To My Fellow Fly Fishing Nuts;
Hello from a beautiful Spring Day in B.C. that’s screaming; Yard Work, Spring Cleaning, Spring Skiing, and Golf at me at the same time. It’s all helping me re enter society after another (35th) Trout Season in New Zealand.
This past season, just for fun, I did a weekly posting with photos/words on my Facebook Timeline that covers the full season on both Islands and it’s open to everyone, even if you are not a member of Facebook. By scrolling down through it you’ll see all the stops and why I can’t imagine not spending 4-5 months down there every year. Every season we learn a few more tricks and find a few more streams to love and also experiencing that lovely wonderment of what’s around the next bend and I love tying flies on with fingers that are trembling for the best of all reasons.
Here are a dozen shots from this past season that caught my eye and in them you’ll see water that pushes all the right buttons in 64 year old me. I love the smaller streams, especially in well browsed Sheep Country where walking up a river is like walking across your front lawn and you can run up or down a gravel bar chasing a fish without paying much attention to your feet on the baseball sized rocks. Add to this some somewhat predictable hatches, nice green backdrops of Willowbanks for backdrops that help you see your small dry or Pea Sized Indicator on an nymph and I’m “Happy As Larry” as they say in Kiwi Land. The fish won’t generally be as large at the specimens you MIGHT find from Sandfly Filled (not always) Backcountry Waters, via long hikes or Helicopters, but hot 3 to 6+ pounders on a 4 or 5 weight rod are enough for me, especially when the next “victims” are just waiting in the next pool or run upstream…more fishing, less hunting and fewer river miles.
But New Zealand can be a bit of a tough nut to crack for many newcomers and I get tons of people contacting me for info trying to figure out how to pull off a trip. So in my just updated Website (DavidLambroughton.Com), I added a column, "N.Z. Trip Planning” and I should have done it years ago. It quickly covers the common questions and options; Top Lodges, really good guides to book if you can, or just doing it on your own and taking your lumps and bumps with the learning curve. It’s not Rocket Science, it’s Good Presentation more than anything else. If you travel the world looking for those utterly superb Fishing Moments and like to combine it with waving back at the oncoming drivers on Country Backroads and fishing up to some bridge where your car is parked with the keys left in ignition, you’ll be in the right place.
So have a great/safe fishing season everyone and I’ll drop you a note in October and let you know what I may have learned on this Arriving North American Season; Beer Drinking on Montana/Idaho Rivers, the B.C.Rockies, cuts and bruises hiking into and up Coastal Summer Runs Streams and then to the Skeena Waters in the Fall until my wading boots or Private Parts freeze while I’m dreaming of the wonderful wet wading and summer days in New Zealand.
The best things are shared.
