The Trout Man

17/01/2025

To that heading I would add "... and places visited." I have always preferred to fish alone if possible, and my most cherished memories are not of big catches but spectacular, lonely places where I felt like the only person in existence. Much of my early fishing was done In Fiordland with its unparallelled scenery and sparkling rivers where silver rainbows would leap in the sun. Fishing memories are treasures, and at 81 years my treasure chest is overflowing.
(Photo from The Fly Fishing Community)

13/01/2025

Big trout in my local stream at Rotorua this morning. The photo is not clear enough to see them still giggling after laughing at all the passing anglers waving rods at them. But just upstream a bit, round the bend and under the trees, there's a monster brown licking his wounds after being caught and released by a local lad softbaiting this morning ... 12lb is the story doing the rounds.

08/01/2025

WESTIES ARE WINNERS
Another woman outfishing the men! Olivia McGarvey spent three hours with me on my basic flycasting tuition course this morning and she breezed through it like a pro. An hour and a-half on the grass learning the rhythms, then an hour and a-half on the water. From her first cast she was getting hits on my special Tongariro Euro nymph while the guys nearby were blanking. The secret? West Auckland! Olivia is a Westie. I was a Westie for 20 years. My son is a Westie. We catch heaps of fish. Our fortunes really are outrageous. I will tie a new fly and call it a Westie. Olivia missed her first strike -- the beginners usually always do -- but made up for it landing this beauty, and was unlucky to lose another. Well done Olivia. Westside rules!

06/01/2025

New Zealander Berwick Settle, working in Asia and Europe for about 10 years, has come come home on a mission of extreme importance: FLYFISHING! He'd been sorely missing the drift and bobble of the indicator, the exhilarating moment of the strike and the leap of a silver rainbow on the run. He got his rewards with me yesterday on the Rotorua lakefront but the fishing was tough and he really had to hang in there in the wind for a brown and three rainbows. The brown surged off on a mighty run and we thought we had a monster until we realised he was hooked in the tail ... and we weren't the first -- a piece of trace with two hooks was already embedded in the tail. Great to catch up Berwick. See you in another 10 years when I will be aged 91 and at the peak of my game!

04/01/2025

Brrrr .... it's back to long johns and beanies today, the heat pump is back on winter setting, my client has postponed and the trout coming in close for summer on the Rotorua coast are probably turning around and heading back out. Where are all those climate change deniers who, if they really believe in themselves, should be here in shorts, singlets, jandals and bikinis and picking at each other's gooseflesh? Or perhaps they've gone sunbathing down the Desert Rd, where it is snowing. My summer fishing predictions are now washed up on the lakefront like dead weeds. The season was starting confidently before the southerly blast that has stayed constant since Christmas. Tomorrow's forecast is good, temperatures back in the 20s. Will the fish still be in? Watch this space.

03/01/2025

Every time I see a Chris Dore post I feel like moving back to my home province of Southland. Dore is one of the few troutfishing bloggers who concentrates on scenic backgrounds rather than armfuls of trout and monsters shoved at the camera by grinning anglers. Troutfishing is not just about the fish, but about the serenity of wild places and sparkling rivers, and Southland is well blessed with Fiordland as a magnificent backdrop. Chris Dore captures the atmosphere perfectly.

Today, hitting the edges and looking for mayfly hatches in

03/01/2025

I spent a delightful morning with Rotorua couple Maple Liang and Ben Buckingham on a local stream. Maple had caught trout previously jigging from a boat but this was her first taste of real flycasting with nymph and indicator, and in our tuition session she proved to be a natural and rapid learner, one of the best pupils I've had. She went on to land two rainbows and missed three other strikes in what was generally tough fishing. Ben, a more experienced flyfisher, had no success but was very happy to take it easy and watch his partner catch all his fish for him. Then they were off home for lunch so Maple could cook him the sweet-and-sour trout pictured. He sure has it made, that Mr Ben, because she'll be doing another recipe for the second fish tonight. Maple has the sweetest nature of any woman I've known. You're a very lucky man indeed, Mr Ben. So am I, because I got a mighty hug from Maple that made my day and my
New Year.

31/12/2024

Happy New Year to all anglers out there, whether you are kids fishing with worms in little streams, stalkers seeking giant golden browns on Lake Rotorua, or rainbow hunters trekking into Aotearoa's silver mountain rivers. May your exploits bring incomparable memories and may your beers be cold at the end of a long day.

