firehuntfish
AH fanatic
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2009
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- SCI NRA QDMA NWTF TU DU
- Hunted
- Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, USA, South, Central America & New Zealand
We just returned from our first visit to New Zealand.... I started fly fishing seriously in my early teens, and as long as I could remember, it's always been my dream to sight fish for the consistently big trout that only New Zealand offers. I started planning this trip with the priority of fly fishing for as many days as I could afford followed by a few days of touring & sightseeing. I picked the month of February not because of the hunting opportunities, but because it was the best month to try and fish for trout with a dry fly.... Adding a hunt to the trip was an afterthought, and the possibility of hunting and fishing NZ on the same trip appeared unaffordable. However, after some more thorough research, we found one of just a handful of outfitters that was happily willing to offer a relatively short, early season management hunt that was within our realistic price range. So, after about a year of planning we were lined up to spend our first 5 days hunting the South Island with Peter Chamberlain of Kiwi Wilderness Safaris based in the Canterbury province near the small town of Waikari.
What would normally be ideal weather for mid-February for fly fishing and touring actually turned out to be tough hunting weather. Our first 5 days was record high heat for that part of NZ in February. The bright sunny days, and record high temps made for tough hunting conditions, and limited our hunting opportunities to just a few hours early morning and late afternoon each day. Luckily for us, Peter is an experienced hunter who knows the land and the habits of these animals intimately. His ability to spot game and judge game quality is nothing less than impressive. We definitely made the most of the limited opportunities that we had.
Peter, Lisa, and 'Sophie" glassing....
Sophie keeping Lisa company on the spotting scope...
Lisa lining up the first shot of the trip....
First animal in NZ! A great private property, low-fence NZ red Stag...
With a great red stag down, we hunted hard the next 2 days for a management fallow stag....
Time and patience paid off with a beautiful orange color phased fallow stag. The full velvet was a nice bonus! We spent the final day and a half hunting for a black color phased fallow or possibly an Arapawa ram. The problem wasn't finding animals, just finding the right animal. We spotted several more really great trophy fallow, but none that fit the management criteria for us. The many Arapawa that we saw were all young males and ewes... Nonetheless, we left Peter with 5 fun days of hard hunting and 2 fantastic animals to show for our efforts.
Part 2 of the trip was to be four guided days of trout fishing with Martin Langlands of Troutlands.com, also out of the Canterbury province. We fished some very diverse water and landscapes during our 4 days with Martin. The main goal for this trip was to sight fish for trout and that's exactly what Martin delivered. Martin is probably one of the best I have ever seen at spotting fish and that is high praise from someone like me that can see fish pretty damn good! With the exception of some wind here and there, we had good conditions, and some epic fishing with dozens of really quality trout on the dry fly coming to hand, with the highlight of the trip being a 2-foot plus "gravel gargoyle" brown on a dry fly...
The last 5 days of the trip were planned to include some sightseeing around the rest of the South Island and hopefully some DIY fishing opportunities of which NZ has many.... They say you can experience all 4 seasons in one day in NZ, and we found that to be true. A trip that started out with bright sun and record highs concluded with heavy rain, cold and the first snow of the season in the higher elevations. We went from shorts and flip flops to fleece and boots by the end of our trip. Unfortunately for me, the rains turned most of the water to chocolate milk, and my DIY fishing opportunities were non-existent. We had a few short breaks in the weather in Queenstown, but our last 2 days were a wash-out. We spent most of that time touring the many fine local pubs enjoying some great NZ beer and wine... All in all, it was a great trip with lots of memories made. Here are just a few of the highlights from the second half of the trip....
Fish of the trip! My 2'+ riffle gator!
A few pictures of the magnificent landscapes of the South Island...
What would normally be ideal weather for mid-February for fly fishing and touring actually turned out to be tough hunting weather. Our first 5 days was record high heat for that part of NZ in February. The bright sunny days, and record high temps made for tough hunting conditions, and limited our hunting opportunities to just a few hours early morning and late afternoon each day. Luckily for us, Peter is an experienced hunter who knows the land and the habits of these animals intimately. His ability to spot game and judge game quality is nothing less than impressive. We definitely made the most of the limited opportunities that we had.
Lisa lining up the first shot of the trip....
First animal in NZ! A great private property, low-fence NZ red Stag...
With a great red stag down, we hunted hard the next 2 days for a management fallow stag....
Time and patience paid off with a beautiful orange color phased fallow stag. The full velvet was a nice bonus! We spent the final day and a half hunting for a black color phased fallow or possibly an Arapawa ram. The problem wasn't finding animals, just finding the right animal. We spotted several more really great trophy fallow, but none that fit the management criteria for us. The many Arapawa that we saw were all young males and ewes... Nonetheless, we left Peter with 5 fun days of hard hunting and 2 fantastic animals to show for our efforts.
Part 2 of the trip was to be four guided days of trout fishing with Martin Langlands of Troutlands.com, also out of the Canterbury province. We fished some very diverse water and landscapes during our 4 days with Martin. The main goal for this trip was to sight fish for trout and that's exactly what Martin delivered. Martin is probably one of the best I have ever seen at spotting fish and that is high praise from someone like me that can see fish pretty damn good! With the exception of some wind here and there, we had good conditions, and some epic fishing with dozens of really quality trout on the dry fly coming to hand, with the highlight of the trip being a 2-foot plus "gravel gargoyle" brown on a dry fly...
The last 5 days of the trip were planned to include some sightseeing around the rest of the South Island and hopefully some DIY fishing opportunities of which NZ has many.... They say you can experience all 4 seasons in one day in NZ, and we found that to be true. A trip that started out with bright sun and record highs concluded with heavy rain, cold and the first snow of the season in the higher elevations. We went from shorts and flip flops to fleece and boots by the end of our trip. Unfortunately for me, the rains turned most of the water to chocolate milk, and my DIY fishing opportunities were non-existent. We had a few short breaks in the weather in Queenstown, but our last 2 days were a wash-out. We spent most of that time touring the many fine local pubs enjoying some great NZ beer and wine... All in all, it was a great trip with lots of memories made. Here are just a few of the highlights from the second half of the trip....
Fish of the trip! My 2'+ riffle gator!
A few pictures of the magnificent landscapes of the South Island...
