Bish on Fish in New Zealand Blog

Distance Schmistance.

Tony Bishop — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:45:58 +0000

One of the South Island of New Zealand’s best known guides, Chris Dore, offers some sound advice about getting more distance, and the benefits of being able to do so. This is especially true in New Zealand where casting in a wind is a very common requirement.

“I tire of hearing people bagging distance casting. "its not needed here in NZ" and most commonly "all my fish are caught within a few rod lengths" are common justifications.

Well mate, that’s because you can only cast a few rod lengths. And how do you go in windy conditions? You don’t? I wonder why…”

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5 new fishing quotations and sayings: 12 May 2012

Tony Bishop — Sat, 12 May 2012 04:38:26 +0000

And still they keep coming, now 1070, latest numbers 1065 1070:

“One can think of life after the fish is in the canoe.”

- Polynesian saying (1065)

"The river", corrected the Rat, "It’s my world…What it hasn’t got is not worth having…"

- Kenneth Grahame ‘The Wind in the Willows’ (1066)

"Fishing" is what happens while you are waiting to catch fish.

- Unknown author (1067)

“The outdoors, the beautiful environment, both in fresh and salt water. And the thing that concerns me is the amount of kids that stand on street corners, or go into pinball parlours, and call it recreation.”

- Rex Hunt (1068)

Just change ‘pinball parlours’ to computer games to bring quote up-to-date, and not be surprised how some things do not change.

“Me, I’m spiritually retarded, I need to be knee deep in water with a fly rod in my hands, that’s about as close to God as I get.”

- Steve Earle (1069)

“We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours.”

- James Leisenring, from his notebooks (1070)

Believed to be a comment that there is no ‘right’ way to fish, just fish in the way that gives most pleasure.

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Tenkara :the good, bad and ugly

Tony Bishop — Sat, 05 May 2012 11:21:22 +0000

There is a lot of noise around the Tenkara system of fly-fishing. Some of this noise could have you believe it is the brave new world of fly-fishing.
It is not. Not by a long way.

My view after using a tenkara rod for around 8 months

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Another little video masterpiece on NZ fishing

Tony Bishop — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:21:54 +0000

Stephan at Frontsidefly.com reminded me of another little video gem these talented video makers shot recently in NZ –

“A dry fly love song” – the song they wrote and performed as music backing is good too.

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Wonderful little piece on backcountry New Zealand

Tony Bishop — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:53:32 +0000

Frontsidefly.com produce some very high quality fly-fishing films, and just gone up on on their site is a 3 or so short edit, “You won’t see me”, from a trip to New Zealand earlier this year.

Magic stuff.

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Unexpectedly Great Fishing: Again!

Tony Bishop — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:55:38 +0000

A couple of my previous articles, ‘Expect the Unexpected’ and ‘No Great Expectations’, were based on the sometimes fabulous fishing that seems to pop-up out of nowhere.

I have just had five days of truly unexpected and exceptional fishing.

Like other trips like this, it all started out pretty much as usual. I was going down to the Taupo region of the central North Island of New Zealand, for what I hoped would coincide with the start of annual run of brown trout into the rivers and streams that flow into Lake Taupo.

I arrived to weather that was also pretty much as expected for autumn, clear skies, (maybe too clear) and a hint of a chill in the air. The main river I was going to fish, the Tauranga-Taupo, was low and very clear, again, maybe too clear. So, I was not expecting great fishing.

The next morning I set off up the river, and found there was no one else on the river where I was fishing. Big plus tick for that.

I also noticed lots of fish in the river. Well, to be truthful, for the first hour or two, most noticed me about one second before I noticed them fleeing to wherever it is where trout go when they notice fishermen.

But soon enough I shook off the city cloak of unawareness, and began to notice fish before they noticed me, and fling a fly at them. Sometimes they liked the fly and bit it, other times they treated the fly with utter disdain, and after repeated casts slowly moved off to that secret trout place.

