Louie's February Fishing Report

February Fishing Report 

My 14 year old son does a fishing report for the local sports store here in Wanaka (Southern Wild) where he works over the summer months. He loves chatting with the customers and helping them with fly and lure choices along with how to set up their rods and reels etc. Hope you enjoy the read :)

Most of this February I have been fishing the local rivers in the Wanaka area with both fly and spinning gear depending on the conditions.

Again the most popular soft bait colors I have found this month have been the Berkley black and gold paddle tail and the EcoGear Grass Minnow in the purple UV color. These soft baits have heaps of movement and are very life-like and the trout love them.

The dry fly fishing has been awesome with smaller blow fly patterns in #14-16 , Parachute Adams #12-16 and cicadas in colours green and black in sizes #8-12 all working on the hotter days !  

Loon Aquel Gel is perfect for these dry flies to keep them floating higher on the water and stopping them getting waterlogged. Another good product to dry your flies and help them float better is Loon Top Ride, this is a fine powder that you dip your flies into so remember to put the top back on tight ! Mark stocks both these products in the shop. 

I was lucky enough to have a half day fishing with Dad on a recent family tramp in the backcountry. We didn't see many fish but I managed to catch 2 on a wee black foam cicada that dad and I tie. The water was gin clear and the fish were in great condition !

Autumn is almost here which means cooler mornings with warmer days and hopefully some good mayfly action ! Dad and i have a couple of trips organised to the Southland region over the next couple of months so watch this space !

Tightlines 

Louie The Fish