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.