What an extraordinary season we’ve just had—our 16th at the Lodge. If you stayed with us in that time, you probably saw for yourself what incredible condition our wild browns maintained during one of the driest summers on record. They’re fit, fat and heading into winter in the best shape I’ve ever seen. And chances […]
Places to go, Rivers to Fish
FAMILY FISHING TRIP TO HINZE DAM
We’ve just enjoyed our first family fishing trip at Hinze Dam for some time, with old friend Steve Wilkes from Sports Tuition. We had a ball. All five of us made the trip: me, Jeanine, James, Jack and Juliana. A full house of J’s, something we only realised after we’d named the last one, five […]
ZANE MIRFIN’S STRIKE ADVENTURE – FLY FISHING, NEW ZEALAND
Greetings from a hot dry New Zealand! Here’s what we’ve been up to over the past two months… Alas, drought conditions have taken hold in many parts of the South Island but we’re enjoying being out there catching trout… Low river flows and warm water are never easy fishing conditions, but our years of […]
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ANOTHER GREAT TRIP TO SPATSIZI’S LODGE, BC – 2018
A friendly welcome at Smithers’ Airport for your intrepid correspondent who was…like this bad boy … totally stuffed. Playing pontoon with my trusty co-pilot and card shark James. The improvised card table appears to be a rather flat squirrel pillow. We’re off at last to Spatsizi, British Columbia, in Wendell’s trusty turbo otter. Share the […]
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WE’RE BACK! SPATSIZI LODGE, BC
Now I’m a sensitive Green kind of guy, but when you’re up this close, I think it’s fair to say that Grizzly Bears look much better stuffed and inside a glass case. This big fella is part of the welcoming committee at Smithers Airport. It reminds you that you’re a guest here in this part […]
OWEN RIVER LODGE HIGHLIGHTS 2015/16
Running a fishing lodge can be a complex thing. There are so many variables to take into account, without doubt, the weather has a significant impact on the trout fishery and therefore the fishing. In our early season the weather cooperated brilliantly. November & December saw clear rivers, sunny days and little wind. The […]
PHOTO ESSAY FROM KIWI GUIDE ZANE MIRFIN
This summer – apart from a brief early season trip to Owen River Lodge – I haven’t had a chance to fish for trophy trout in New Zealand’s famous South Island waters. So here are some (painful) reminders for me of what could have been my summer from Nelson guide Zane Mirfin, who actually gets […]
A BIG ONE THAT DIDN’T GET AWAY
I’m standing in the front of a small wooden dinghy which is floating on a remote loch in the central highlands of Scotland, and I’m rhythmically, but aimlessly flicking out a fly line armed with an old fashioned Aussie blue bottle dry fly. It’s a warm afternoon in late autumn and in the background, the […]
OWEN RIVER LODGE – CAN’T WAIT TO DO IT ALL AGAIN
Bottom line with any trip is whether you’d do it again. With Owen River Lodge the answer is yes and as soon as possible. We left home in Brisbane on October 1 frazzled and stressed and returned after five days at the lodge kind of chilled, man. Jeanine and I had spoiled ourselves with a […]
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ROLLER COASTER FOR GROWN UPS
NIMMO BAY Canada. http://nimmobay.com/ Talk about an adrenalin rush. I’m strapped down tight in a Bell Jet helicopter two kilometers above the western coastline of British Columbia and I find myself hanging on to pretty much anything in the chopper to convince myself that flying through the air in a machine without wings is a […]