Didn't take time to see if you are nymph fishing or not, but it looks like it with the strike indicator. Anyway: well-done! Beautiful fish, beautiful stream, beautiful video. Thank you for reminding me to get out into the northern Virginia mountains afresh this winter with some freshly tied hairs ear nymphs. Side note: I know you are releasing the fish and so forth, but they are so beautiful it would be great to see you lift them up for a quick look-see on future videos. Again, well-done! Thanks.
Ok ya hooked me! Pouring rain, 38 Degrees beginning of February in a place where the trout fishing is just not good this time of year and can't get away to where it is, I'm going to live vicariously through your great videos till I can go bend my own rod. The video work is fine, man, this isn't the outdoor channel! Everyone's a critic, right?
Man i sure hope you new zealanders know how lucky you are to fish waters so small and catch huge fish like that. Where I am in New York you have to put days and days and days of time in on the deleware to pull even a 20" fish... the rivers are SO heavily pressured by anglers... but boy is it always worth it. I get excited when I hook an 18" fish, let me tell you... Out in the western US they have it made too; big rivers, big bugs, BIG FISH! But hell, NZ is totally on my bucket list, if I can handle the 18 hour flight.... cheers mates, keep it up
Hey Scott. Yes my friend I do realize how lucky I am. I sort of won the fishing lottery being born in NZ. LOL you have trout in New York, that is funny. When I think of NY I think of concrete and tall buildings not streams and fish. Yes it is a long way to travel.... Save up for it Scott and then make sure you stay for as long as you are aloud. Thank you for watching mate. Be safe in that big country of yours.
rivergod21 ha you are thinking new york city, I am about an hour away... where I live is very cost to the deleware, beaverkill, neversink, and willowemec rivers, and it is widely regarded as the birthplace of American fly fishing. ever heard of roscoe ny? it's called "trout town usa." I'm about an hour carride from there as well. anyways, live it up gents, best regards
ZDG Hey ZDG, sorry for the late reply. Good question. Yes we have some VERY big eels in NZ. They are cool. I have a video on my channel where I am playing with one and then hand feeding it. I come across them all the time when fishing Back Country, however they are not in any of the Taupo Tributaries or the Lake itself. I have come across a few trout with small chunks taken out of them obviously from Eels sneaking up on them and having a chomp but many times if we are fighting a trout in a deep pool an Eel will be shadowing it and that really makes the trout eager to get away. Once when a client of mine was fighting a 5.5 pound Jack an Eel was very interested in it. The Eel was about 5 feet long and eight inches thick. The trout came clear of the water with the Eel right after it. The Eel only managed to get its head 6 inches out of the water but it "snapped" its jaws shut and we heard that 20 feet away. Because we don't see to many trout with injuries, I think they mainly live in balance, (harmony) but I also believe that if a Trout dies or gets injured and floats into an Eels territory it will be Toast! Thanks for watching and asking a good question. Tight Lines my friend.
Mate, just stumbled over this little gem. Nice intimate bit of water, love this kind of stream. Did you find that a bit of color in the water helped disguise your approach? Cheers, Craig
Is the size of these fish due to light pressure (thus, long life), regulatory management, or abundance of forage... or a combination of two or all three of these things? Wonderful video. Thanks for posting.
where we live by a cool little place jack flats we have to use barbless hooks I was fly fishing and hamerd a big 12 pound brown the fish turned and the hook sliped right out of his mouth
love using this technique!! we call it klink and dink in the UK. I have a few quick questions. I am a musician and I am doing a tour of Australia and parts of New Zealand next year and I really want to try and get out fly fishing. Are small streams like this quite common in over there? this video is literally heaven! small water and big wild browns. what are the best areas in and of New Zealand anf Oz to get into some fishing like this???
Hey Rhys. Thank you for commenting. Yes this is a super little stream. yes there are many little rivers like this in NZ. I think Australia struggles a little bit however I know there are some areas that do fish well. Snakes and spider and alligators and everything that wants to eat and kill you over there :) :) We on the other hand have nothing :) The North Island has Hundreds and hundreds of rivers for you to look at. Buy John Kent's North island Fishing Book Mate that will sort you out. get in touch with me when you get over here, we can have a better chat then. Good luck mate be safe, tight lines
I use a 5wt 8'6" orvis rod for everything trout related, from fishing small 4-5 foot wide streams for 1/2 brook trout, to chucking streamers for Browns and rainbows. Never had a problem with it. I think a 5 wt is a perfect all around rod
float fishing or indicators with a fly rod you get no take czech nymphing how ever you do get a lot of fish but to me its not fly fishing mayfly and sedge is a great time of the year to fish
on the dry.... I am right there with you. I am a dry fly fisherman and its what I love the most. Nymphing with an indicator could be done with a spinning rod
Hey Justin. Yes the predator thing is true. We don't have bears or beavers or Eagles that could fly off with a small child. However the biggest thing would probably be our climate. Even our winters don't freeze the water over and so there is always a reasonable food source. Our trout grow all year round and the Browns actually never stop growing even after spawning. Your question was excellent dude.
Justin H there are big browns in US too. Problem is most areas are over fished so you have to know good remote spots. Some protected areas with catch/release only with barbless/artificial lures have good populations too.
Trout are a fairly sensitive fish compared to others such as catfish, carp, bass, panfish etc. So, for a stream to have a healthy population of wild trout there are a few must haves. For one the water must be relatively cold and oxygenated. there must be abundant food, cover, spawning habitat and structure. If you have these things and the water is of good quality, meaning relatively low pollutants, its a good possibility that it can support trout. Hope you find a river that has some trout in it.
Are NZ trout weak? It seems like even big fish 21" - 24" don't run very much. In the US when we catch wild browns that large, even in slow spring creeks, they will easily run the entire 90' of fly line and another 70' - 90' of backing. You guys might have a lot of big fish but they don't fight very well at all.
Mistake! If we were making mistakes we wouldn't be catching trout, they are being deceived because we know what we are doing. Your an idiot who needs to fish more and comment less. Slack line as you call it reduces drag through the drift, this makes the presentation of the dropper more natural, hence we catch lots of trout because, (once again for you my dim witted friend) we know what we are doing.
I don't think you are hating, we are all here to learn. What you are hearing is line speed. Look at the accuracy of the cast in tight conditions. If I was not loading the rod correctly by being too fast on the forward cast, then the line would not straighten out like it does. It would land in a shitty heap just up from me. Line speed bud, that's all it is.
