If you’re fishing in the fabulous Nelson or Buller areas in the top of the South Island, in magnificent rivers like the Maruia, the Buller and the Motueka, you’ll be within an easy drive of Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes National Park. This lake is the source of the Buller River so these waters […] The post Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes National Park appeared first on New Zealand Fishing...

If you’re fishing in the fabulous Nelson or Buller areas in the top of the South Island, in magnificent rivers like the Maruia, the Buller and the Motueka, you’ll be within an easy drive of Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes National Park. This lake is the source of the Buller River so these waters become home to thousands of trout as they tumble towards the sea.

There are some excellent day walks around the lake and surrounding hills and some serious longer walks up in to the mountains beyond. Check out this sweet little clip of this beautiful area.

Ask us for more info

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Driving in New Zealand It’s a hard choice when you have limited time in New Zealand – do you drive and see the countryside? Or do you fly between fishing stays and get more valuable fishing time? There is no easy answer to this. Although New Zealand looks like a couple of small islands floating […] The post Driving in New Zealand appeared first on New Zealand Fishing...

Driving in New Zealand

It’s a hard choice when you have limited time in New Zealand – do you drive and see the countryside? Or do you fly between fishing stays and get more valuable fishing time?

There is no easy answer to this. Although New Zealand looks like a couple of small islands floating in the big South Pacific Ocean, it is in fact quite a long country when you go to drive it, 400 kms (220 miles) longer than the state of California. And with a varied terrain, the drive times can be a lot longer than you may think. There are also excellent fishing lodges on both main islands, so the choices increase.

If, like many fishing folk, your intention is to fish, then we usually suggest you fly to the airport nearest your chosen lodge (or lodges) and use lodge transfers or a local rental car to get there.

If your intention is to drive the length of New Zealand over several weeks, with a bit of fishing along the way, then that’s what you will be doing – lots of driving, some fishing. This can be an adventure in itself as there are so many places to stop at along the way you’ll be spoilt for choice. But if driving is your goal we still advise booking your lodge stays and guides ahead of time.

If you choose to drive, either all or part of the way, there are a few things to note. Apart from a few stretches of motorway (freeway) out of the main cities – Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch, Dunedin – the roads are either state highways or regional roads. And these vary from wide well-formed highways through to steep mountain ranges and passes, narrow gorges, open alpine desert, winding coastline, and many kilometres of lush green pasture land. New Zealanders drive on the left side of the road (steering wheel on the right side of the vehicle) and the give way rules are similar to most countries that drive on the left.

But there are things to watch out for – there are few places to pass on the more mountainous and winding parts. It’s easy to get impatient and try and pass in tight places, but patience is the name of the game here as it’s much better to arrive at your destination in one piece, although maybe a little late. And be aware of animals and slower farm vehicles on rural roads. GPS coordinates don’t always give you the best option to get to a place – you may end up with a river in the way or a road on the map that is actually a goat-track. So check road maps if you’re heading somewhere off the beaten track.

Another good source of info is –https://nzta.govt.nz/traffic-and-travel-information/which has good info for route planning and road closures.

If there has been bad weather where you are heading check that the roads are open before you leave in the morning. Roads through all the mountain passes in the South Island, the Desert Road in the North Island, around Kaikoura, and the West Coast of the South Island may all change without warning.

Check your car rental insurance if you’re renting a car. It is worth upgrading to a zero excess policy so you’re covered for most issues. However, even these policies may not cover for broken glass, lost keys or tyre damage. And always check, if you’re planning to travel on unsealed (gravel) roads, that your policy will remain valid off the seal – most don’t unless you have a 4WD, and even they vary. Ask us for info on this.

And lastly, if you’re heading somewhere out of the way fill your fuel tank before you leave. Safe driving and enjoy the vast beauty of rural New Zealand.

We can help with all your driving and travel queries – just send an email and we’ll get back.

