Trout Fisher Magazine

Canterbury is home to many of New Zealand’s lakes and streams and they have been places where people grew up fishing or exploring. However, these waters have changed over time and the fish that were once abundant, are slowly disappearing. Lake Ellesm

All hopes for the 1995-96 salmon season were that it would be the same or better than the previous and so it proved for a lot of salmon anglers, big fish and plenty of them. For me it started really well and early, with good numbers of fish caught in

Ratropinna. In this fish’s mouth and my hand to the right, the sparse clump tail and lightly dubbed rat spine fur looks pathetic but has caught me more trout in this lake than any other tying over the past 25 years – thousands of them. Better still,

I woke up when I heard a kiwi calling. Looking at my watch it was 0610 – an acceptable time to wake up when an adventure is in play – but still an hour before dawn. Roroa (Great Spotted Kiwi) can sound a bit unexpected the first few times you hear th

If simulation theory is real, then what would be the ideal amount of stimulus needed to fuel someone to become an absolute fly fishing addict? If you were programming that Matrix, how would you test someone’s resolve and keep them coming back for mor

I can't resist second hand book shops and particularly angling for fishing books. I've landed some beauties too like many years ago coming across Roderick Haig-Brown’s "A River Never Sleeps," in a second hand bookshop at Paraparaumu. As one critic pu

I am a retired general practitioner and ardent fly fisher. I have held a NZ Trout Fishing Licence for 75 years, having started fishing for trout in the Avon River and its tributaries close to home in Christchurch with a homemade bamboo rod, a wooden

I rounded a bend on the Thredbo River to find my mate Scott, hunched over, completely dialled in, casting to about a 1.5 pound brown trout. Passing him by, I rather brashly remarked, "What are you casting to that fish for Scotty?’ "There’s not enough

There are so many variations possible in this type of recipe. A little preparation is involved but it can be all be done in advance and the result is a classic, eye-catching table dish. The rice and mushrooms, as well as adding flavour and texture, p