The Hunter River

The Hunter river was the most spectacular part of our November trip to New Zealand. It was iconic New Zealand fishing, all what the fishing journalists talk about. It was in the New Zealand "back country" where the fishing was in spectacular surroundings.

The hunter river flows through a valley which has only limted access. Some people helicopter in, others jet boat in during times when this is permissable, while others drive in using a 4WD, crossing 4 rivers and spending an intense 2 hours driving on roads which are used by Hunter Station to care for their cattle and sheep. Hunter Station allows access while staying in one of their huts. Col, Chris and I stayed at Boundary hut.

This  video is a catalogue of our experience in the Hunter Valley.

New Zealand Again

Col, Chris and I have been to New Zealand's South Island in November! This is our fourth  trip together in the south island.

It was the best fishing trip yet! The weather was spectacular, although the local farmers were all crying out for rain. The rivers were very fishable, with clear fresh water flowing down rivers with stone bottoms.

The fish were co-operating as well. We caught both browns and rainbows, on dry flies (often using blow flies which are a blue humpy style pattern) and small nymphs.

A total of 16 fishing days, thanks to my wife Merrie who helps me organise the flights and some parts of the accommodation. She also allows me the time to spend in one part of God's incredible creation. Thanks Merrie.

Three Aussie blokes who had one purpose, that is to catch trout in one of the most spectacular parts of the world. One couple commented in one of our caravan parks that we stayed in that they were impressed by the the way we worked together, in this case it was the preparation of our evening meal.

Thankyou Col, Chris and the South Island New Zealand.

Alaska Fishing - Kenai River

Cooper's Landing is a must to fish. Well it almost was a "must fish" for me, but not quite! When we arrived in Anchorage, we decided to initially head north - in the direction of Denali National Park - to see if we could be one of the lucky 30% of tourists to obtain a clear view of North America's tallest mountain, Mt McKinley. We became friendly with some folk in the Big Lake area and consequently ran out of time to wet a line at Cooper's Landing, en route to our cruise embarkation at Seward. However, we did take a detour off the highway and dropped by for a quick visit.

I enquired about a drift boat fishing trip down the Kenai River, chasing large rainbows and was told that August is definitely the best time of year to do this!

The guide at Alaska Trout Fitters was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and friendly.

Watching the rainbows on a tributary of the Kenai River

Here we are watching those rainbows sitting immediately behind the salmon. It is illegal to fish for salmon here but the rainbows  are large!!! I asked this local why he didn't walk up the river to prospect in better locations. He answered that there was a high risk of running into grizzly bears if he walked or waded into more remote areas. For safety, he only ever fished accessable water close to roads.

Alaska Fishing and The Best Catch of the Day

Every trip has a highlight. Alaska has many trophies but the best of all is:

My wife, Merrie, helping me out by sighting fish on the Little Susitna

It was glorious weather. All of the locals tell you to enjoy the sunshine on days such as this, as there is so little of it in Alaska. This seems impossible for an Australian to comprehend!!!

Helping a Christian friend with some casting tips

The second best part of fishing in Alaska, other than sharing it with your wife, is sharing it with a friend. I loved spending several days sharing my love of christ (in a practical way) with a Christian friend. Dale and I worked many hours together preparing Little Beaver Camp & Retreat Center for the next set of campers. Fishing the river with Merrie and Dale was my reward for two days' work.

Who Enjoys Salmon?

Fishing always has challenges. In Alaska, this comes in the form of a large black (sometimes brown) animal with an "I'm bigger than you" attitude problem!

A 7 month old baby grizzly bear

This cutie was photographed at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center south of Girdwood. Grizzlies (otherwise known as brown bears) stay with their mum for up to 2 years whilst she teaches them how to hunt and fish. This specimum already stands taller than me and is many multiples of my weight! You can well imagine the size of mama bear! Their favourite diet this time of year is salmon. As they fish the same rivers as fishermen, the prudent angler always carries pepper spray. My can was inspected at customs, but I was permitted to bring it into Canada as long as I used it only for its intended purpose!

