New Zealand Anglers

After a long tip down to New Zealand, we spent our first 2 days in Auckland. Very cool city with great shopping, food and bars... we took a ferry to the North Head explore some WWI era gun batteries and tunnels.

We were also fortunate to catch an All Blacks rugby home match in Eden Park Stadium...

We rented an SUV in Auckland and took a 3 hour drive down to the Tuapo region in the middle of the north Island. This area is renowned for fishing this time of year as huge numbers of large trout enter all the rivers and make their way upstream to spawn. This is the premier fishing time: the trout that enter the rivers are in prime condition and trophy size fish!

We caught a ton of once-in a lifetime Rainbows and had a great stay at the Tongariro Lodge.

After a successful fishing excursion, we drove down to Wellington where my son is attending Victoria University for the term. Wellington has a San Fransisco/Portland vibe to it... we had a quick overnight stay before heading down to the South Island.

Queenstown is one of the most amazing places I have ever witnessed! It sits on the shores of the South Island’s Lake Wakatipu, set against the amazing Southern Alps. The town is very much like Aspen with great restaurants, bars and shopping. There is so much to do in this area, including skiing, hiking... and fishing, which we could not stay away from.

On our second day, we were hosted by our awesome guide Scottie, to Twizel where there is some of the most unique fishing on the planet. This area has a system of hydro canals that power almost 70% of New Zealand. These canals have epic huge trout in them due to consistently warm conditions and endless food supply coming from the hatcheries. The trout are more than double the size of what we caught in Tuapo, 5-8lbs vs. 10-30+ lbs!

Although we didn't catch a 20 pounder, I saw them and will never see a trout that big ever again (until I go back to New Zealand ASAP).

Our last day was a hike at Moke Lake and I have never seen a more beautiful scape. The pictures I share do no justice to what my eyes witnessed, and it was a perfect finish to an amazing trip.