Months of preparation both researching maps and also flies. The final organization takes place just days before we leave.

Travel was about 14 hours from Bozeman to NZ. Not bad considering we were leaving winter and headed to brown trout paradise.

Flying in and seeing river after river made what once was a dream now a reality.

Day 1 on the river and this was Fish #1. Life was more than good!

Next Level Stoke

Zack’s 2nd fish of Day 2. We started the trip off hot and thought this was going to be the daily occurrence. Rain had bumped the creek and a streamer sealed the deal on the hike out.

We soon found out that we were going to see unusual amounts of rain for this time of year. Blown rivers, wet gear, and minimal dry fly fishing made some days tougher than others.

Fishing on the front of an impending cyclone. Beautiful water but no fish this day.

Dry fly eater after almost a week of down time. Rivers clear fast after big rains and a risk to hike deep into the backcountry paid off.

Upriver in search of more hungry browns.

Trails in New Zealand don’t always exist even though they are supposed to. Having wet feet is pretty much a necessity even when there is a trail. Fortunately the rewards are always worth the effort.

Cicada smasher. We missed the best part of the hatch but still found a few eager to look up and take the big dry fly.