Just got back from Taupo area guiding Philip Norman from Brisbane whom I guide a couple of times a year and his friend Veda who had never fly fished before this trip.

The plan had been to do a 4 day campout wilderness walk in fly fishing trip but the weather was looking a little dodgy so we went to plan B. On day 1 I took the guys to a secret back country spot where Veda managed his first trout after just a few casts. In the end Veda managed to hook 6 nice fish around the 3lb mark an excellent effort for a first day. Philip matched this with half a dozen himself to make for an excellent first day after a later than normal start.

On day 2 the weather was terrible with a lot of wind and over-night rain which had raised water levels and discoloured the water. Conditions were horrible in the morning so we slept in and then went for a few hours fishing later in the afternoon when the weather improved a little. Veda managed to hook and lose 5 out the hotspot and Phil managed a few dinks – baby trout.

On day 3 the weather forcast had predicted things to be improving so we took the gamble and packed the equipment and headed into the bush where the guys managed a few on dry and a couple on nymph to make 8 hookups plus 1 missed before the rain settled in and the river flooded and we had to sit around the campfire for a damp but enjoyable evening. Veda was not phased however by the weather and seemed to be loving every second of it – even the rain just added to the sence of adventure. In fact his only regret for the day was only bringing in only two bottles of wine as we ran out in no time as we had a great chat around the campfire.

On day 4 we woke to a slightly flooded river but a nice looking day. We took our time, had some porridge, Phil caught a nice rainbow nymphing the pool in front of camp and by around half 10 the river had receded enough for us to safely cross and start fishing our way back to the car. We had a brilliant afternoons fishing with 13 hookups on dry fly and 1 on nymph to add to Phils morning fish to make 15 hookups for the day of which the majority were landed. Veda managed several of these. Some of these were sight fished and some were blind but the average size was brilliant at around 4lbs with a few in the 4.25lb range. By 6pm we were back at the car – exhausted but with the great feeling that our gamble of going camping despite the weather had paid off.