The Season has ended and Winter has set in.
I don’t think we have had a week without rain since Winter arrived.
The last few weeks of the season were fairly quiet as the trout had more important things on their minds besides feeding.
I have gone off chasing the Spawners over the last few seasons as I have seen way too many people hitting them hard and not putting enough effort into seeing that they are doing well enough to swim away.

Regardless of the last few weeks leading into the Close of Season being quiet due to Spawning activity and mating mindset of the fish;  It has been another great one.

From the beginning of September we have been catching some beautiful fish in both smaller streams and the rivers.
Nymphs as usual did the most damage throughout the season but the Dries were getting good attention once the season warmed up and insects were on The Wing.
Emergers and small Dunns did well on the smoother runs where we found fish sipping but the Big Bad & Uglies really accounted for some fantastic fish.
Big snouts coming up through the faster deeper runs and sipping these big flies under.  The line pulling up tight on these monsters and the bend in the rod always puts a smile on my face and an increase in my heart rate.

Some great Bush Bashing saw us getting into some stunning mountain streams where the fish were active and the surprising stonker was found.
More Rainbow trout have been getting caught this season and there were some good sized ones coming to hand which has been better than previous years.
I have been using Glass Rods more and more of late and am really enjoying the slowing down of the casting style and the amount of bend I can put into the rod when fighting fish.
Even though they are softer than the Graphite rods it is amazing the amount of force/hurt you can put onto a fish without something going BANG.
As a result of a lot of my fishing reports and pictures I have been getting more and more clients interested in trying the Glass over the Graphite fly rods and many have been pleasantly surprised at the ease of casting and the fun of the fight with the Glass on some nicer fish.
I would probably sell just as many Glass fly rods these days as I do the Graphite rods.
With the growing number of beginners to this style of fishing I have been putting more and more Fly Fishing Packages together which has more than enough in them for the fisher to head out and flyfish on their own.
Rod, reel, backing, fly line, leaders, tippets, fly box with assorted flies, nippers and forceps on a Zinger, floatant and chest pack to carry the gear.
I love it when I get a random text with a happy fisher holding a nice fish that they caught on their own.
It makes it all worth the long days out on the streams teaching and guiding!

It is always great to see regular clients back and wanting to learn new skills and explore different waters in search of that “Big One” or to hone their skills for an upcoming trip to Tasland or across the Ditch to NZ and hear of their stories where the Got It Right and hooked into good fush.

My ever growing online store has been ticking over and more products are being added as I go through the process of testing them out to see if they will do what they are supposed to do before adding them to the store.
Not everything makes the cut but what does is tough and gives good bang for the buck.
The Snowy Creek Chameleon Tippet Material is definitely one of the best things I have found.
The strength for the diameter is  just incredible.  It is because of these attributes that we say :  “Stupid Fine-Stupid Strong”.
If you have tried it; you know what I am talking about.
If you have not tried it yet:  Get some and you will be pleasantly surprised and impressed.

There are a few of my tried and proven flies also listed for sale.  I have small amounts of them on hand but more often than not; I have to tie to order. Allow a week depending on how busy my workload is at the time but I will get them done and sent ASAP.  I only send them registered mail which costs a little more but at least they can be tracked and will arrive.
I only use top quality materials in my flies and therefore cost more than the Kenyan tied flies but they last many fish over and in the end work out cheaper (unless you loose them in a tree) Look before you cast as it saves lots of heartache, time and money.

Bookings are starting to come in for the New Season and I will be doing a lot of Early Season Exploring to make sure that my clients have the best chance of getting amongst good fish.

Get in and book yourself a day or few early season so you are ready to be your best and have a brilliant 2023/2024 Trout Season.

If you have any questions; please feel free to drop me a line (pun intended) to chat further.

Cheers for now and I hope to see you in the New Season.

Tight Lines;  Scottie

Another one to The Stickie