Arthur's Pass and Fly Fishing

Karen and I travelled back through Aurthur's Pass.

Castle Hill has some very interesting rock formations as you travel through Arthur's Pass.

Bob fly fishing Pearson Lake.


A one lane bridge which also doubles as a train bridge.

School is out in Greymouth.

Dave with a nice brown on.

This brown was hilarious. I caught him twice within two minutes.  He attacked my dry fly on the first drift as it travelled downstream. I set the hook before it turned upstream. The tustle was brief. I cast again to the fish which was still within casting range. It came over to inspect the fly but did not take. I cast again and the brown took a 7 or 8 foot run at the fly and engulfed it. I was incredulous  After a short battle the brown was netted. What a neat moment.

Craziness On Our Trip that We Did Not Expect

Well, life has been interesting for us. We have encountered some hazards in our fly fishing journey. So beware, fellow travellers, all is not as smooth and peaceful as it might seem.

1. Beware of being crop dusted. We have been crop dusted on two different rivers. Once by a small plane and once by a helicopter. This included many flights over us to deposit something that I am sure was not really meant for human consumption.

2. Beware of the sandflies. They have no sound, they are little and they are ferocious. You bleed as they rip skin. They make mosquitoes look benign.

3. Beware the poison. Yes, poison - 1080. Over this great land they poison for possums which have been declared a pest by the Department of Conservation. The poison is baited and of course, a lot dies, not just possums. Signs are posted everywhere and locals also have signs of protest out. A couple of quotes would be " Our poison paradise" and "If you drink the water, you are crazy! 1080 kills everything." This is just a small sample of the many signs. Thank goodness our pups are not with us here.

4.Beware of farmers with their own backhoes who decide to repair their private roads and bridges anytime they like, leaving a crystal clear stream looking like a brown mud stream.

5. Beware the broome with yellow flowers that cover the land. This is another pest brought from Scotland. Apparantly these two Canadians are quite allergic to this stuff.

5. Beware of losing your waders. Yes, we did. They fell off our van as we trundled down this little road ( I know they should not have been there to start with) and in less than 10 minutes and three cars that had passed us - they were gone. Our waders had been picked up by someone and taken away. We asked, we looked, we searched walking the ditches just in case! Yeah, right.

These are just some of the hazards encountered. We know it is cold right now in Alberta but just enjoy what you don't have to encounter.

Tragedy at Greymouth

Today is a sad day. 29 miners perished at the Pike River Mine. We were fishing in the area and the tragedy was noticed everywhere. People are stunned at the horrible events that took place that cost so many lives. Karen and I feel horrible and we know that many of you have been following the events in Greymouth. Our sympathies to the families.

Spring Creeks in New Zealand

Word had it that aroun a small town on the west coast there were spring creeks.  We knew we had to search for a historic crash site and we did find the crash site and we fished all around the area. It was a lot of fun camping at a historic site. We arrived at about 8 pm after fishing a beautiful stream called the Waitaku River near Reefton for 5 hours and not seeing a fish. A long walk on the way back on a track told us why. Truck after truck parked upstream of us. The browns were hiding but when we arrived at our spring creek there were three browns feeding right against the shore. The 4 weight and an elk hair caddis enticed the biggest of the browns to take. It was very cool watching the big lips engulf the offering. Once the brown realized it was hooked, some real fun occurred. The brown went for the vegetation in the river and I realized that I was going to have to get into the stream to land my trophy. Bad move because the ground was straight mushy mud and I sunk. I had my sandles on and the river ate one of them. Damn. The brown scooted for the far shore and after I got my fly line out of the cabbage I was able to land him minus my sandle which I tried to find but no dice. What a start to fishing spring creeks. Karen and I had to laugh at my fortune or misfortune depending on how we looked at the moment that just occurred.

Our camping spot beside a historic site where the first successful flight across the Tasman Sea ended. Amazingly enough there were no sand flies. A nice break from these nasty critters.

A beautiful spring creek with lots of shore to wander. Sight fishing was ok but the evening rise was outstanding.

A red size 14 copper john got this guy! My go to dropper!

The commerative plaque at the landing site of the first successful flight across the Tasman starting at Sydney.

An elk hair caddis at dusk and kaboom, a nice brown for Karen.

The evening rise was awesome.

These signs are everywhere. Apparently there is poison in the forests to control pests like possums. Unfortunately the poison kills birds, dogs and anything else that ingests it. Many New Zealanders are against the poison. There are signs everywhere against the poison control.

Trees along the west coast. I wounder which direction the wind is blowing?

It Takes Teamwork to Catch these Brown Trout

Karen and I are have a lot to learn about catching the wiley brown trout here in New Zealand. The weather settled down enough so we could walk along a local creek called Larry's Creek near Reefton that has a reputation for having big browns. We started walking just after lunch and only spotted 2 fish. The first one was busily feeding and should have been caught except for errant casts that caused poor presentations. We got a second chance at another brown that we actually walked right past and didn't see until we stopped to scan the water. It was feeding in a trough in fairly fast water. An accurate cast and we got a hook up. We got this 6 pounder in and we were both excited. We were warned that we may not see many fish. We were thankful to get one in the bag.

