Late season fly fishing in New Zealand is a very under-rated time of the fishing season. Typically the weather in late March and April is settled, with lovely sunny Autumn/Fall days. The brown’s tend to be feeding aggressively as they put on weight and condition in anticipation of them spawning in June.  Combine this with the fact that there are very few fly fishers about and you have a couple compelling reasons to stay at Owen River Lodge and enjoy the fly fishing that’s on offer !

We had our busiest April ever, with anglers from America and Australia enjoying the fly fishing, ambiance of the lodge and of course, Ryan’s amazing culinary delights.

Californian’s Jed and his 2 sons Ben & Tom stayed with us for 6 nights and had a ball fishing some of our rivers. They had spent the previous 2 weeks hunting for Chamois and Tahr and wanted to finish their adventure in New Zealand stalking some of our wild brown trout. The fishing was varied and sometimes challenging, however, Tom had 2 huge days on our rivers – landing 15 browns up to 7 lb. His brother Ben rose to the challenge landing 7 browns on one of his days fishing – also landing brown trout up to 7 lb !

Eight members of the New South Wales Rod Fishers’ Society stayed and fished with us for 5 days in early April. Here’s a few of the many browns they landed !

Eric and his nephew Chris from the USA, decided to have a fishing vacation at Owen River Lodge in mid April. The stayed with us for 6 nights and enjoyed 5 days fly fishing in this region. They had some great days fishing landing heaps of fish. Their best day saw them land 8 browns – 4 each. Several big fish were won and lost – the largest 2 landed for the trip were 7lb & 7.5 lb.

Bob and Tony from Wyoming also combined a hunting and fishing trip whilst touring New Zealand. They were accompanied by Tony’s wife Stephanie and Bob’s daughter Brett. Bob and Tony both caught the largest brown trout of their lives -weighing in at a very respectable 6.5 lb & 7.5lb.

Four members of a Bostonian family stayed, fished and relaxed with us mid April. Whilst father and son team Nick & Nicky fished, mother and daughter Cathy and Lorraine hiked and explored the region’s many non fishing based activities.

We are very proud to announce that for the 3rd year in a row, Owen River Lodge has been awarded the prestigious TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence. This accolade, which honours hospitality excellence, is given only to establishments that consistently achieve outstanding traveller reviews on TripAdvisor.

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog !

Remember – you are only a stranger once at Owen River Lodge.