Guided John Park from Glasgow on day 2 of his 3 day trip out of Spot X Lodge today. The fishing was a little slow but still produced 3 good hookups plus 1 missed take on dry fly from a good brown as well as a couple of smaller fish around a pound landed and a couple of other small ones lost. John managed to get the hang of casting the dry fly on me 8 foot 6 inch 5 weight SAGE SLT and the casts were rolling over beatifully. Am hoping to land a good one or two with John on the evening rise to get a good photo for today.

Had a slightly late start this morning as John Park from Glasgow got a wee bit lost trying to find Spot X Lodge was he was Nay boothered aboot it.

John started his fishing expedition with a nice 5 and a 1/4 pound rainbow before being smashed off left right and center. His favourite landed fish of the 3 three he managed to land out of a dozen estimated 4 pound plus fish hooked was a nice 4 pound broown trout. There were also numerous other brief hookups and a few smaller fish around a pound or 2 landed and lost as well.

Went out fishing briefly myself on the Tongariro this morning and managed to loose one fish on cicada and and 3 other close look but not takes. Went fishing with Andrew Christmas in the afternoon and hooked 15 between us in around an hour and a half or so before leaving the spot to some another fisherman and his son.

Guided the Zwars from Spot X Lodge again today and it wasn’t long before 3 generations of Zwar’s had each landed a nice 3 to 4 pound Rainbow trout. Olly’s casting was looking awesome and he was really getting some nice tight loops and beginning to double haul almost instinctively. Olly also managed another nice Rainbow before his father Wayne took over in the fish catching department to land a further 3 from the next 5 that he hooked. In all the guys managed to land 6 fantastic 3 – 5 pound trout out of 8 hooked. As I write this – Charlie from Spot X Lodge has taken Wayne to a secret location to hopefully bag a bigger 1 or 2 while Olly who is 13 is playing with Charlies son Jack and 76 year old Grandfather David is sitting back reading and watching trout rise on the front lawn – recovering from his epic battle with a nice 4 pound rainbow that took him out onto the backing and about 50 meters down river from where he hooked it! I am about to open my first beer with David -its a hard life!

Guided the Zwar’s again today, this time on the mighty Tongariro. Fishing was OK. Of the 7 reasonable sized fish hooked, Olly managed to land the only one of the day. Most of the hookups were on dry fly and there were also a couple of missed takes on top of the 7 hooked and a couple of close follows as well. Quite and acceptable amount of action. Olly really managed to improve his casting a lot today and I am looking forward to seeing how he goes tomorrow.

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Guided the Zwars today on the first day of their three day fly fishing trip staying at Spot X Lodge. Oliver opened the scoring with a nice 2.5lb rainbow after first losing the battle with two others. David soon followed up with a nice 3.5lb fish before Wayne landed his first. By the close of play today the guys managed to land 11 out of 16 hooked of which 12 were estimated over 3lbs and up to 5lbs. We tried a cicada with no luck so stuck to the nymph but will hopefully get some on dry tomorrow. This was 13 year old Oliver’s fist time fly fishing and in fact his first trout. By the end of the day he was fishing independantly and getting the hang of double hauling.

Well it’s been a while since I lasted posted to my blog but not for a lack of fishing – quite the opposite – heaps of fishing but limited computer access. Just got back yesterday from a three day raft fishing/camping trip with friends and fellow guides Ross Novak and Andrew Christmas. Had a great 3 days with plenty of trout and a heap of laughs. The weather was fantastic and looks to be another stella day today as I look out the window of Spot X Lodge. Prior to the raft trip I spent a few days scoping out new water near Spot X Lodge.

Prior to this was 3 days sea fishing in which myself and friends Kevin, Sam, Johan, and Tim won the Tauranga Charter boat tournament – due to a few good yellowtail kingfish of 45 pounds plus. On the first day we landed 10 good kingfish off the Alderman Islands.

Andrew Christmas says the Tongariro is fishing well on cicada – as I havn’t fished it for a few weeks I will take his word for it and look forward to a day on there in the next few days.

Tom Thomas from USA had a great day out on dry fly fishing with guide Bryce Curle today. Tom managed to land a few, loose a few, and miss a few also. All quality fish on dry fly! This is great fishing for this time of year as the pressure over the Christmas period has made fishing a little difficult in some of the more know areas reportedly.

Finally got a chance to right another post. Have been flat tack babysitting, visiting friends and family and of course fishing, fishing, and more fishing, and a bit of free diving. Have landed some good Yellowtail Kingfish with Mechanical Jigging – still havn’t had my first big kingi on fly which my ultimate goal for this summer and will be achieved! My friend Kevin also had a great day out jigging with me on a charter out from Tauranga last week – Kevin has now hooked three kingis on fly – all the battles were won by the fish though!

Had a fantastic day yesterday and learnt more about casting in one day than I have in the past 5 years from one of my fly casting hero’s Paul Ardin – the man behind the sexyloops web site http://www.sexyloops.com/ I was quite buzzing! I can’t recommend his advanced casting clinic enough to any already capable casters. Learnt an extremely sexy version of the snake roll – don’t know what he called it – something like a snap-lift snake roll. Also his tips and demonstrations finally sorted for me how to throw better overpower curve casts and how to throw the slack in a rats nest cast closer to the leader. Learnt Pauls fantastic version of a steeple cast also which he reckons isnt useful but I think in the water I fish it will most definitely help. Pauls skills are awesome and inspiring and I think he had a great way of explaining things as well as some great tips and opionions that make a lot of sence.

Had a good night also last night with Paul and Clark Reid at Clarks house in Waihi – this resulted in a not so good day today!

Progress on my new secondhand boat has been a little slow but should push forward fast this week I am told. She is quite beatiful and undergoing a little – “plastic surgery” to enhace her beauty and functionality. She will be the ultimate blue water fly fishing and sportfishing machine!