I love the months of April and May to head out into the New Zealand back-country to fly fish. This year was a little different though as New Zealand was in lock-down for over 6 weeks which saw us miss the last week of March and all of April sadly. The weather was fantastic and the rivers stayed low and clear for the most part which made it even harder being stuck at home in our family “bubbles”…. but something that was absolutely necessary to protect those people who are at higher risk of severe illness should they contract COVID-19, including people who are aged 70 and over or have certain existing health conditions. It’s now mid May and we have moved into Level 2 which means we can now move around a little more, although we still have certain restrictions that we must adhere too. My son Louie and I decided we needed a back country fix and planned a day on a local river that we hoped would fish well after some recent heavy rain. This time of year sees some good numbers of browns begin their migratory runs into the head water streams on their annual spawning pilgrimage and we hoped to encounter some fit, well conditioned browns and the odd rainbow too !

First on the board and it was a cracker of a fish for Louie at 7lbs

Louie’s smile says it all !A large brown rose out of the deep water in this run and smashed his big streamer just under the surface catching us both by surprise. — Louie’s smile says it all !
A large brown rose out of the deep water in this run and smashed his big streamer just under the surface catching us both by surprise.

We found a good stretch of water that about half a dozen fish lined up one after the other. Louie spied a big smudge sitting in front of a large sub merged boulder about a metre of the bank and had the first shot of the day. The fish was moving from side to side and occasionally lifting slightly. A well presented cast just off to the fish’s left and his indicator dipped and he was on ! A good 5min battle followed and a decent run down stream before it was finally in the net and weighed in at 7lb on the button. The fish had taken a #12 PT nymph with a fluro-orange tungsten bead, one he had tied himself making it even more special ! We proceeded to pick up another couple of fish along the same high bank over the next couple of hours on a mix of weighted nymphs and small brightly coloured streamers dead drift under and indicator.

YOU COULDN’T WIPE THE SMILE FROM HIS FACE ALL DAY

By about lunch time the wind was getting up and casting into a head wind was making things pretty tough, especially for Louie on his 7’9 Airflo Brookie set. We decided to put on some large articulated streamers and make our way back slowly to my truck using the down stream wind to our advantage.

Louie punching it into a strong head wind on his 7’9 Airflo Brookis set.

The river had come up a little since we had arrived, and was colouring up quickly due to the rain in the head waters. The large streamers were perfect for getting the attention of fish that were lying deep and not visible. We both had a few chases, broke fish off and landed another fish each before we reached my truck.

A great day out with my boy in a beautiful part of the world !