We are in Reefton

It's raining right now. It's the first lousy weather we have had since coming to New Zealand. We are in a small town called Reefton and yesterday an explosion at the Pike River Coal Mine has caused 29 miners to be trapped. There is television all over the place here. We are laying low until the weather settles down. That may take 3 days. We need a break from our hippie van anyways and the sandflies. My ankles are one big sandfly bit. We are missing our friends and family right now. We hope to explore some of the west coast in the upcoming days once the weather settles down. We have caught some browns here and there. The fishing is challenging. Sight fishing and an accurate first cast may get you a hook up. Stay warm, it was 27C here yesterday.

Fly Fishing and Touring

Hi Everybody!

Karen and I are in Motueka. We wanted to take a look around this area and do some fly fishing. It's hot here and rain is desperately needed. Today we were at about 26C. We fished for awhile and when it got too hot we just toured.

The views from the lookout here between Motueka and Takaka were spectacular.

Here is a nice little brown trout - okay it was a bit bigger than that.

Another beauty and caught at a bridge - can you believe it? These were on the Buller River.

Sometimes the hot afternoon is time for a siesta. Today was one of those days. After a cold beer, it is time to relax!

A daily occurance here - and when they cross - you stop for them!

What a beautiful view of the Golden Bay area. It truly is a wonderful looking country.

Fly Fishing in New Zealand

Fly fishing in New Zealand is an amazing experience. It's not easy and as Karen and I have learned, it takes teamwork. We have spent the last three days with Serge. He took us to some neat places to fly fish. Karen and I appreciated his efforts. He was professional, positive and willing to go the extra mile. We have sampled fishing in the middle reaches of one drainage system called the Grey River, hit an alpine river, the Upper Wairau River and fished the Boyle river right beside a major road. We have had excellent weather over the last few days although cloudy days makes it difficult to spot fish. Bright sun is what you want to sight the fish. Yesterday we had just that but the wind can make the water quite turbulant on top and then it's tough to sight fish. The wind can make precision casting next to impossible.

Yesterday was 25C up in the alpine areas. Today the wind is blowing and it's overcast. Karen and I are having a "down day." Our clothes need to hit the laundry.



Karen and Serge waiting for a feeding brown to come back to the top of an eddy. Patience is a key ingredient when trying to catch a New Zealand trophy.


"The lodge" was our accommodation for one night. It is very close to a trophy river system. It's rustic accommodation but we loved the experience.

Bob's first New Zealand brown trout. It was taken on a dry fly.


Serge and Karen working the top of a run.

Sight fishing can be very challenging. You are hunting one fish at a time. Your casting has to be accurate and if you "line" the fish, it's gone in a flash. Longer leaders and a slow deliberate approach are very important.

Serge changing up a fly. It certainly pays to be persistant when stalking New Zealand brown trout. They are very wary fish.

I hooked a biggie. The brown decided to make Serge and I sweat. He tore upstream on a very rocky run. We ran after him and then the brown ripped downstream. The brown went behind bolders over a small ledge and dove under rocks. Amazingly we still had him on after all that. I got him to about 2 meters of the net and the brown started another run and out popped the hook. I could have screamed. Luckily Serge was quick to get me refocused and back to looking for another trout.

The alpine rivers (high county) are absolutely beautiful. The brown was feeding in front of a rock. He took a red copper john. Many of them are strewn with boulders and fast water which makes landing one of these energetic browns a real challenge.

Karen and Serge looking for a trophy.

This brown was a taken right against a bank. A typical brown trout feeding spot close to a bank with fast water nearby to make a quick escape. Again team work is essential. The guide tells you how to adjust the drift of the fly so the fish will take. In some cases you cannot even see the take and Serge shouts "up". That means set the hook.

Karen got a take on this brown trout but not a solid hook up.

One of Serge's Jack Russell dogs. Mr. Bean was looking for rabbits.

An Amazing Ocean View Drive from Westport to Greysmouth

Well the drama continues on the fishing front. We spent yesterday on the Owen River. Bob hooked into a nice brown but it shook off as he was trying to get it into the net. Today we decided to see the ocean along the Westport to Greymouth Highway. It's a spectacular drive with amazing views.

We are in Hanmar Springs right now. It's a beautiful place. It's a tourist town that even has a ski area and lots of fun activities including bungie jumping into a gorge. Don't even think it.


There are many places to stop and use your camera. The first view as we came up over a hill was breathtaking.

The rock formations were fabulous.

You could see for miles - great day for viewing here.

Here are the blow hole and the pancake cliffs.

The rocks looked like they had been stacked one layer after another. You can see the erosion.

There were many birds in the rock formations and they have spectacular homes.

The stone steps led to the next viewing station to take a look up the coast and out across the Tasman Sea. It was spectacular.

On a Mission

Hi Everybody!

We are on a mission to catch a brown trout in this beautiful country. We have had two beautiful blue sky days to look for our trout out of the three days we fished. Karen and I have walked a lot of kms on two systems. We have been on the Moetueka River  and the Owen River. On our first day we found 5 trout and we had a chance at catching two of them. No dice. In the last two days we have not seen any brownies. We took today off to go and see Nelson, a city of about 25 thousand people on the north coast of the South Island. An interesting town. We have travelled back inland a bit. Cross your fingers. I guess we are paying our dues here in New Zealand before we catch any brown trout. Well if our dues were paid in sweat we should catch one tomorrow. We'll see.

...do you like our ride?

Waiting at a great pool hoping for some rising trout in the evening. Nothing.

Beautiful water to explore

Let's take a few casts anyway.

The kitchen is sparse.

Hoping for a hit. Not yet!

I am waiting!

Our friends!