Now, you may remember I was down at Taupo to catch browns, but I never saw one, but rainbows where there in big numbers.

Big numbers of rainbows was encouraging, but what was even more encouraging and unexpected was the size of the fish. In recent years the average size of Taupo area rainbows has been in decline, to the point where any fish over three pounds was considered a good catch.

Recent reports however suggested that the average rainbow size and condition coming up to spawning was well up on recent years.

The reports were spot on. That first day I caught and released 16 or 17 fish, not one of which was less than 3lb. Most were over a pound or two over that weight, a couple may have been even bigger.

The fish were in wonderful condition, deep and round, fat as butter, and fought long and hard… [full story]

(Terrible photo I know – but left my camera at home – and my phone camera is, well you can see.)

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Taupo and big browns, here I come.

Tony Bishop — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 09:55:21 +0000

Am leaving in the morning before the first sparrow un-tucks it’s head from under it’s wing and completes it’s ablutions for Taupo, (central North Island NZ).

With Autumn now fully entrenched it is around this time big brown trout start to move into the rivers that flow into Lake Taupo. Big fish, but not easy to catch, still, I like the challenge.

Will also be trying and reviewing two new Sage 5wt, 10’ rods.

Watch for more.

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Catch Magazine 22 out now

Tony Bishop — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 20:16:39 +0000

Catch Magazine’s new issue is out now and it is the first under a Subscription of US$12.00 per year.

To quote the magazine:
“Welcome to Issue 22. This is a big one, with two videos and a ton of great photos. A portion of this issue is still free, as are 21 back issues. However, most of this issue will only be available to subscribers. The subscription info and the simple process are inside. Being a subscriber to Catch Magazine only costs $12 a year, for 6 issues, or 3.3 cents a day. Keeping up with technology, labour and equipment is expensive, and is part of everyone’s workplace. We promise to give you your money’s worth and then some.”

For my money, the quality of this magazine is worth the money – paint me in as subscribed.

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How not to break a fly rod

Tony Bishop — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 23:37:56 +0000

An excellent article on the Sage site about rod breakages and how to avoid them.

“At one time or another in every fly fisher’s life he will find himself quietly looking down at a broken rod. That sinking feeling. Maybe it was a favorite, or maybe it’s the night before a bonefish trip. There are many ways to break a rod and, over the years, I have been guilty of more than my share. Sometimes the fault lies in the rod, but more likely it is operator error.
If you buy a quality rod in today’s market, you can expect that it will come with a “no questions asked” guarantee. The rod maker will repair or replace your rod, but you will be out of commission for a few days or a few weeks and pay a reasonable shipping and handling charge. Here are some of the most common causes of breakage and a few tips for keeping your favorite rods in service….”

Read it here.

Actually, just realised this article pretty closely follows my own post “Ten best ways to break a fly rod” (Link fixed) written way back in 2010.

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10 best ways to break your fly-rod

Five new fishing quotations and sayings, numbers 1060–1064, 1 April 2012

Tony Bishop — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 06:52:01 +0000

So here we go, 5 new quotations and and sayings about fishing. Now 1064 of them, when will it all end?

Number 1060

“If there is magic on the planet, it is contained in Water.” – Loren Eisely

Number 1061

“As an all-around streamer, it would be tough to beat some variation of a Woolly Bugger. Depending a bit on color, it suggests sculpins, other baitfish, leeches, big nymphs, a living, swimming, wiggly chunk of food.” – Brant Oswald

Number 1062

“A man should think when he fishing of all manner and shape of things, flowing as easily through the mind as the light stream among the rocks”

Roderick Haig-Brown – Season of a Fisherman

Number 1063

“Complete content – the day has brought it – he fished for pleasure and he caught it.”

H . J. The Optimist

Number 1064

“A fishing guide isn’t doing his job unless he leaves a client with at least one lesson that makes him a better angler regardless of how many fish are taken on a given day”

Charlie Meyers and Kirk Deeter – The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing

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