13 years old, where it all started. Of course I had been fishing many years prior to that, but with bait and spinning gear instead. After a basic 10 – 2 (clock face) casting lesson at the school park, I went home and run some thick long wool through a spinning rod, determined to throw some shapes in the back yard. Next, I found myself on the Waitaki River with Wayne as my mentor. From a shallow riffle (pre didymo days), Wayne hooked a nice 3lb rainbow on a gold bead head nymph and handed me the rod to reel it in. Such a great moment. The next one on my own came from a near by pond. That was me. Within a short space of time, I had borrowed an old fiberglass rod, then purchased a cheap carbon fiber model myself, and was thrashing the foam off the water on rivers like the Mataura. If your reading this Wayne, fly fishing has been an incredible gift you passed on to me all those years ago – thanks. Perhaps my fondest memories of those early trips were seeing you jump out of the truck and running at full speed up river to beat us to the good fishing spots, somewhat leaving us to our own devices!
I have introduced a few clients to fly fishing for the first time this season. Over the new year period, I took my Brother, Will, out on a local lake where he caught his first two fish on a fly rod – a superb effort under challenging conditions. The lake was clearing, flat calm water, and tailing trout in the weed beds. We actually hooked a number of fish that morning, the real challenge was getting the fish to see the flies. With their heads buried in the weeds and the only giveaway of where they were was the occasional tail breaking the surface, you needed a fast accurate shot pretty much right on their nose – otherwise they would miss the fly completely, even if it was only inches away.
