A recent review - This is 10 year old Rileys write up.

Fly Fishing

New Zealand South Island Te Anau Rivers 17 - 19th January 2019

Me and my Dad flew into New Zealand hired a car and drove into Te Anau where we had hired a house with my granddad, grand uncle and Dads sister. we met our guide the next day, Chris.

We drove to our first destination were we did a very hard river crossing, the rocks were unbelievably Slippery and the current would have swooped me off my feet but Dad and Chris helped me across I got very wet because it was very deep. Once we got out of the strong river we started walking to the steam. Once we got to the steam we stoped and had a fish we didn’t catch anything but dad an I were both able to hook a fish but each of them got away because we didn’t let the reel spool. So we stoped and had sandwiches for lunch. We started heading back to the car so we could drive to a different river but we had to cross the river again and when we did we had a fish Chris said there would be a big fish in the water and he was right! But we weren’t able to catch it so began walking back to the car, once we reached the car we got in and zipped to a different river were we had a fish and then we went home. We were all tired so we went to sleep very quick

On our second day Chris picked us up and started driving to a different place, where we tried willow grubbing, it was willow grubbing because the grubs would fall off the willow trees and lived on the river bank, the trout were very fussy and would not eat the grub, it was very technical casting, you had to present it well or else the fish would not go for it but we kept on trying until they stoped feeding and the fish went away so we went to a different steam and me and my Dad had a fish while Chris went back to the car to grab lunch. When he came back we sat down and eat our lunch. Then we went to a different river were I landed my first fish! A 4 pound rainbow! It was very exciting and the fish tried to bury us under a fallen tree but we were able to stop him and eventually the fish gave up and Chris scooped up the fish with his net we took some photos and then we released the fish we went back to the car and drove home I was in a very good mood.

On our third and final day Chris picked us up again and drove to a very beautiful place trees towered over us which gave the car good shade you could see mountains all around us and at one point it got really cloudy and you could only see the mountain tops. We hopped down to river were there were a lot of fish but sadly they were very fussy after fishing there for a while Chris spotted a giant trout who wouldn’t go for the bait so we went and crossed a river and started walking through some scrub. We were walking until Chris spotted a fish, Dad tried to have a go but when he hopped down the fish swam right up close, Dad stayed really still because Chris said it was because the fish thought Dad was a tree! Dad stayed really still but he moved his right foot and the fish ran away. After walking though some more scrub Chris spotted another fish which Dad had a go at and caught! The trout had been sitting behind a white rock waiting for the grubs to float down and put up a good fight, even made some jumps but Dad was able to pull it in and Chris scooped it up with his net. It was a 3 pound brown Dads first fly fishing fish! After having lunch we made our way to a steam we had a fish but did not catch anything so we headed back though the scrub and crossed a river because Chris had spotted another fish which I landed! It was a good fish as well 4 pound brown second fish I’ve ever landed! After we took some photos we started heading back to the car. Each time we got back to the car Chris would have an ice water ready for us which was great and the best bit was being able to take off my water boots and give my wrinkly feet a rest. It was a very good fly fishing experience.

Very proud of you Riley. Thank you so much for your awesome review. You were so patient, understanding and polite. It was Epic ‘Young Fella’..

Thank you to the Carney Family for a great 3 days.

See you soon hopefully.

Regards

Chris Reygaert