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The September newsletter flew out of the office today. Find out all the details that will help with your decision about Where, When, How and Why you will want to make a fly fishing trip to New Zealand. And if it doesn’t answer those questions then email us direct. CHECK IT OUT HERE If you’re […] The post Organising Your Fishing Trip – What Do You Need to Know? appeared first on New Zealand Fishing...

The September newsletter flew out of the office today.

Find out all the details that will help with your decision about Where, When, How and Why you will want to make a fly fishing trip to New Zealand. And if it doesn’t answer those questions then email us direct.

CHECK IT OUT HERE

If you’re not on the mailing list, and you would like to be just email us with your request.

The post Organising Your Fishing Trip – What Do You Need to Know? appeared first on New Zealand Fishing Lodges.

Before heading to New Zealand to fly fish you’ll probably need to spend a bit of time working out where you want to fish, for how long, and how you’ll get there. That’s all pretty standard information and is easy to get – it’s our specialty. Sometimes you have to work in with an existing itinerary, […] The post From One of Our Guides appeared first on New Zealand Fishing...

Before heading to New Zealand to fly fish you’ll probably need to spend a bit of time working out where you want to fish, for how long, and how you’ll get there. That’s all pretty standard information and is easy to get – it’s our specialty. Sometimes you have to work in with an existing itinerary, or with fellow travellers. But other times you are free to plan your trip based on the BEST fishing. And that information isn’t always easy to get.

One of the guides we work with in the Nelson area at the top of the South Island has put up a post about the fishing in the Nelson area through late spring – that’s October and November in New Zealand.

Anton has lots of information in this post and it will give you an insight into the kinds of fishing available, and the target species he works with. He talks of trout, but also kahawai and kingfish, two easily caught sea species on the western side of Golden Bay.

Once you’ve made a decision about the kind of fishing you want and the area you want to fish in call or email Anton or us here at New Zealand Fishing Lodges, and we’ll fit you out with some great fishing and excellent places to stay. We can also provide your rental vehicle and info on further travel throughout New Zealand.

Anton’s post is here – https://www.nztroutadventures.com/fly-fishing-in-nelson-in-october-and-november/

Call Anton at NZ Trout Adventures on (+64) 279 325 084 or email info@nztroutadventures.com

Call Sue at NZ Fishing Lodges on (+64) 21 555836 or email sue.farley@nztravelbrokers.co.nz

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Under close scrutiny the seafloor around New Zealand is as broken and mountainous as the bush-covered lands above. Plunging to depths of 10,000 metres in the extreme, but averaging around 3,000 metres in general, the topography of the seafloor surrounding New Zealand reflects the turbulent origin of this tiny country country, and its continuing evolution. […] The post Seamounts – A Rising Issue appeared first on New Zealand Fishing...

Under close scrutiny the seafloor around New Zealand is as broken and mountainous as the bush-covered lands above. Plunging to depths of 10,000 metres in the extreme, but averaging around 3,000 metres in general, the topography of the seafloor surrounding New Zealand reflects the turbulent origin of this tiny country country, and its continuing evolution.

Most of us have access to a boat to doddle out for a day’s fishing or diving, or cruise to a sheltered bay for lunch. But rarely do we leave the relative shallows of the continental shelf and plunder out over water that drops incredible depths into the blackness below. But recently a strong interest has been taken in these deep unsurveyed waters as the importance of seamounts has been uncovered.

The first inklings of something unknown came about when deep sea trawlers began to bring in fantastic species of previously unseen specimens that had been caught as by-catch when bottom-trawling for orange roughy and other commercial deep sea fish. Newspapers bristled with articles and photos of the giant octopus caught as by-catch in a research trawl net back in 2001, because until then, only commercial fishermen had tested the fertile waters of the 800 seamounts found off New Zealand shores.

Seamounts are technically described in the McGraw Hill Dictionary of Geology and Mineralogy as ‘an elevation of the seafloor that is either flat-topped or peaked, rising to about 900 – 300 metres or more [from the seafloor] with the summit approximately 300 – 1800 metres below sea level’. Basically a high mountain deep under the sea, they are definitely not something that can be explored on snorkel or with a scuba tank strapped to your back. Volcanic in origin, many are still active, either volcanically or as hot water vents.

