Montana TroutAholics Adventure in New Zealand
"Sweet! I will see you in 20 minutes get ready to fish rage!" says Simon

The New Zealand fly fishing experience was a very humbling one for my wife Debbie and I. We very quickly learned that unlike the waters in western Montana you don’t cast to water simply because it looks “fishy” but instead you cast to fish. The waters in New Zealand are crystal clear, cold, and for the most part not exceptionally deep. Also, in most of the rivers they simply don’t have anywhere near the numbers of fish that the rivers in western Montana hold, but the fish that are there are BIG! The average fish in New Zealand is between 3 to 4 pounds with many fish that reach into the double digits. Well as we all know fish don’t get big without being a little on the smart side and I this is definitely the case with New Zealand Brown Trout.

You are site fishing for every fish you fish for. The key is seeing the fish before they see you. Not quite as easy as it sounds at first believe me. If you are planning a trip to New Zealand I would HIGHLY recommend hiring a guide for at least a couple of days to get you dialed it. Have him explain exactly to you what they are looking for and try to figure out their method of spotting fish. It took my wife and I several days of non stop fishing before we finally got to the point where we could see the fish before they saw us. Once you get to that point the rewards are great! The other thing we observed was just how important a good drift is. It was easy to see with the super clear waters of New Zealand . If your bugs were dragging the fish were not interested. If they floated naturally they would sometimes move several feet out of their feeding lanes to come eat your bugs which was a very fun site to see!

Be prepared to walk MILES to catch fish. If you are not in decent shape you will not enjoy your fishing experience in New Zealand . It was not uncommon for us to walk anywhere from 2 to 4 miles up a river. We referred to that as paddock fishing as you moved from one paddock to the next moving up river. The other thing you should do before going is practice, practice, practice you casting. Wind can be a huge factor at times and the last thing you want is to blow a cast on a big fish! Some fish you only have one shot at so you need to make the best of EVERY cast.

New Zealand is one of the cleanest, most friendly countries my wife and I have ever been too and we will certainly visit it many more times. The fishing experience was some of the most rewarding I have ever had in my life! That said one needs to make sure they keep a very real expectation for their day. I fished with some of the best fisherman in Southland a GREAT day of catching is 6 or 7 fish. Double digit days are very rare so make sure you are mentally prepared for that. The hunting and stalking of Brown Trout is what it is all about in New Zealand . If that is your game than New Zealand needs to be on your short list of places to fish.

Tight Lines,
Joel Thompson
Fishing Outfitter
MontanaTroutAholics.com

We put some links in our "TroutAholics Links" section of places we enjoyed in New Zealand.