New Zealand South Island

[Greggory DiSalvo]

Okay Folks, So I am in the early stages of planning a South Island Honeymoon in December and of course would like to do a little fishing.  Of course I'd love this trip to be only fishing with helicopters, backpacking, and camping, but as this is a honeymoon with somebody who only humors my addiction, I'd probably only do a one day guide and recreation DIY on the side of the road.  We are doing a camper van and driving around with no destinations set in stone yet, so any recommendations would be great.  

Also, as much as I like catching, I actually enjoy seeing her catch fish more. I know NZ is pretty technical and she is very much a beginner, but if there are any recommendations for place and guides that specialize in the beginner, that would be great.  After all, the Trouts rec in Colorado was great for that and she scored the fish of the day!

Thanks guys,

Gregg

[Evan D]

Gregg,

Thats awesome that you're headed to NZ on your honeymoon.  My fiance and I are thinking the same thing (as am I regarding the fishing), so I'd love to hear how it goes and even get a debrief on your itinerary once you're back.  

I lived in NZ for 6 months in 2011 and did some fishing, although not as much as I wish I had.  I was very new to fly-fishing at the time and didn't realize what I was missing.  It pains me to this day (I even purchased a car, so I could have literally fished every day).  However, I went out with a fantastic guide, Adam (http://www.gofishtaupo.co.nz/index.php) and he was awesome.  He put us on some huge fish and was very great at teaching beginners (there were three of us). Unfortunately for you, he's on the north island.  If you make it to the north island, the rivers we fished were insane and we didn't see another person!  Also, if you want any non-fishing related suggestions, let me know.

For the DIY on the south island, this website will give you all you need to know: http://www.nzfishing.com/AboutFishingInNZ/NZFishingWaters.htm . It is literally one of the best websites for locating fishing spots that I have seen.  It has basically every stream on a map and if you click it will give you info, access maps, tips, and fly patterns.  It'll also tell you how difficult the fish tend to be on a given stream.

Typing all this makes me even more bummed I didn't fish more when living there, but I'm planning to go back very soon.  I'm excited to hear how your trip goes!

All the best,

Evan

[Andrew R]

Hey Greg,

I went down there with the girlfriend for two weeks of vancamping across the South Island a few months back (been meaning to post a report for awhile just haven't gotten around to it.)

In terms of guides on the South Island, are you planning to get down towards Queenstown? Maybe all the way down to Dunedin? Gore, which is about halfway between the two, is considered the "Brown Trout Capital of the World". The Mataura River was the one I went out on and the fishing was fantastic. We went out with a really good guide, Casey Cravens. He's an American based out of Dunedin but he's been fishing all across the South Island for 20+ years, highly recommend, he's a super fishy guy who knows the NZ style of fly fishing really well.

In terms of DIY fishing, I fished a few other days just in the late evening as we set up camp and had good luck. I have a great book on fly fishing the South Island that you're welcome to borrow (I'm not exactly planning to head back to NZ anytime soon). It's got the low down on basically every single trout stream in the entire South Island. I can bring it to the next beer tie if you want to borrow it.

Tight Lines,

Andrew R

On Monday, July 24, 2017 at 9:32:18 AM UTC-4, Greggory DiSalvo wrote:

[Greggory DiSalvo]

Evan, that's too bad that you didn't do too much fishing.  My dad has the same regrets, but that's what a followup trip is for!  Hope you guys do the same for your honeymoon!  Thank you for the website, I've enjoyed my initial brush over and can't wait to look at it side by side with driving itinerary!  I can hear it now, "Oh, my stomach hurts. give me 30 minutes to calm i down and my fly rod....Oh, we've been driving too long, lets take a quick trout hike....to stretch the legs.  Oh you are tired?  Take a nap, i'll fish"

Andrew, I am excited to hear you did a van camping trip!  I would love to pick your brain on not just fishing, but the trip in general!  We are planning on flying into Queenstown, so Casey may be on the clock shortly.  Do you think he would be good with a beginner who really only has roll casting down?

I'll definitely be at the next beer tie and would love to chat and take you up on that book offer!

Thanks!!

Gregg

On Monday, July 24, 2017 at 9:32:18 AM UTC-4, Greggory DiSalvo wrote:

[Andrew R]

Hey Greg,

Definitely willing to fill you in on my experience vancamping. Personally I think it's the best way to see the South Island. My gf and I did a couple nights at Airbnbs as well to do laundry or just have space to relax. Almost all of the kiwis we met were super friendly and our airbnbs were perfect for our needs. 

My girlfriend is a near novice in regards to fly-fishing so Casey spent alot of time working with her and she improved alot as the day went on. Just let him know what both of your guy's levels of experience are. 

I'll bring the book to the next beer tie and see you there.