29/12/2024

Extremely tough fishing and a hive of holiday activity on our local Rotorua stream and lakefront this morning. The fish were plentiful and sizable but they hugged the bottom, quietly oxygenating in the heat and moving only when ducks and shags swooped in, not when our nymphs were drifted in front of their noses. Despite the conditions, Malcolm Horne, of Auckland, did well to land his first ever trout after a break-off and a missed strike earlier. He made sure of that third strike, and released his catch, a fat maiden hen. Malcolm hasn't been fishing much for a while during a period of recuperation, and was a bit rough casting to start, but by the end of our session he was executing some cheeky little numbers, like landing the nymphs on the edge of the far bank and carefully edging them off and into the deep fish-holding stretch below. Sneaky stuff!

26/12/2024

The humans haven't got up yet to make a noise, so the sun can rise in peace and quiet over Mokoia Island on Lake Rotorua to light up the Waiteti stream, mouth and wetland close to my home. The Facebook site, Fuelled by Nature Art, is run by Rotorua man Dion James, a prominent angler and hunter who has been developing his photography hobby for a few years now. He is inspired by the many moods of weather and wild places and the creatures that live there. The photo, taken at dawn Christmas Eve, is alive with memories for me. FIshing the Waiteti mouth at the 5am glimmerings of light holds a special magic amid the ripples and splishes of life, the honking chorus of waterbirds and the occasional splash of a mighty brown trout.

25/12/2024

IT COULD BE ALL ON FOLKS!
My Christmas Day plans were thwarted by a bad shoulder preventing me from driving far, so I went fishing instead at a Rotorua stream mouth. Landed 10 and kept three for the freezer until the shoulder forced me to ease up after three hours. The angler who finished just as I was starting had also landed 10 (well done Dave Anderson) and I heard of a local man who landed nine in nine casts in the morning (Clinton the Wikaraka Street Slayer). Plenty of fishers were out yesterday and most got good Christmas presents. So, after a few hiccups, it looks as if the summer season is finally underway along the western coast of Lake Rotorua ... unless the Boxing Day weather attacks with storming roundhouse swings just to p**s everybody off.

24/12/2024

23/12/2024

A present to myself at dawn on Christmas Eve. Surely that's a good omen. Six hooked and four landed on my local stream and lakefront at Rotorua. The summer season is shaping up to be very productive. Tight lines for New Year all you happy fishers out there.

23/12/2024

A happy time for these two lads who completed my flycasting course this morning and went on to land their first trout on a fly. They are Ged White (left), aged 9, from Riverton in Southland, and Eliot White, aged 11, from Putaruru. Some people may say that these fish are not in top condition. They are the sort of people who deny the existence of Santa Claus. They don't understand that when a kid catches his first trout on a fly IT IS ALWAYS A MAGNIFICENT SPECIMEN! These trout are a sub-breed of rainbows known as Blades because of their long, thin knife-like structure, found only in Lake Rotorua. They can cut through the water at more than 100 km/h and leap two rod-lengths clear of the surface. The boys showed great skills in getting them under control. Well done lads! And thanks also to Rod Hinitt and Simon Aston, two old farts from the local anglers' club who decided they wanted to be kids again and plunged in to help.

19/12/2024

A beer can, thrown into the stream by a hoon, tangles in the flyfishing line to interrupt a nymphing drift.

19/12/2024

Such a fine fish it deserves two photos. The happy angler on a Rotorua stream this morning is Gideon McCallum, from Pukekohe, who succeeded where most others were failing on a tough morning because the constant tree-toppling southerly has taken the heat off the lake and the edge off the fishing. Gideon showed good skills in keeping this rainbow away from the giant snagging logs in this stream that lie in wait to grab the line. His fly was the trusty hare-and-copper nymph -- such a good fly that you could take it on a world fishing tour and not bother using anything else. No doubt you'll be back Gideon, and I bet you make a beeline for this pool.

16/12/2024

I figured the wind was going to be hostile today so I went for a dawn raid on my local Rotorua stream before the breeze became a gale. Rewards came on my first cast. I fished for an hour and a-half for three landed and one dropped (the biggest, of course) through a moment of lost concentration. Some fine fresh fish around and the summer season has hardly started. My freezer is already filling fast so if you want a top-condition rainbow get in touch.

14/12/2024

IT'S COMIN' FOR YOU!
A vast algae bloom is sneaking across Lake Rotorua. It is heading for the top fishing spots on the western shore. Some reports say it is covering two-thirds of the lake and big green pea-soupy patches are breaking off and swimming around looking very snotty indeed. The algae is looking for anglers in waders. It is especially looking for anglers in leaky waders. Then it can enter the leaks and gain access to your body's natural orifices. It will destroy your s*x life forever. Anglers are best to stay away. Local veteran fishers like myself who are immune to the algae are happy to catch all your fish for you.