Eddie and Matt decided at the last minute they wanted to hit a back country river for a fish whilst they were here in New Zealand.
They were here for a business trip and short on time so decided to fly in by chopper and meet me at an arranged back country hut early the next morning , fish all that day , stay in the hut over night, fish the next day and then be picked up late afternoon by the chopper and be flown back to Wanaka for their next round of meetings , a busy schedule ! I packed my truck with all the necessary supplies , and equipment and hit the road early . I arrived at the hut a couple of hours later after a fairly rough ride in , it had rained all night so the river crossings were a bit hairy in places as were the deep muddy puddles that had sprung up after the rain.

As I expected the river was up and a little colored , so we hit the clearer edges where the side streams and small springs flowed in , these areas are favored by trout during times of high-discolored water . We tied on some heavy tippet and some favorite big water streamers and proceeded to work the seam-drop off where the clear and deeper colored water met , both the boys hooked up in the first 100m of river they fished but unfortunately both fish came unstuck .

We slowly worked our way downstream and covered some very nice water . Both of the guys landed a couple of good fish each over the course of the day swinging streamers along the banks and drop offs .

Around 6pm the call was made to head back to the hut and get dinner on the go. Home-kill Merino lamb chops , Parmesan mash potatoes , blackened corn and vegetables sauteed in garlic butter were on the menu , washed down with a local Pinot Noir!

The guys had only enough free time to fish until mid afternoon due to a busy work schedule so the call was made for an early breakfast then hit river around 7.30am the following morning.

An early morning streamer eater , that was holding in tight against the bank behind a large boulder.

You just have to roll with it when planning your New Zealand fly fishing adventure as the weather will always have the last say , you need to be flexible in both river choice and techniques employed if conditions are not great upon your arrival , be prepared for anything !