Tight lines,

Andrew R

[Gregg DiSalvo]

Hi all, Once, again, thank you for the recommendations.  We got back from NZ a week ago and I am just starting to settle back into the sedentary office life.  So for an on the clock break!  

I ended up going out on the Mataura River with Casey Cravens of wildangler on Christmas Eve.  (BTW, Christmas doesn't feel so much like Christmas in 70 degree NZ).  Casey just got around to downloading some of his pictures from the last few weeks and forwarded me some lower res versions.  He is hoping to get me the high res versions when he has some down time.  

We rented a certified, self contained camper van which enabled us to freedom camp in some pretty cool and wild places.  Basically, we had a tiny toilet on board for emergencies.  If I were to do this trip again, I would want to make it more fishing centric as we camped in some awesomely fishy-looking spots, but I tried really hard to not make this a fishing trip since, you know, it was my honeymoon and not a fishing trip. That's not to say I didn't fish some.  I'll spare you all of my travel details and instead focus on the three distinct outings I made.  


We decided to meet Casey between Dunedin and Queenstown at his club's angling hut on Christmas Eve.  Casey suggested staying at a place called Piano Flats the night before.  We got there early and took a hike along the shores of the Waikaia River.  I carried my rod and a few flies just in case.  I spotted two good sized browns covering a good swath of still water.  They were rising periodically so I worked them with a couple smaller flies.  A caddis and a tiny royal wulff.  No interest in the caddis, but I was able to get one to aggressively turn to the wulff twice before I dropped the fly on his head.  The fun was done.  We came back later to take a cleansing dip in the frigid water, sans fishing gear, only to find six or seven rising trout in a nice hole.  Oh well.

The next morning we met Casey at his hut.  Emily wasn't feeling like fishing, so she brought a blanket and a good book.  I promised her I'd go on as many runs as she wanted as a thank you for letting me use a day of our trip on fishing.  Casey took us up to a nice remote section of the Mataura River.  The water was everything you'd expect of NZ; gin clear water with beautiful, greenish-blue holes.  

They are have a super low water summer right now, so Casey had warned me that he had been having mixed luck and it would take some awesome casting to get on some fish. For those who have fished with me, you know casting isn't really a strength of mine.  I guess fishing isn't either.........   Casey did tell me we could nymph riffles and runs to better entice those fish which are visually spooked in clear water, but he and I both agreed that we would rather sacrifice numbers for a good dry fly take.  So we set off with small beetles and beetles with willow grub droppers.  

We saw a decent number of fish that were holding right under us tight to shore.  I found it quite challenging to get down and get a good cast with limited false casting and or gusty wind, but managed a few.  I spooked many fish, got refused by others, and was just about to give into the nymph when we stumbled on a pool that was sheltered from the current by a downed willow tree.  We watched at least four good trout consistently sipping at the surface so up I stepped.  I methodically worked my casts closer and closer to the fish in order to see how far we could move them.  I got the first trout to move with a cast a couple of feet above and three feet from him.  He opened his mouth and then turned back.  I dropped it right back in.  He took it!!!  I set the #$% out of him....I got excited.  broke him off.  He surprisingly moved to the back of the pool, but was sipping again within 10 minutes.  I worked another trout in the are and had another take.  I wait and gently lifted the rod this time.  Fish on!  We were treated to an acrobatic display.  It was truly inspiring...BUT it ended up with another break off.  I was honestly happy just to tango with these fish, but of course I wanted to land one.  After taking a lunch break to let things calm down, I went back at it.  I laid a perfect cast down and had another take.  The fish fought hard, went on a few runs, but eventually found the net.  Amazingly, he had my beetle hanging from his mouth as well as another beetle with a willow grub dropper!  The first fish!  It's not often I catch a fish that I previously had broken off so I thought this was pretty neat.

We continued to fish for a few more hours with some more action and eventually I called it a day.  We wanted to drive a few hours north that night and I felt bad that Emily was probably quite bored.  Casey would have likely stayed out all night.  It was a great time and pretty country. 

I didn't fish again until our second to last night.  We camped next to a swollen Eglinton River.  Not expecting much, I threw on a Galloup's Dungeon variation that I had tied before leaving and swung it through the only somewhat "calm" water.  Wham!  The fly was smacked by a bruiser of a brown.  I did everything wrong in fighting this fish.  In short, I let him make a run at my feet......my feet that were firmly unmoving.  Of course he popped off with the slackline.  This fish was everything I could dream about and more.  It will certainly fuel me to plan a return trip sometime.  

All in all, I would highly recommend NZ if you enjoy the outdoors. The fishing seems to be plentiful and the beauty is endless.  The people are great and the coffee is above average and everywhere.  Find any excuse you can to visit, as long as you don'y mind 25+ hours of travel!

Gregg