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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
I’ve recently returned from a week at Christmas Island and I think I can see what all the fuss is about. Back home at Owen River Lodge, we’ve had plenty of rain (but not too much) and plenty of cold – great for the trout, but not so good for cabin fever. In fact, on the day […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
Gutted! What a day we have had. The competition is over and the results are in. Spain has won the gold, USA the silver and Bosnia the bronze. I can’t remember the last time the Czechs, French and Italians all missed out on a medal. It tells you something about the draw and the fishing. […]
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 […]
Now before anyone starts asking where report number three is, let me explain. We have been very, very busy and each day I have been writing a report. For the past ten days, I have written about the day’s activities but at no time was I up to date. I would almost finish before something […]
We are all together now and enjoying Bosnia but getting here was not quite as easy as we had hoped. Where do I start? Fortunately, I made it across a busy airport to get my last flight from Paris but my bag did not. Arriving in Zagreb, I had that sick feeling you get when you […]