Willow Creek, just off the Parks Highway

Merrie and I met a young fisherman at Willow Creek (actually quite a big river) who carried a pistol in a holster on his chest. He told us that he had turned around suddenly the previous day and got the shock of his life to find a black bear within arm's reach.

An American Bald Eagle

Bald eagles also love fishing for salmon. Fortunately they are much more tolerant of other fishermen!

Where are the real fish?

Here it is:

A 8 lb bullet, caught on the Montana Creek, Alaska

If you want to catch fish which never give up and run strong, often taking you into your backing, then this is for you! Most local anglers will use a 8 weight rod. Those who enjoy the sport will use a 6 weight rod. The tippet needs to be heavy. I was using 9 lb tippet.

The flies are large streamers. Try purple first. Then black and if that doesn't work, resort to green.




These fish are not feeding.  Rather, your sole purpose is to really annoy them so that they respond to your fly.

Fly Fishing in Alaska During August

The rivers vary in clarity but the best water is clear. This is a portion of Montana Creek, one of the best streams north of Anchorage. These streams are spring feed. The glacier fed streams are coloured with alluvial silt.

I also fished Willow Creek and the Little Susitna. They are all accessable from the Parks Highway.

To fish the salmon, you need to be at the confluence of Montana Creek at the Mendenhall River. Try turning right at Yoder Road on the way to Talkeetna.

I have been advised to plan a fishing trip on the old Denali Rd, which runs south of the national park. The road surface is dirt but apparently it is well formed. The road crosses over many spring creeks where rainbows abode in high numbers. During spawning runs of salmon, rainbows can be found a few metres below the salmon. They feed on the salmon roe. It is no doubt best to sleep in a campervan (RV), rather than a tent, to be safe from wildlife. The best month to fish this water for rainbows is in July whereas the salmon run in mid August. King Salmon, however, start running in June.

Expect to have mild weather, but it can be very wet. 2010 had 31 consecutive days of rain!

This video clip is of spawning salmon at Ketchikan, Alaska. 2010 was a record year for spawning salmon. Fish numbers in the Fraser River were higher than they have ever been since 1913.

Alaskan Wildlife

Spotting wildlife is one of the highlights of a fishing trip to Alaska.

This fine lady was spotted in a field alongside the Parks Highway, before the turnoff to Talkeetna.

Fishing Rotorua in June

1. Lake rotorua - Ohau Canal

2. Lake Rotoiti - Hinehqou Beach & Hauparu Bay

3. Lake Rotoma - South Beach

4. Lake Tarawera - Kotukutuku Stream mouth

Merrie fly fishing Lake Wakapitu, South Island, New Zealand

My wife Merrie also enjoys the occasional cast. No luck this time on Lake Wakatipu (Queenstown) but she sometimes outfishes me! Her best catch to date is a 6lb brown trout from the Aparima River near Thornbury, Southland. It was about 10.30 pm at night. We had just returned to the car ready to leave when Merrie noticed the water was suddenly "boiling". Fish were literally jumping everywhere. We geared up again and were well rewarded. Ask us sometime about THE bull!

Queenstown, New Zealand, Nymph Fishing

My wife and I spent a lazy Mother's Day afternoon fishing at 12 mile beach, Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown. I caught this little beauty within a few minutes of arriving on a size 14 pheasant tail flashback nymph.

Fly Fishing Downunder late 2009

Come Fly With Me!

Although I have been fly fishing for 41 years, I had never done so outside of New South Wales, Australia until four years ago.

My good friends, Garry and Merrie Bott, convinced me to fly to New Zealand with Garry and his mate Col for a fortnight of trout stalking in the South Island.

People will tell you that Australia has good fly fishing and to an extent this is quite true. However, trout fishing here is not always consistent. Australia simply doesn't have the scope New Zealand offers and there can be long flat periods without a catch for a number of reasons.

