Recent news & Articles

End of a HUGE season

May 13, 2023

Thank you for an epic 7 months! The 2022/23 fishing season was Owen River Lodge’s biggest yet. We were completely booked out most of it, with half of those bookings being guests that have stayed & fished with us before. Some of you had patiently rolled your booking over for three whole years. That is huge. So before… Read more

B Corp—going beyond the logo

November 09, 2022

Learning that we’d attained B Corp accreditation eight months ago was one of the proudest moments of my career. Becoming a B Corporation isn’t for the faint of heart. I won’t say the process came close to breaking me but there are less than 6,000 B Corporations worldwide. That says something. Going beyond the certification… Read more

Thanks, to the power of three

October 08, 2022

For the third year running, Owen River Lodge has been named a winner in the Australia & South Pacific category of Condé Nast Traveler’s Reader’s Choice Awards. In 2022 we were one of only two luxury resorts in New Zealand to make the grade.. “Your continued efforts and impeccable service created memorable moments… Read more

It’s officially Spring in NZ. Guess what that means …

September 03, 2022

As you probably know, Owen River Lodge only opens during the fishing season. In this part of New Zealand, that’s from 1 October through to 30 April. We close from May to September. That’s when we do most of our maintenance work. It always amazes me during August and September. It’s like the lodge awakens from its winter… Read more

Owen River Lodge wins Environmental Sustainability award from Hospitality New Zealand

August 05, 2022

It’s awards season again! Last week we bagged one that’s close to our hearts: Best Environmental/Sustainable Business at Hospitality New Zealand’s 2022 Awards for Excellence. We were also finalists in the Best Destination Venue category—but we figured we’d hold that one over for next year….. In the last five… Read more

International travel with fishing gear

May 28, 2022

Traveling with fly fishing gear internationally can be a real pain in the backside. Its funny, as Kylie and I are starting to pack a 10 day bone fishing trip to the Cook Islands, where they have no loan gear, and it appears we are packing a complete fly shop (or two) Anyway, I digress… Way back 19 years ago when I established… Read more

Attention, women: Our trout need you in April 2023!

May 24, 2022

Our trout need you in April 2023! - to catch them, that is. To show them who’s boss. To teach them a lesson because they probably evaded other anglers all season and grew fat and complacent. In April 2023 our trout will need you to land them, kiss them, and then let them go so they can swim off to make big,… Read more

News flash: Owen River Lodge is the world’s first B Corp-certified fishing lodge!

March 22, 2022

Well, this is a big one. B Corp certification is an internationally-recognised accreditation that measures a company’s social and environmental performance. And getting it is tough. Really tough. The certification process involves being audited to assess an organisation’s… Read more

NZ welcoming international visitors in May

March 05, 2022

New Zealand’s border opens May 2022 It’s been two long years in the making, but finally… from May 1 2022, fully-vaccinated people from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia (13 April) and most European countries can enter New Zealand with no quarantine or self-isolation requirements. The Outlook for Fishing… Read more

Learn to Fly Fish School is back in March 2022 !

December 04, 2021

We promised the 10 newbie anglers who attended our inaugural Learn to Fly Fish School in November that it would be “cool as hell”—and it seems they agreed. Dan certainly liked it. Here’s a snippet from his Read more

ORL wins two international travel awards—with borders closed.

October 19, 2021

When you look after people, they look after you We limped through last season. Now, as we stare down the double barrel of still not knowing when our international borders will reopen and the possibility of Level 3 lockdown restrictions continuing for our biggest domestic market, we’re realising there’s a chance this one… Read more

Learn to fly fish like a pro at Owen River Lodge’s Fly Fishing school

September 20, 2021

Here’s a quick survey with only one question: Why are you interested in fly fishing? A. You like wearing waders. B. You enjoy standing in rivers for hours and then going home. C. You dream of making the perfect cast; catching a fast, fat, wily trout; getting your photo taken with it to show off to your… Read more

Owen River Lodge is the world’s first Carbon Positive fishing lodge!

August 10, 2021

Owen River Lodge is the world’s first Carbon Positive fishing lodge! We’re pretty sure of this—we weren’t able to find any others—but we’ll happily stand corrected if we’re wrong. As far as we’re concerned, the more Carbon Positive luxury fishing lodges in the world, the better. All the certifications we hold… Read more

Owen River Lodge wins at the Qualmark Awards

August 04, 2021

We’ve made history! Following last week’s win at the 2021 Qualmark Awards, Owen River Lodge is now the most-awarded fishing lodge in New Zealand. Qualmark certification is no pushover. The requirements, particularly for the Luxury Lodge and Gold Sustainable Tourism accreditations we hold, are stringent. And the competition… Read more

A review of the season that was 2020_21

May 15, 2021

Wow, what a ride! The past 15 months have been one hell of a journey, for me as well as for most of you, I bet. I always try and seek out the good in every event—perhaps I’m just naturally optimistic—but this one’s been the biggest test ever. About this time last year we faced the great unknown and a new adversary: a… Read more

Mar 8 2022

Its International Women’s day and the Read more

New Zealand Herald : 8 March 2022

Awards & acknowledgements

Owen River Lodge NZ: “Fly fishing at its very best”

Ph: +64 3 523 9075 Address: Owen Valley East Road, Murchison, Nelson, South Island, New Zealand

Email: fish@elevenangling.com