It had taken months to finally arrive but Thursday May 14th was the day Hamish and I had been waiting for since we opened our 2014 Christmas presents. There, in amongst the parcels with the names of others, was a small envelope which contained a voucher telling us that we would be sharing a guided fishing trip with Kiyoshi Nakagawa (Yoshi) in the rivers around … Continue reading WAITETI STREAM – ROTORUA’S TROUT FISHING GEM
In order to successfully fish estuarine flats it is important to be always on the lookout for places where fish will likely congregate. Features such as subsurface rocks and weed beds are regularly identified as fish holding areas and need no further discussion. However, one of the most obvious fish attracting features in an estuary is one that is often overlooked completely by anglers, namely … Continue reading MOORED BOATS ARE FISH MAGNETS
Text: Alan Bulmer Featured image: Wettie Several months ago I published an article called “Targeting Trevally” which looked at how to improve your success rate when chasing trevally. If you want to view this article then click on the following link:- https://activeanglingnz.com/2015/08/08/outsmarting-trevally-with-flies-and-lures/ Late autumn and early winter are prime times to target trevally. There are some things that you need to consider when fishing during the … Continue reading HARBOUR TREVALLY
As you probably know I recently reviewed a Kilwell Xantu 9’6” #8 fly rod kindly loaned to me by Kilwell Sports. If you want to read the review then click on: – https://activeanglingnz.com/…/kilwell-xantu-96-8-weight-rod…/ Jeremy Wells was only too keen to see other anglers try the rod so I leant it to my fishing pal, Mark Hoffman. Mark had a few days off early this week … Continue reading FLATS KINGFISH
Sticky post
Waiheke Island is located in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf. A short ferry ride from downtown Auckland it is arguably the jewel in the crown when it comes to saltwater fly fishing around Auckland. If you want a better idea of how good it can be click on the following video from Paul Smith to see local fishing legends, Adam Clancey and Tom Lusk, getting up close and … Continue reading WAIHEKE ISLAND – SALT FLY NIRVANA?
Due to low tide almost coinciding perfectly with dawn and dusk, I managed to get two fishing sessions in paradise yesterday. Excellent! The morning session fitted in with Paul Smith’s schedule so we arranged to rendezvous at 06.15 am at our normal parking spot. The drive to paradise is a long and winding one which our canine fishing companion Louis was no fan of. Whenever … Continue reading SNAPPER – DAWN AND DUSK
One of the most important changes that an angler needs to make in switching from fresh to saltwater fly fishing is to the leader which joins the fly line to the fly. Saltwater fish species are much larger than fresh, more powerful and live in terrain that is likely to damage a leader. Oyster shell encrusted rocks and horse mussels take no prisoners. In New … Continue reading LEADERS FOR SALTWATER FLY FISHING
This morning I spent a couple of hours chasing kingfish in the shallows in the Hauraki Gulf. Uncharacteristically they did not start scouring the flats until the sun was well up and the tide started to ebb. This was probably due to the king tide cycle that we are in the midst of. My colleague picked that this would happen as there was no panic … Continue reading KINGFISH IN CLOSE
Sticky post
Back in the day most anglers timed their trips to the Tongariro river to coincide with the main rainbow trout spawning runs which occurred over the winter months. Between 1960 and 2000 these runs were mostly concentrated between May – August. However there has been a major change in the timing of the rainbow trout spawning runs since 2002 and the fabled winter runs have … Continue reading WHICH MONTHS ARE BEST TO FISH THE TONGARIRO?
I’m fairly sure that the year was 2000. It was the 25th anniversary of us gaining access to fish the Hautu and Rangipo prison farms near Turangi. Almost exactly two years after Mt Ruapehu erupted and belched ash and nutrients into Lake Taupo via the Tongariro River. Following the eruption two once in 100 year floods purged the river of silt and flushed the nutrients … Continue reading CARNAGE INSIDE THE HAUTU PRISON FARM
Active Angling New Zealand 