I learned to fly fish 23 years ago, on the beautiful Bundara River at Anglers Rest in North East Victoria. The learning process took a while, as I lived in Brisbane but I enjoyed the rugged beauty of Australia’s south east and the romance of pursuing the wily brown trout with a fly rod. […]
Places to go, Rivers to Fish
Wetting a line in Rugby Territory
John Black – Fly fishing Cape Town, South Africa If Rugby Union is indeed the sport for thugs played by gentlemen, then fly fishing in small streams for nervous trout would have to qualify as the recreational activity for mugs, albeit played by the same gentlemen. And did I mention gentlemen and their love of […]
Men Carrying Rods
Twelve years ago at a Vancouver airport lounge, a tall Prussian looking gentleman strode past me, carrying a four piece fly rod tube. At the time, I was carrying a six piece fly rod tube, so we started talking, as fly fishermen tend to do in out of the way places. Herbert by then was in […]
Australia’s Statistical Research Hub
At ADS last year we were head down and tail up with statistical profiling of churches, finance companies, the 2010 Australian election, the ABS monthly unemployment survey and several private schools. By last November (or Movember as you may be able to detect from my dreadful moustache at right) I finally escaped to Anglers Rest in Victoria, […]
Creel Lodge
I discovered Creel Lodge about 20 years ago and I keep coming back. It’s called a lodge and although it doesn’t have the traditional lodge styled dining and lounge areas, I love it. It’s right on the mighty Tongariro, the best fly fishing river in the world for libidinous steelhead on their winter spawning run […]
College’s Crossing 2005
Fishing College’s Crossing 2005 Half an hour from Brisbane’s CBD, Mount Crosby Road crosses the Brisbane River. It’s a little bridge just north of Ipswich, called College’s Crossing. There’s a picnic and recreation ground, plenty of clean water for kids to splash in … and there’s fish. My intrepid fishing mate and I headed out […]
Bundara River Summer 2005
Hopper Magic on the Bundara It was late afternoon and we were only an hour from the Bundara River when the wind blew up and the high country hoppers began pelting our car windscreen. The fate of the hapless hoppers notwithstanding, it was a welcome sight for a couple of dedicated fly fishermen. Like the […]
The Mighty Sturgeon – Canada 2000
The end of the heavy game rod dips slowly, as 30 metres below in the chilly Fraser River near Vancouver, a prehistoric monster of the deep delicately extends its hideous mouth over a dainty package of salmon eggs. I grab the rod, point down close to the water and wait. The next hit is slow […]
Down and Dirty on the Delegate River 2005
If fire fighters were gun fighters Delegate River would be Australia’s OK Corral. Delegate River Tavern was the rallying point in early 2003, when fire fighters from around the world converged to contain the deadly firestorm which swept from north east Victoria into the Alpine Parks and border country of NSW, and then flared up […]
Tongariro Late Summer 2005
Wherever you live in the world, there are only three things you need to catch a six-pound trout: a passport, a Taupo district fishing license, and some cash to get there. The action varies a little, but the big fish are there all year around. Most overseas anglers – from Australia, the USA or the […]