Fly Fishing in New Zealand
New Zealand has some of the best trout fishing in the world and many of the best locations are fly fishing only. There is a huge number of great location's accessible to the public with very good fly fishing. Some of the most famous rivers are the Tongariro, Karamea and Mataura. Lake Taupo and the Rotorua lakes also offer very good fly fishing opportunities.
A five or six weight rod will be well suited to fishing most of the smaller rivers but you may struggle when fishing larger rivers or stream mouths especially if there is a lot of wind. So if you want to enjoy the full variety of fly fishing in New Zealand it would be best to have and 8 weight rod as well.
Wilderness Fishing
Many areas of New Zealand have been set aside by the government as reserves. These area's often have some great trout fishing rivers. These rivers are what wilderness fly fishing is all about ... large trout in extremely clear water and no-one around for miles. Many of the rivers require a helicopter or a day or two's tramping to reach so you won't find many other fishermen around. If you have a reasonable level of fitness I do recomend trying the tramping option it really does add so much to the wildnerness experience. With a bit of planning it is often possible to do an extended tramp and try out several different rivers in one trip. Generally a six weight rod with a floating line and a medium sinking line will be all that is required. Nymphing tends to be the most consistent fish producer in these streams with the clear water and often bouldery habitat. Over the summer month's though the wildnerness rivers of New Zealand offer some of the best dry fly fishing you could imagine.
The Kaimanawa and Kaweka forest parks in the Central North Island have some awesome wilderness fly fishing. The Rangatiki and Ngaruroro are two of the best. The Rangatiki produces many trophy trout each year. The Whirinaki and Urewera forest parks are adjacent to each other and contain many streams with quite a variety of fishing options from the Waiau River and it's tributaries with their very high populations of trout averaging about 3 pounds to the Upper Ruakituri where trout over the magic 10 pound mark are not uncommon. Now to the South Island which has a huge number of opportunities for wilderness fly fishing. The Karamea.
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