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The Trout Man

The Trout Man Do you want to learn how to flycast? I teach beginners in three and four-hour courses at $50 an hour.

29/04/2025

I picked up this piece of discarded nylon with illegal bait-fishing hook on the walking track alongside the lower Waiteti stream at Rotorua today, one of several similar illegal rigs or handlines found hidden or discarded along the stream this year. The track is popular with children playing, often barefoot, and with dog-walkers. It is not difficult to see such a hook getting embedded in the face of a snuffling dog. Unfortunately it is usually an innocent pet, duck, swan or child that gets hooked, not the dick-brains who threw the line away. Have you ever seen wildlife entangled in fishing line, struggling feebly in pain and slowly dying? It is heartbreaking.

08/04/2025

This group of enthusiastic, rising young anglers met yesterday to plan their winter campaign over a lunch in Eat Streat, Rotorua. From left, Geoff Thomas, me, Ben Leslie, Dion James, Bert Robinson. Seldom has such an illustrious and youthful team been seen together.

06/04/2025

More and more headless anglers around the world are popping up on Facebook. Yes, it is the fish we are mainly interested in seeing, but surely a man is entitled to have his head!

01/04/2025

A tourist woman from Finland hooked a mighty brown trout at the Ngongotaha mouth at dawn this morning. Unaware of the regulations, the lady used a lamb roast embedded with large hooks on a surfcaster. The fish made a beeline for the airport, flipping two kayaks on the way, but she was able to turn it near Mokoia Island and drag it back to Ngongotaha. The woman, 22-year-old Aprielle Fuelldae, from Helsinki, was reaching for the baseball bat tucked into her waist to slug it on the head when a vast sinkhole opened up and swallowed both her and the fish and a couple of people on horseback giving their steeds a swim. Bit of a disaster all round to kick off the month. The rangers are investigating.

20/03/2025

The stream-mouth fishing at Rotorua is coming to an end as the weather and the lake cool. But just look at all these trout with their mouths wide open waiting hungrily for your fly. You'll get them on the streams from now on as they start moving up for their spawning. Any of the flies pictured will do the job at this time of year. Last April/May I had success with the wee-wet Red Tip Governors. The globug/Grey Ghost rig under an indicator has always served me well. The 101 stonefly pictured, and any rubber legs, will nail the browns. Tiny nymphs such as midges and willow grubs in sizes 16 and 18 are great fish-catchers. And if all else fails, go for the size 16 or 18 Pheasant-tail with the bright copper thorax.

04/03/2025

A couple of browns and six rainbows to the net during today's dawn raid on my stream at Rotorua. It was particularly pleasing to land the browns after losing six of them this summer, mainly because bad legs prevented me from jumping up the bank from the lake beach to follow them along the stream, and they ended up breaking off or spitting the hook. This time I hooked them on the stream itself, so no need to jump around on steep banks, and I was able to make sure of them. Thanks to the locals who assisted with the net. It was a great morning.

27/02/2025

Early bird catch ... client Kevin Finlay, from the Rotorua region, with a fine catch at dawn today.

26/02/2025

AN AFTERNOON TO REMEMBER
Left the dentist at 11.30 this morning after injections, fillings, and a lip feeling like a hippopotamus. I was heading home to rest but at the last second turned down the road to my stream at Rotorua. Calm and clear, fish spooking easily from lines and splashing indicators. Just give it half an hour, I told myself. First requirement, two rod lengths of leader so that the nylon lands over the heads of the fish rather than the splashing line. Second requirement, a very small nondescript indicator like a bit of leaf. Tried a small Grey Ghost without success. Switched to a size 18 flashback and landed two, then went dead. Half an hour later I switched to a Category 3 101 and the action was immediate. Hooked 14 and landed 11 like the one pictured. My half hour turned into three hours. When the fish are there and the bite is slow, change your fly and change again and again. Eventually the rewards will come.

23/02/2025

GHOSTS AT DAWN
I had splendid fishing at dawn today on my local stream at Rotorua, experimenting with a self-tied mini Grey Ghost under an indicator, dead drifting or slowly retrieving on the swing, but not so fast as to leave a wake behind the tiny indicator. Seven landed on the Grey Ghost in an hour and a-half. Nothing touched the Pheasant-tail above it. The Ghost, tied on a size 14 hook, is slender and underdressed, just a strip of chicken feather and a bit of rainbow thread. This was my 33rd dawn raid in the past 40 days, either alone or with clients. The least number caught was two, the most 15.
I find the break of day a wonderful time to go fishing, before the world wakes up and starts revving engines, and when the only people around are your soul-mates sharing this special time.

20/02/2025

The marker peg on the point of the True Right Bank at the mouth of the Awahou Stream has been moved upstream so it is in line with the peg on the True Left Bank. This brings the hole where fish congregate just below the big willow within reach of anglers. It is still illegal to cast across the imaginary line between the pegs. Those who try it on will end up with their flies in the willow. Stick to the rules, stay behind the marker pegs, don't push in and everybody can have a wonderful time.

18/02/2025

Another dawn raid on a Rotorua stream this morning for me and Aussie Tony Dunk, another nine fish to the net to top off his annual fishing holiday. He's had about 70 hook-ups and more than 50 landed. He's a pretty good example of why Australians love our flyfishing. See you next summer Tony.

17/02/2025

Rain and wind, but also hot and sticky in the Rotorua humidity ... this morning's weather at 5 o'clock had it all. These conditions kept everybody in bed at 6am first light except for Aussie client Tony Dunk and myself, and we made a killing on my local stream -- 14 rainbows to the net and a handful lost. No humans to be seen at this hour apart from the occasional dog-walker. Just the ducks, the cormorants, the swans and the Canada geese giving us a dawn concert. That's the way we like it. What a wonderful time of the day to go fishing.Tony has one morning left on his fishing holiday, so we'll be out there again by 6am tomorrow.

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