DaveJensen Posted December 10, 2011 Posted December 10, 2011 Hope this is ok here as it is meant to be for folks snow bound back home. Our first NZ trip blog update is up and ripe with photos. It's a little long and involved (too much so to share here) but hopefully provides a brief escape from the off season for some. http://flyfishalberta.blogspot.com/ Quote
Guest 420FLYFISHIN Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 epic! i love that one from the hill looking down over the valley. Quote
Buck Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 Thanks for sharing Dave, NZ looks like a beautiful place. Quote
Heimdallr Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 Thanks for posting, Dave. I love seeing pictures from New Zealand. Quote
Jayhad Posted December 14, 2011 Posted December 14, 2011 thanks Dave, all those pigs in under two weeks.... wow. every time i see more stuff on NZ makes me thnk i'm crazy for not taking my buddy up for staying at his parents in NZ.... maybe 2014.... but with more of your blog entries it could be sooner Quote
kentan Posted December 14, 2011 Posted December 14, 2011 Are all the fish huge there? nice pics!! Quote
DaveJensen Posted December 14, 2011 Author Posted December 14, 2011 Glad a few folks enjoyed the pics. It is worth the trip, certainly. The fish size - they are bigger than what we have in Ab, yes, but that's on a relative scale. But it's also what you fish and where. We've yet to fish anything bigger than 10m across this trip, and the avg fish is about 4-1/2 lbs. We fished 900m of stream the other day and it took us 6 hrs. We landed about a doz trout and they avg 5lb. The creek was 8 feet across and shroud in willows and I doubt if anyone had fished there in 2 years because the going so hard, grown over, and the ease of nearby waters to fish. Fish a larger back country river and the avg fish is 6lb but there are fewer. Biomass-wise, it's actually similar to Ab, just that the distribution of that biomass is quite different (fewer, bigger fish/km). And learning the how-to, where, and the movements of these fish is fun too - it takes a bit of understanding. The fishing isn't as hard as you're led to believe, but the caveat is that you have to know what's going on and have to be able to execute what needs be done to have consistent success. Once you're dialed in though, it can be cutthroat like. I've caught more successive fish in a row here than I ever did on the Red Deer R, for example. Quote
acurrie Posted December 17, 2011 Posted December 17, 2011 Freakin Ridiculous! Loved the trip report. I am so jealous right now it`s not even funny. Luckily i`m headed to New Zealand in April! It may not be for 3 whole months, but 2 weeks is a start! Tight lines mate... Drew Quote
Hawgstoppah Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 wow. great pics, awesome fish. maybe, just maybe, someday...... Quote
darrinhurst Posted December 18, 2011 Posted December 18, 2011 Awesome pics! One day, I would love to travel to New Zealand for some of those monster browns! Quote
DaveJensen Posted December 23, 2011 Author Posted December 23, 2011 It has been an amazing trip. The next update will likely blow many folks away as we fished a few off the chart streams where trout averaged 8 pounds. I have to say that the past 10 days have been likely the best 10 days fly fishing of my life for the scenery, style of fishing, discovery of interesting water, sure some larger fish but more to what they were doing and where they were, and how we simply stumbled onto them by looking for out of the way, smaller, pretty, intimate waters and going with the flow of discovery. Yesterday's earthquake had us rolling on the river bank too. And it's not even a mouse year where trout tend 30 - 50% heavier. It's a trip I wish I could get more folks to join us on. But it's also one with a steep learning curve and one that will tear you apart emotionally. Quote
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