Fly Fishing Guides Taupo & Tongariro 

I began my trout fishing obsession early morning harling on Lake Rotorua with my father as a 10-year-old and then through my teens I got the fly fishing bug. Of course, as life goes there was never enough time for what’s important so in the early 2000’s I moved to Turangi and setup Riverstone Backpackers, a boutique accommodation facility for independent travelers and fishermen. I now live in Taupo with my partner and two children

I have fly fished all over NZ but during the past 10-years, I have concentrated my efforts on the Central North Island, from the Rotorua Lakes District to the Hawkes Bay, the King Country and of course the Taupo and Tongariro Regions. I have always had a passion for seeking out new waters and solitude so increasingly I am seeking to always go that little bit further than the last angler.

As most anglers understand being able to do that requires some a degree of freedom and time, what better way to achieve that than to be a fly fishing guide! From extensive international travel in my earlier years, managing an accommodation business and living in a small country in the middle of nowhere that dealing with people from outside the ‘fishbowl’ is important. It’s that needs for new experiences and ideas that fuels the way we ‘do business’ and we hope that enthusiasm shows through in your experience.

I am a fish-a-holic and pioneered using the Internet to promote guided fly fishing through Anglers Anonymous during the early 2000’s, and then as a Charter Boat Operator in the Bay of Islands. In one of those years, the Tongariro river alone was graced with my presence on around 200 days where I learned how to Tongariro Roll Cast.

Fishing has been my passion since I was old enough to go out in the boat with my father. With the first knock on the door at 5 in the morning I would leap out of bed, fly into my clothes and run out to help get the boat ready – forgetting about breakfast and all other non-fishing essential trivialities.

After seeing my father work until he was 65, saving for his retirement and looking forward to going fishing with his family, he was diagnosed with cancer at 66 and died at 67. Having been in the ‘rat race’ for all those years this was a lesson for me that life is short so you must enjoy it while you can. Hence I went fishing. And fishing. And fishing!

Whether it is taking similar minded experienced fish-a-holics out to help them indulge their passion or whether it is taking beginners out and helping guide them on their first New Zealand fly fishing experience to their first trout, this job is fantastic!