The April 2019 High Country trip was originally planned by JQ for ‘the other side of the mountain’ but circumstances got in the way.  Fly Fish Australia competitions, Man From Snowy River celebrations, Easter … so much conspired against the original plan.  The locale was changed to camping out at 3 Mile Dam, but attendee numbers dwindled (Peter, Ian and I were in NZ so we had a legitimate excuse).  In the end a dynamic duo of JQ and (big) Luke stayed in a cottage at Adaminaby and ventured forth into the back country.  Their story is below – I remain envious of how well it all went.  JQ still refuses to give me the precise location, but it inspires me to look more closely.

Out_Adaminaby_way

Maestro v Magician on the Mackenzie

Claude and BJ revealed to a number of us “NZ old hands” that they had engineered a week in Twizel. Much animated discussions on how and where followed.

BJ offered some hints to entice you to read the full report (or perhaps more likely to have a chat over a beer at a future meeting):

“Claude’s tricky F-Fly switcharoo calling a rainbow from the deep, the in-plain-sight 2 rod-lengths away staring competition with a 65cm brown (that he lost when he blinked) on the tarn, and the ‘no-strike’ strike technique that worked once and failed once. The Maestro was as much a magician as Declan and never (ever) failed to pull a rainbow (or 3) out of a lie.”

Meanwhile, here is the full report:

Mackenzie

Claude subsequently sent me this stunning photo. He tells me “the location was Lake Pukaki at the delta. If the weather is good it’s great fishing in the shallows with small nymphs polaroiding and where the Tasman river braids flow into the lake”

The Mataura, especially around Gore, has been the happy stomping ground for many in the CAA.  For those who’ve not been, here is a few notes to tempt your bucket list.

(the photo above is the Mataura high upstream above Nokomai Station near Athol in Apr 2016. River is pretty low after a good flush the week before)

Mataura

Peter and Bill spent 3 weeks campervanning around the South Island. Here is their report

camper_southisland

During his recent foray into the US Pacific NorthWest, Lyall dropped into Idaho to break the journey. Looks a fascinating place and his report is below.

Many of us are getting concerned that his frequent travels may prejudice his access to an Australian passport!

IdahoJoe

Our jetsetting Secretary has achieved another first.  His recent love affair with two handed rods led him to explore the Skagit River.  Lyall is sure other Australians have been there, it is just that he doesn’t know any of them!

Lyall has suggested that anyone intrigued by this whole two handed caper ask Peter Morse for a try of his during the 3 Sep casting days.

Another place on my bucket list.

Skagit

In his previous visit to Tasmania Jason M did very poorly.  With his later family visit over Easter, he decided a different approach would be needed if his boys were to catch a Tasmanian trout.  Three days and some nefarious methods eventually brought success.

Jason’s report on Natone Trout Ponds

I guess living in UK gives you a head start in the race to get to the marble trout of Slovenia.  Geoff’s trip report shows how much good fishing there was – along with some great underwater shots.  (His photo album has got some optional treatment of photos for those shutter-heads amongst you).

Report click here: Slovenia report

Photos click here: Photo Collection

Some time ago, Lyall tried to introduce a mate from SE Queensland (and shared saltwater fishing trips) to the joys of chasing trout in the Snowies.  In particular the aim was to pursue our spotted friends in the skinny water so different to the broad acres of water that they had shared chasing sailfish off Malaysia.  Weather stepped in and they were blown off the water.  This is the report from his mate describing the more successful second trip conducted recently.

twigwater

The author is Jason Stratford and he’s published a number of fascinating videos on Vimeo. In particular take a close look at the dude in maritime camo gear in the 2015 Rompin sailfish video!!