Following the tantalising discoveries brought up by commercial fishing trawlers, a number of exploratory research trips were taken by groups such as the New Zealand-based National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) from Australia, to ascertain the extent and importance of the biodiversity found in these mountainous marine ecosystems. Not only are they home to well-known deepwater fish such as orange roughy, alfonsino and the black and smooth oreo, but previously unknown species such as a deep-water mussel that grows up to 30 centimetres long, strange rock sponges, a rare stalked barnacle, and various unknown tropical crabs, corals, starfish and worms have been dredged up. Seamounts are also known to be home to at least 29 different shark species at various times in their life cycles.

Following this initial research, the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries announced they were closing 17 key seamounts to bottom trawling ‘to safeguard the marine life and habitats they support’. These particular seamounts had been identified by NIWA for the Ministry as being either representative of others in the area, in their geology and biology, or were considered to be unique in New Zealand’s waters. Most had never been trawled, but several had been, providing a control for the comparisons between a modified and an unmodified environment. They are still heavily protected from dredging and over-trawling.

Although the 17 closed seamounts are well spread around New Zealand’s offshore waters, several are in an area along the Chatham Rise called the Graveyard Complex, about 275 kilometres off the lower North Island east coast. This region is of great interest as it contains at least 21 seamounts over an area of just 140 square kilometres. With suitably morbid names such as Mt Gloom, Crypt, Ghoul and Mummy, they are easily accessible by research vessel from the coast and have been the subject of a number of serious research trips over the years.

What researchers found is that seamounts are an incredibly rich underwater environment where a wide variety of species are found. In particular, isolated seamounts, or those that are volcanically venting, attract a higher number of rare or unusual species than those that are in groups or arranged along ridges. Researchers have also found that few species live in both the rocky reef seamount environment and the neighbouring soft sandy seafloor from where the seamount rises, but tend to live in either one or the other.

Many of the species found are large and slow-growing. Orange roughy can easily live for 150 years and some of the corals are dated between 300 and 500 years old. Deep-water trawling over these areas wreaks a double havoc in that it not only destroys a unique environment, but the recovery time of that environment must be measured in centuries, not years.

Research by the various agencies is building a solid inventory of seamount environments – in physical, biological and hydrographic terms. As new species and features are found they are being added to this knowledge base. The research also aims to determine the interaction between seamount habitats and fisheries to evaluate how commercial fishing will be accommodated within that.

There is a fine balance between these rugged, volcanic undersea mountains and the fragile life that goes on around them. But like other marine areas of significant value they must be evaluated and suitably protected before it is too late to appreciate their real value in this world. Hopefully the high-powered spotlights on the underwater research vessels will shine some more light on this mysterious, hidden world.

Email us to find out more.

(C)  Sue Farley 2018

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  This fabulous video was sent to us by Ben, one of the guides we use in the Canterbury area of the South Island. The trout fishing in this area is excellent and there is good accommodation on the featured property. Or we can get you a luxury stay closer to Christchurch, especially if you […] The post Guided Trout Fishing in Canterbury – Video appeared first on New Zealand Fishing...

This fabulous video was sent to us by Ben, one of the guides we use in the Canterbury area of the South Island.

The trout fishing in this area is excellent and there is good accommodation on the featured property. Or we can get you a luxury stay closer to Christchurch, especially if you have a non-fishing partner. Ben will also take you to fish the West Coast rivers if you prefer, or other parts of the Canterbury region.

The area featured on this video is just 90 minutes from Christchurch city and the international airport so is easy for a fly in fishing stay with minimum transfer time.

Email us for all the details or to make a booking. This area is open for fishing from 1 October to 30 April so there’s still time to book for this season. Or get in early for next season, starting October, so you get the dates you want.

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