The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Hey all - I'm new to the Board, well sorta, I used to have an account around 2000, but forgot my login name, password, and what email address I was using. My name is Eric and I live in Sacto. I'm sure I have met a number of you on the river before. I know I have run into GM and Dawn out on the Trinity.

To cut to the chase, I am going to NZ in early Nov for (11) days. I will be on the North Island for the 1st (5) days and the South Island for the last (6) days. My girlfriend and I booked a (2) day guided trip, but we will also be driving a van around for a majority of the trip. I have read that all water access is public if accessed from a public place (i.e., driving over a river, etc...) and we were planning on stopping at watersheds along to way to try to spot some fish and take some mini adventures.

I was wondering if anybody had some general info on what I will need. 1.) What are must have flies; 2.) What line and leader types (I typically tie my own leaders); 3.) What bugs I should be looking for; &, 4.) Any general info (things like I should downstream dry fly if the water is non-riffled, make sure you do this and definately don't do that, etc...).

I tried the search function, but didn't find too much; maybe I just used the function poorly. I also watched the Trout Bumz Diaries on NZ. I am a little worried that I am going to do very poorly and just wanted to try to get some background to plan my trip.

Thanks in advance and tight lines,

Eric,

You might check out the link below. Two of the members of AFF went back in April. Their experience may help you.
http://www...ip-reports&Itemid=72

Thanks Dustin. I found some info on the North Island on the web as well. Hoping not to get too frustrated.

Hello Eric - I lived North Island for many years, but am not as familiar with the South Island so can't advise you much on that.

Regardless of which island, be prepared for changeable weather. November in NZ is comparable to April or May up here. The Rotorua and Taupo areas are your best bet on the North Island at that time. A great guide in that area - who also has a Bed & Breakfast right at the mouth of the Ngongotaha - is Lyndsay Lyons. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

As with many places, a guide on day one can yield some good self-guided fishing on subsequent days. Lyndsay, or any of the other guides in the area, can guide you into some less obvious water and bigger fish.

Not all NZ fishing is long leader sight casting to big spooky browns in gin clear water! There is also a lot of streamer fishing, nymph fishing, and pocket water fishing with dries. I'd suggest a 5 weight, but nothing smaller. Take the usual leaders and tippet you'd use on larger trout over here. For sure take a box of nymphs, but many of the streamers used there are quite different. Most streamer fishing in the North Island is imitating local chubs; my NZ streamers are unlike anything I use over here.

And most important - take lots of sun protection. That hole in the ozone layer is a real issue down there.

Tight lines,


Ric