RISE FLY FISHING FILM TOUR,NZ TROUT,NEW STRIKE INDICATOR, BACK YARD IN NOWHERE, CICADAS, MAY FLIES

THE RIVERS AND LAKES


At last we had rain after two months, which raised the levels of all the rivers , pretty rapidly again. Now they have all receded and are now all flowing at good levels. But yesterday i just heard that the lower Mataura was still dirty, but even maybe today it will be clear.

Another well condition fish caught on a superior nymph from one of the main rivers.

So basically they are all gin clear and fish able, allot of the smaller streams although looking good now, will be a waste of time fishing as they all basically dried up and fish died and others fled down stream to the mid reaches of the flowing main rivers.


THE LINKS - 
At last the links on my blog are working, tanks to some help. :) So you can now click away and go to pastures new and exciting!


WEATHER!


Yesterday ! there was 140klm hr winds!! today is forecast some rain, then the summer looks like kicking back in and there are rows of  little sun shine emblems on the weather forecast. For the shop yesterday was a good day at last, with fishermen coming in all day -to complain about the weather and  doing some shopping, so i am afraid to say - sometimes i like crap weather- as it helps the retail side!- plus i was not guiding :) . 


The down fall though was i had a casting lesson in the casting area at the shop, needless to say ,my client was soon learning how to cast into the wind much earlier than most. But it was a struggle with the wind and at one time i nearly called it off- But hey my client - reminded me its only weather!!!

First light from my office window in Athol the sun is trying!

FISHER FOLKS & GUIDING


For most of the season, there has not been many people around fishermen and general tourist.Having the shop i get to know this and foot traffic this year is down about 30%. Which may not be good for the shop ,but the fishing has been great with many rivers receiving not much pressure compared to other years. February is always a great month for fishing and a busy one for the guiding side , Basically i,m booked out for guiding and fly fishing schools for Feb ,but have plenty of dates in March and April. I can tell that this means there will be allot of fishermen around  in FEB and nearly all the guides i know are also booked out. This does not mean that the fishing will be no good- it may mean your usual spot has been fished or taken ,but as i we all know the fish will still be there and they have to feed , you may have to increase your knowledge and skill level to get them - but be positive and you will- fish with confidence.

Tom After missing his plane in London!!! it was worth it!

Why is  FEB so busy- At a guess i would have to say the reason is that its normally hot and water levels are getting low and clear and there will be big dry fly stuff on the go.




WHAT FOOD SOURCE WILL BE AROUND IN FEB!!


At the moment , with the water cooling down after the rains, has been washing down and getting the mayflies active. 
The fish have nearly all been nymphing and most of my clients have been nailing trout on the tandem rig of a NZ mayfly bomb and a king pogo nymph with an indicator above. 
For fish just beneath the surface a deadly blow fly with a NZ realistic brown size 18 nymph below seems to work most times.
Reports have also been coming in of small hatches down south, most fish getting caught on the very small size 18 extra hi-viz grey parachute mayfly. I,m watching more and more fishermen buying these smaller sized parachutes nowadays here for success.
The cicadas have been chirping like crazy and are sure to start next week looking at the new found summer coming. They are in full swing in the north island and at the top of the south island, a small glimmer of them in the central area.
A few fish despite the colder temp of the water have been willow grubbing, but most of them switched back to nymphs after the rain. They should as the water clears and warms up next week start to look sky wards for the tasty little morsels.
Just before the rains i had one client get 17 hook ups on my little floating willow grub , i,m pretty sure where we were fishing the fish had not seen an imitation and did not hesitate in eating them provided they were presented right. Yet 3 days later on another river we had two fish grubbing and had no success.

 The-it was worth it- face! Go the king pogo!

Tam , one of the funniest,  passionate  fly guys i guide returned for some guiding and hook some nice trout and lost many more., that is after he fell over twice just getting to the river on the first day and lost his rental car key, but after the big panic and worry of the lost key -we found it!!! YES it was in the boot lock all along- boy did we laugh- the joys of being human!


RISE FLY FISHING FILM FESTIVAL- Huge in Europe!


If you are in Euro ,NZ or Australia, i advise you to get your tickets soon for the ever in demand seats at Nick Reygaret  awesome fly fishing film festival.
He has for the last 9 yrs (wow) been working like a crazy man , making fly fishing films(check out the trailer for his new Hatch dvd on the rise  link) and setting up  in Europe his Rise fly fishing festival and its just getting bigger and bigger- for example this year Poland has been added with 3 shows scheduled to play, 6  shows in Germany etc.
There are many others popping up in the world - but only the one big American tour and  Rise  ,have the best films, so not to be disappointed in your night out watching the best new fish porn available, make sure you go to the shows run the main guys  and support them after all the years and hard work they have put into giving you that yearly event to look forward too and meet heaps of other like minded people.


NEW STRIKE INDICATOR AVAILABLE

You will all love this easy to use  Nz indicator system thats easy to adjust and does not kink the leader! 

You will all need and want one of these! the best indicator on the market and new for 2012!! Check them out - click here


 COMMENTS

Hi Stu,

 It was me that popped by, so great to meet you in person. Loved the shop! Best I have come across and a far cry from the usual boring monotonous shite!

Joe- Australia

Hi Stu.

The flies arrived yesterday.

