fish porn from NZ

screw it heres some more pics...this bow was caught out of this tiny spring creek and crushed a big dry fly

these fish as EXCEPTIONALLY spooky, and often require crawling to, or making long casts from a kneeling position..and sometimes it pays off...

WAY COOL! congratulations.

I’m curious…how hard is it to fish by your self, public access etc.

I’m jealous and very interested.

That is amazing! After visiting there I'm curious to see what your take is on why the fish are so big there. Is it lack of pressure? Is it food sources? Is it really good fisheries management? I don't know much about how heavily fish those rivers are.

Amazing - always dreamed about doing that since reading about it in magazines. Looks like it's worth the trip.

Fantastic trip for sure, congrats on your success and the journey. I have for years watched you tube videos of NZ streams, amazing how those small waters grow giant fish. Wish at times I was a lot younger as trips of that distance are tough on us old guys.
Thank you for sharing and see you in South Park this Spring.
Bill

Walleye Guy, access is generally easy. Most rivers run along roads or are deep in the backcountry where its all public. Fish and game posts signs for access points along most roads. If you google "fishing X river in NZ" and use maps from nzfishing website you can pretty easily plan things out. I used this website a TON to learn about the rivers and their access.

Troutbisquits, I think its a few things. One being annual cicada hatches that give the fish a TON of food. There is also just generally good bug life. Another being that a lot of the rivers are well...perfect. The good ones stay chilly year round and never reach 60-70 deg like our rivers here. There is also WAY less angling pressure than we are used to in Colorado/the west so Im sure that does play in. Lastly, they dont have fish numbers here, they have quality. A very fishy river will have 200-400 fish per mile. Whereas in the states a river like the green river in utah would have 20,000 fish in that same length! So its a biomass game here as well. However since fish numbers are low..that means some days a LOT of walking is involved while trying to sight fish. You will walk up on runs that look very fishy but will be void of fish. Blind casting only works on the fishiest rivers and often sighting fish and being exceptionally stealthy is very important.

Anteroman, Im highly looking forward to it! Im currently on a stint of voluntary unemployment..taking time to just fish. Hoping to make it last to spinney opener so I can be there for a week straight. I actually spoke to you a year or two ago at spinney. You had just drove in and asked how the fishing was, mentioned I got some nice ones on a red chironomid. Will be sure to properly say hello next time!

tight lines all, looking forward to spring..

Wow! Sweet dreams are made of these! Great camera shots. Thanks.

Very nice, congratulations

Love the South Island!! Those fish will eat, and straighten hooks!! Bucket list to get back there someday. The one country i could pack up and move too.....

Looks like an awesome time however I wouldn't say a 4-5 lbs trout is a trophy in colorado. I think you need to hit that 8lb range for a true trophy. Which I'm sure there are plenty of of places there where that is an average fish. It must have been cool to fish for awesome fish somewhere where you don't have to deal with crowds. New Zealand would be an incredible place to go to. Mabey I shouldn't have bought that boat lol.