New Orleans Redfish

A recent request to speak at a conference seemed an onerous undertaking after a month of continuous travel – until I found out the conference was in New Orleans (NO). Hasty changes were made to existing work commitments and before I knew it I was US bound. The trip was a quick five day stay including a […]

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According to plan – Turangi, NZ

I’m just back from my annual trip based out of Turangi in NZ’s North Island. About midway through the week we’d had another good day on the famous Tongariro River (FlyStream magazine issue 2) landing 8 wonderful rainbows. So, feeling smug, we – my brother David, nephew Jamie and I – knocked off early and went to the Turangi pub for dinner. Guide […]

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Naknek River, Alaska

The Naknek River is 56km long and flows into Kvichak Bay, an arm of Bristol Bay in south-west Alaska. It’s known for its sockeye and other salmon, as well being a highly regarded rainbow trout fishery. By this time of year, the fishing for king and silver salmon has come and gone. Sockeye salmon are […]

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BILLFISH OUTFIT FOR LESS THAN $1K?

Billfish of all species are considered to be at the extreme end of flyfishing targets. Of these, sailfish are thought to be the fastest fish in the ocean. To put in perspective just how fast, a sailfish can swim at around 112km/h while a tarpon comes in barely half as quick with a top speed of ‘only’ 56km/h! It makes sense […]

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Cape York Milkfish

Over winter, the AFO team hosted their annual milkfish trips to a remote location on the west coast of Cape York. The phenomenon our guides found there 6 years ago, provides one of the only targeted milkfish fisheries on the globe. It’s true milkfish are caught elsewhere but these are often cast-and-hope fisheries where you put your weed fly in amongst a carpet […]

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Pink Salmon – Squamish River, BC

The Squamish River is a large river in the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC). The Squamish and it’s tributaries offer great fishing opportunities for a variety of salmon and trout species. Chinook, Coho, chum and pink salmon run into the system for spawning. Dolly Vardens, cutthroats and rainbows (including a significant steelhead run in […]

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Trout Season Opening, Tasmania

The start of the brown trout season in Tasmania is usually a very productive time and this year has been no exception. All over Tasmania, snow and wind did not deter anglers and fish were caught through the highlands and lowlands. Low water temperatures meant that fish wanted slowly fished flies, but most of them were hooked deep, which showed they […]

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To hook a rudd

I’ve been carting my rods around Europe for 2 weeks now, hoping to find a spot to fish at the same time as my slowly improving recently operated upon shoulder was not too sore.  My best chance was in Cornwall where I lined up a day on Drift Reservoir near Penzance but which fell through […]

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Montana Dreaming

Before departing Melbourne for Montana, my last email to Zach Neville our guide was, “Zach, happy to catch browns and rainbows all day but I am not leaving Montana until I catch a cutthroat.” This we achieved but there is a cruel twist, drama perhaps – even tragedy; more about this later. Last week I caught […]

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Caloundra QLD – Winter Idyll

Our family holiday to Caloundra, Queensland was never meant to be a fishing trip. No really, the main objective was a break from the central Victorian highlands winter with (hopefully) lots of sun, definitely lots of swimming, relaxing, bike riding and maybe a  bit of rainforest hiking thrown in. I threw in the 7 weight, […]

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World Fly Fishing Championships Wrap Up

It has been over a week now since the end of the World Championships in Bosnia and Herzegovina. To say that the entire Australian team is disappointed with the end result would be an understatement. There was not a lot of conversation in the mini van on the way to Zagreb as we were all […]

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World Fly Fishing Championships Pt 5

The first day’s competition is over and the results have been mixed. As we suspected, the beats have played a huge part in success and failure. For us, the draw has not been kind. Many countries can say the same thing. It is rare to see the Czechs so far down the list even if […]

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