then it was almost all dry with the occasional small nymph dropped.  All the flies I tied worked great, although I had to buy a few green stonefly nymphs over there.  Leaders had to be no less than 12 feet most of time, often longer.

The scenery was unreal.  The different regions make this country playground.  it only takes a few hours of driving here and there to get from densely forested coastal mountains to turquoise ocean and beautiful beaches to high desert.  I know, it sounds like Oregon, but there is an even more dramatic diversity of landscapes.

Cairn and I both left New Zealand better trout anglers.  I am looking forward to our spring trout season on the Deschutes!

Thanks for reading,

Chris