Early season fishing is an incredibly underrated time of the year to fish the top of the south region of the South Island of New Zealand. A big statement I hear you ask – well I’m here to tell you why !
Ian and Maryanne from Melbourne stayed with us for 4 nights having a well earned break. Ian had 3 days fishing our local rivers and landed some great browns – the largest at a little over 7 lb !
The vast majority of the rivers in this region are closed all winter (1st May through to the end of September) this means that the usually weary browns are a little easier to catch as they haven’t seen an angler for 5 months. Speaking of which, early season fishing also means significantly less anglers on the rivers than in the peak of our season (Summer – December > mid March). October sees the days getting warmer and longer, this translates to warmer water temperatures and an increase in insect activity.
Joe from USA stayed with us in early November- for the 3rd season in a row. No wonder he’s smiling with a fat brown trout like that !
Although October started off with a little rain, the weather stabilised and the days grew warmer. Sunny days saw mayfly hatches on the majority of our streams. This resulted in our guests landing between 30 > 40 % of their catches on dry flies. Classic flies like the Parachute Adams and standard Adams were deadly.
Andrew from the USA stayed and fished with us early in November. His 3 days of fishing saw him land 11 browns, with several of his catches weighing in between 7 > 8 lb !
Two South African mates – Wayne & Darryl had 3 sensational guided fishing days with us in late October using Lindsay as their guide. In 3 days they hooked 27 browns, landing 17 of them to 7.5lb. Almost 1/2 were taken on drys !!!
Darryl enjoying the sunshine & dry fly fishing in late October
Wayne, staying at ORL for his second visit, with one of the many browns he and his mate Darryl caught
Early season is an ideal time to come to New Zealand and learn the gentle art of Fly Fishing. Wayne & Vicki from Melbourne stayed and learnt to fly fish with us in mid October. As you can see from the photos below – they both succeeded !
Early October saw Wayne and Vicki from Australia stay with us and learn the fine art of fly fishing.
Vicki with her first brown caught on the fly
South Australian, Panteli, stayed with us in mid November. His 2 days of guided fishing saw him land 16 browns to 7lb – 1/3 of his catch on dry fly !!
Early season can see higher catch rates than summer, with many of our early season guests landing 8 or more browns in a day !
Panteli strikes again !
Early Special Deal – Stay for 5 Nights and Pay for only 4!
This special package is available for accommodation & fishing at Owen River Lodge for the month of October 2013.
You get 5 nights of 5 star luxury accommodation, all your meals, use of all our fabulous facilities, use of fly fishing gear – waders, boots, rods/reels & 3 days guided fishing for only NZ $3,500 per person, twin share