The look great and I'm extremely pleased with them. Just gotta put them in front of a few fish and all will be sweet.

Thanks for the great service

Cheers

Ross 

Check out the largest range of the best fly fishing dvds in NZ & Australia
From past to present.

THE REAL WAY TO LAND A HUGE TROUT!!
Watch this clip and do not give up! watch it to the end and you will realise why- who needs a reel or a rod!!! and you will go wow! click here


Due to my work its looking like this blog will have to be every two weeks for this month, but i will try and do it weekly.


Thank you all for your great support and very kind comments , please keep it all coming. Watch out for the new designs


Happy fishing.
Cheers
Stu 

NZ DEADLY BLOWFLY,SUICIDE BROWN TROUT, DYING TROUT, FFF MCI STEFAN, FLOODING RIVERS,

NEW  SUPERIOR FLIES

YES!! I am about to add some New fly designs and sizes to the site, I,m sure you will like my Stu's Elk Hair Caddis, that with my use of a foam body floats much better than a standard one- great as indicator flies as well- on Tiemco large gaped strong fly hooks as well!! and smaller NZ Deadly Blow flies.

A Trophy Trout! Caught on a Stu,s NZ Deadly Blowfly! Again!

NEW DVDS

This week i should be receiving some more DVD's in so - Check them out as well,  Connect dvd is still the best seller at the moment.

THE DESERT!

For nearly two months in Northern Southland we had no rain, we normally get the rain over late Dec or early Jan , but it never came. The ground was as hard as rocks and there was not much grazing for the farm animals. 

Many rivers had started to dry up , especially the small tributaries, with fish and game rescuing trout stuck in pools on dried up rivers,  Everyday people were coming into the shop with stories of dead  trout in the small streams. All the major rivers were still holding up like the mataura, but very low up to 80% lower flows than normal. It was not looking good.

Derek had a water proof jacket- but turned it into a fly patch!!

THE RAINS- RIVER DANGERS!

Then last week the wet stuff came from the heavens and the hard ground struggled to soak up the water. So the rivers all came up dramatically. Some within 4 hrs came up nearly 3 mtrs. They were all chocolate brown . 

We just made it across- thanxs to the kind NZ farmer! 

I had a half day guiding on the Friday this happened and as the Main matarua river was coloring up and too dirty to fish, we crossed it to fish another small river. As  i was guiding and near the end of the day, the local farmer i know saw me and raced over on his Quad and told me and my client that we better get back across the river asp and use his mobile sheep bridge as the river was raging now and he was about to pull the bridge away as its on wheels before it got swept down stream. 

This is in a way a bit of a warning to others ,especially no locals , if you are anywhere in NZ fishing, and the river starts to rise make sure you are on the correct side for getting home and do not try and cross a raging river- the owner of the land behind my shop did that and drowned a few years ago and he should have known better!! So be careful.

As well as the rain !! yes there was Snow as well- but it has all melted now- NZ weather- be prepared at all times!!

WILLOW GRUBS BEFORE THE RAINS!! 

 Just before the rains, the willow grubs were falling just like rain drops and when the heat of the day came,. The Large browns would come to the surface for the feast. 

The only time we nailed the trout was when i had a client with very good accuracy and dead drift presentation with the imitations , something to remember when targeting willow grub feeders!! and i also notice unless the fist cast and offering was on the money the game we play was over pretty quickly , with the trout knowing that something was just not right with every other cast!

The Fish that were not on Grubs were also coming up for the new smaller size 12  NZ Deadly blowfly that i just added last week to the web shop.

SUICDE  TROUT!!

The past few days i have been guiding and the rivers were all clearing in southland and the fish were pretty much on the munch big time. With good numbers of trout taking the flies every day.

I tried the good old red worm fly in the slightly dirty clearing water to some trout , but not even a sniff! yet at the start of the season with a fresh - they can work well. That was another interesting learning curve this week. But the fly that was nailing them big time was size 18 King pogo tied off the back of a  NZ May Fly bomb with a small yarn indicator above. I tried other small nymphs but this was by far the money fly .

The rivers are dropping quickly and today all are gin clear again.

So it will deadly blow fly and willow grub time again soon.

Dylan- Fishing with a brown Stu's NZ mayfly nymph size 18 in rising water!!

Just before the rains in the evening there were thousands of brown beetles hatching on dark and into the night, One farmer on a river further down south was nailing some big trout on my brown beetle , early in the mornings  while the trout were still focused on the beetle silhouette as a food source.

 LEARNING MORE FLY CASTING STUFF!

At the moment I  have the Casting Guru (FFF MCI- gold medal winner etc)from SWEDEN  staying with me , Stefan  Gangreenfoot. Who  has a infected foot so for a jam sandwich with lots of salt on in has been helping me with stuff. I have also just hired him for a personal fly fishing school- as there is so much to learn ! and i don't know it all. But i will tell you more about what we got up too  another time. But apart from working with another Casting teaching nut which has and is awesome- I,m sure he has poisoned my poor pet gold fish - i think he has been washing his feet in the tank!!! 2 dead two to go :(.

Catch you all later and please keep SUPPORTING THE SHOP- as this shop is the REAL DEAL !!! and not a big commercial thing! just PASSION!- BUT ! i do need you all to shop with me for it to survive!

Cheers

Stu