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Master NZ fly tier Steve Grace created the stunning Pandemic Popper to keep himself amused during the COVID-19 lockdown. He very kindly shared the pattern and tying instructions with AANZ: – Place a hole on your popper head with a hot bodkin. I heat mine with a lighter. Push the hook eye through from the back of the head and super glue in place. Set … Continue reading THE PANDEMIC POPPER
Video: Paul Smith Lead image: Mark Hoffman This stunning time lapse video tracks a fly fisherman working the flats at dawn. The angler is JP Samuelson and the location is Port Waikato. There is nothing quite like the serenity of fishing at dawn. Continue reading VIDEO – DAWN PATROL (TIME LAPSE)
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This easy to tie fly is constructed from a foam ear plug. The type of plug used in noise attenuation. TYING MATERIALS Hook: Daiichi 2546 Saltwater hook. Size: 2/0. Tail: Three layers. Bottom layer is red Hareline Dubbin Fishair. FH310. Middle layer is pink DNA Frosty Fish Fiber. Top layer is Pearl Hareline Dubbin Krystal flash. Body: Orange foam ear plug. 1″ in length. TYING … Continue reading EAR PLUG POPPER
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The iridescent green beetle is a excellent imitation of the Manuka beetle. These beetles hatch over summer (November – February) and trout feed actively on them. They are widespread across New Zealand and are an important favourite forage species for trout, especially in the central North Island area. Unlike the Brown Beetle, the Manuka Beetle is active during day light hours when the wind will blow them … Continue reading TYING THE IRIDESCENT MANUKA BEETLE
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In order to successfully stalk fish it is important to have an appreciation of what fish can actually see. This is determined by several things, where their eyes are positioned on their head, water clarity and how deep in the water they are holding. There are some fundamental rules of physics which help understand what a fish can see and it is really useful to understand these … Continue reading THE SCIENCE OF STALKING FISH
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The holographic anchovy is an all purpose pattern that is effective on everything from trevally to kahawai and kingfish that feed on small baitfish. It works exceptionally well when cast to feeding fish and retrieved rapidly away from them. There is nothing quite like seeing a big predator lock onto the fly and watching a V wake surging in behind as you retrieve at high … Continue reading TYING THE HOLOGRAPHIC ANCHOVY
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Images: Mark Hoffman & NZ Fishing World Recently I wrote an article which described in detail how to find suitable estuarine flats to fish using Google Earth and marine charts and the signs to look for once you are at your chosen spot which give away where the fish are probably holding. https://activeanglingnz.com/2014/04/21/stalking-the-flats-part-one-the-approach/ Despite what Google Earth and marine charts show estuarine channels are dynamic. They are … Continue reading FINDING FISH ON THE FLATS
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Lead image: Kiyoshi Nakagawa When I was young my father, who always seemed to catch something when we went fishing, used to harp on about how I needed to learn how to “think like a trout” in order to consistently outsmart them. Teenage boys rarely listen to their fathers so this advice, which I struggled to understand without some concrete examples, entered one ear and … Continue reading OUTSMARTING TROUT
The Tongariro River rises in the central volcanic plateau of the North Island of New Zealand and wends it way in a roughly northerly direction through the township of Turangi to eventually enter Lake Taupo near Tokaanu. It is easily the largest and most important spawning river in the Lake Taupo fishing region. Ever since Zane Grey fished the river and immortalised it in his book “Tales of the Angler’s … Continue reading TONGARIRO MEMORIES
Text: Alan Bulmer & Tony Bishop The first time that I ever saw glass beads being used in fly construction was in the mid 1990’s. A group of us had fished with the groom on the morning of his wedding and it would be fair to say that our efforts on a heavily pressured fishery were nothing to highlight in neon. The groom did manage to land … Continue reading EXPERIMENTING WITH GLASS BEAD FLIES
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