In contrast, New Zealand has so very many rivers and lakes. They are also extremely fertile to inverterbrate life! The pristine, clean water is a delight to experience.

If you have a good background in fly fishing, polaroiding in particular, you can easily do it yourself, rather than incurring the expense of hiring professional guides.

Research can be readily obtained from books, maps, DVD's and other experienced fly fishermen of New Zealand waters. This will easily suffice for you to have an enjoyable, prolific fishing adventure in the land of the Long White Cloud.

New Zealand trout are by no means stupid but there are such a lot of them. They are also generally bigger than their Australian counterparts.

Overseas fishing trips don't need to be expensive if you hire older model cars and seek cheap air fares and budget accommodation.

I have now been fly fishing to New Zealand on four occasions in the past four years, three times to the South Island and once to the North Island.

God willing, I plan to visit the fly fishing Mecca of the world at least once a year for as long as I am capable of boarding an aircraft.

If you ever have the opportunity, "come fly with me"! You won't regret it.

Fly Fishing New Zealand March 2010

Pay Less to Fish More!

During those annoying times between fishing trips, I work as a financial planner in Tamworth, New South Wales.

It is a basic principle of money management that if you spend less, you can save more.

But my wife, one of the most highly qualified financial planners in Australia, has a completely different angle on this whole ‘spending less’ notion.

Ever since she earned her first babysitting dollar at the tender age of ten, Merrie’s lifelong philosophy has always been that you spend less so that you can buy more!

What does all this have to do with my addiction for fly fishing?

It’s simple. I spend as little as possible on each of my fishing flings across the ditch in order that I can go more often!

Another fiscal fallacy my wife detests is the mantra “you pay for what you get”.

On more than one occasion, a passenger has paid as much as six times what I did to put their bum on the seat next to mine! We didn’t pay the same yet we basically got the same.

OK, the cardiologist on the flight from Sydney to an outer Hawaiian Island did get meals, drinks, a blanket and movies for his $3,000 return airfare whereas I was denied such necessities of life on my miserly $525 ticket. Of course, I could have forked over a few bucks more and added these same services as a pre-paid package. Alternatively, I could have bought any individual service I desired once I was on board the plane. Any way you look at it, I would still have been in the enviable position of being able to purchase at least four (probably five) tickets for the price of his one!

Apart from cashing in frequent flyer points (a misnomer as they are really frequent shopper points nowadays), my cheapest return airfare from Sydney to New Zealand in 2009 was $175 return. This price included a 20 kg baggage allowance and all taxes (except for the NZ$25 departure tax collected at Christchurch airport).

Turning to accommodation, our choices vary from simple riverbank camping at one end of the spectrum to luxury resort dwelling at the other.

On my most recent fishing foray to the South Island, my wife “strongly suggested” we stay for a week in a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment (sleeps 8) in central Queenstown. You can easily find the joint quoted on internet at approximately NZ$350 per night. I am too embarrassed to print what we actually paid, but you would be right to assume that the entire week cost us less than one night at the publicly available rate.

Now Wife Management is an art I am yet to perfect, but admittedly this resort did work out extremely well, especially considering the torrential rain at that time. If it was too wet to fish, there was no alternative but to watch the footy on Foxtel. Such a happy co-incidence!
So now I know exactly what is meant by that slogan: “A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work”!

The third biggest trip expense is car hire. The various rent-a-wreck companies only charge a fraction of the price of the big name companies. And considering some of the ‘roads’ upon which we actually drive these vehicles in pursuit of those elusive trophy trout, who wants to hire a pristine new car that would easily show off every scratch?

So what do I typically pay for a two week fishing trip from Sydney to the Land of the Long White Cloud?

My share of the airfares, accommodation, car hire and fuel should not exceed $800, according to She Who Must Be Obeyed. Under $500 really brings a smile to her face. Over $1,000 elicits more than a frown.

Uh-oh! Those voices in my head are telling me to go fly fishing again. What the heck, at these prices, fly fishing is decidedly cheaper than therapy!