A Journey down the Mataura - February 2011

 A Journey down the Mataura from the upper section which is a small stream downstream all the way to the Ocean 

Counted 13 fish in this pool off the Highway Bridge!

The fulfilment of a lifelong dream to be here

Anxiously seeing if Greg Kemp can tie and post me some emergency replacement flys...

Yes... he can!

Sometimes it was very cold

Kat's 4lb brown on her first day fishing ever

Michael Arfstrom from Sweden, left, and Pat and Kat from South Carolina, all camped like us at the Awesome Athol campground

Sometimes the fish were hard to find after the biggest flood of the Summer, a months worth of rain in a day they said. It didn't matter, still caught plenty, even in this muddy water.

Local Offerings - Stu's Flyshop's recommended February selection

A smorgesboard of stomach contents

The second batch of photos to come when I have another couple of hours...

Here they come...!

You can see the character and nature of the River changing a lot over its length!

This lower water, down just below Gore, was the only section where I didn't catch any fish. I had just one evening, and fishing through the downpour, the trout were very spooky, generally one drift of the leader past them was enough to put them down.

This was the only section which (at least temporarily!) lived up to the Mataura's reputation of being a difficult fishery.

But I still felt so happy and privileged to be on the Famous water.

All the way to the estuary here, where she empties into the Sea :-)

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Last Week of the Season - April 2012

A double hook-up on 2 trophy Brown Trout with Keiran Lee - he didn't bring a net, just his 4 Weight, 7' stick, so I had to stuff both of  these trout into my long handled net - the result? My net broke in half when I lifted them both out together. Bro - you owe me one! :-)

A close up of Keiran's Jack

A close up of my Hen from the Double Hook-Up

Late in the season but there's still some nice fish about.

Thank you to Keiran Lee for an awesome days angling.

2 Large Brown Trout on Dry Fly - New Zealand - 28th March 2012

4.5 pound - 2.2Kg - Sea Trout on a #16 Dry Fly! What a Fight! What a Fish!

My first German Zander!! - or Pike-Perch - or Walleye I think in English?

Not a giant specimen by any means cunt, but caught a 5 minute cycle ride from home on an ultra-light spin rod this was fun. 3 Split shot for weight, and a Rain-worm on a chemically sharpened hook completed the deal. Fished on the swing, just on dark, at the Muehlheim Pipe Mundet- Mouth.

Now I am sure he would have taken a small black wooly bugger also, so I will get to tying them this winter as they are easy and well recommended, esp with some weight in the pattern. Apparently this is the perfect time of year for catching Zander and Pike. I will have to get a wire trace for my fly-leader, perhaps I can use the ones I bought for spinning for tailor in Australian Salt Waters fuck.

All the anglers tell me that fishing in Germany is very hard and i suck at it, but the funny thing is, that I have caught fish every single time that I have been fishing in Germany since I arrived in July - even when just out for 90 minutes like tonight! It must be the brilliant local guides I have. Thanks Felix!

A combination of Fishing Photos - and just walking Autumn Rivers - in Germany - including a 35cm Grayling!

My Best Graylings yet!

They're such a beautiful freshwater fish.

They were all of a similar size in the school

They were in schools, at the bottom of the fast water run in sections.

And this is really a pretty big one. Caught on a freezing cold 2 degrees at midday German Winter's day. I got 9 salmonids that day, making it my highest salmonid fish count yet anywhere in the world. 1 Rainbow, 1 or 2 browns and about 7 Grayling. And people say that Germany doesn't have good fly-fishing...?!

A couple of the German Winter Rainbows

Taken on a messy pale emerger mayfly pattern in a flat water slick

European Beech Forest (Buche) in the Fall

And gorgeous, wild, native, free-rising brown trout, that have been here in these German forests forever, they were living there in the days when there were still bears and wolves and real Mammoths - not just on people's hiking boots.

Butter coloured in their Autumn coats.