Tag Archive for: josh rokosch

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South Island Brown Trout 3/3

Read Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.  Well it’s been about six months or so since we were in New Zealand and it seems like forever ago.  Time is short as we are in the midst of hunting season so there won’t be much words for this final installment but be looking for some content to roll out around the New Year.  For now enjoy the photos and be looking for more here on the website and through our Instagram page.

new zealand, nz, fly fishing, brown trout, diy, bucknasty browns, huge browns, backcountry, fishing, helis

Hiking to the next zone

new zealand, nz, fly fishing, brown trout, diy, bucknasty browns, huge browns, backcountry, fishing, helis

Josh wrangling a cicada eater from a backcountry zone

new zealand, nz, fly fishing, brown trout, diy, bucknasty browns, huge browns, backcountry, fishing, helis

Starting the day off with a one hander

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Zack hooking up and about to get schooled by a backcountry brown trout

new zealand, nz, fly fishing, brown trout, diy, bucknasty browns, huge browns, backcountry, fishing, helis

What a specimen. Caught in a creek only two rods lengths wide.

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Long, wet hikes were the name of the game in the backcountry

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Front country sunrise

new zealand, nz, fly fishing, brown trout, diy, bucknasty browns, huge browns, backcountry, fishing, helis, worm hatch, worm

Hatch of the day boys!

new zealand, nz, fly fishing, brown trout, diy, bucknasty browns, huge browns, backcountry, fishing, helis

Josh with his biggest brown of the trip and life

new zealand, nz, fly fishing, brown trout, diy, bucknasty browns, huge browns, backcountry, fishing, helis

Exploring a wild, tiny creek with big browns

new zealand, nz, fly fishing, brown trout, diy, bucknasty browns, huge browns, backcountry, fishing, helis, zack boughton, new zealand browns

Zack with his personal best and the biggest weight fish of our trip

–Zack Boughton

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South Island Brown Trout 2/3

nz, new zealand, fly fishing, diy, backcountry, brown trout, south island

Read the first part of this series HERE.  After a few weeks on the island we had put some great fish in the net but conditions had been tough.  The rivers had blown out twice and most of the fishable days had overcast skies which made spotting tough in lots of the water we were fishing.  We pushed through and made the best of it.  We spent some time fishing the flats for kingfish which was a wild experience.  I think we were a few weeks behind on timing and it seems that the locals feel the fishery is getting heavily pressured and there’s some shady tactics being used by guides with boats.  We had a good time despite few kingfish sightings and wen’t back to town before being flow deep into the backcountry.

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Headed into the abyss, and hopefully home to many big brown trout.

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NZ flats tugger

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Headed out in search of kingfish

nz, new zealand, fly fishing, diy, backcountry, brown trout, south island, flats, ocean, kingfish

Kahawai headed back to go smash baitfish

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Target spotted. Clear water made it easy to see fish but harder to catch.

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Teamwork as Zack tries to bring a brown trout to the net.

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A medium sized backcountry brown. A hell of a fighter though.

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The longest and arguably the prettiest fish of our trip to NZ.

nz, new zealand, fly fishing, diy, backcountry, brown trout, south island

Josh making light work of a bank side brown trout.

nz, new zealand, fly fishing, diy, backcountry, brown trout, south island, josh rokosch

This day we got worked for hours until Josh picked the right bug and flawlessly drifted it until this brown took.

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Chasing brown trout in big water meant a slip was inevitable.

nz, new zealand, fly fishing, diy, backcountry, brown trout, south island

Got him netted baby!

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Small guy but big engine.

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1st fish after the heli drop. Stoke was HIGH

The backcountry was amazing but the fishing was tough!  Coming that late in the season meant that the easy to see fish were insanely spooky and picky on flies.  We all got into beautiful fish but our hookup to sighting percentage was definitely in the single digits.  Finding fast water and taking extra time to try to spot fish in that water made things easier as it seemed these fish hadn’t been pressured as much.  Be looking for Part 3 soon.

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New Zealand Tahr Hunt – Day 2

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new zealand tahr hunt, tahr hunting, nz, south island, free range, montana wild, film, video, New Zealand Tahr Hunt - Day 2

Tahr Camp – Day 2

New Zealand Tahr Hunt – Day 2 started with the crew sleeping in till just after sunrise.  With one bull in camp we felt confident in saving our energy for another solid evening hunt.  Travis finished up taking care of his hide and skull as the guys fixed up a mean lunch of more tahr meat, potatoes, and onions.

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Lunch is going to be protein packed!

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Mmmmmmmmm

After filling our bellies and taking a quick snooze in the sun we loaded the packs and started our trek back up the valley.

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Ben going for it.

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August keeps tabs on “one horn”

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A small group descending to the lower grassy faces

This afternoon we decided to go up the opposite side of the head of the valley.  We wanted to look further back into the end of the drainage.  After getting in position we started picking out tahr all across the upper half of the mountain.  A few hours later and a small band of tahr had fed to within 50 yards before winding us and moving off.  We had spotted a cool looking one horned bull up high on the mountain.  His cape swirled and billowed in the wind and we knew he was a mature bull.  After telling Josh I’d shoot him if he didn’t he decided this would be his bull to make a move on.  After watching him move lower and lower it was time to make a move to get into shooting position.  Josh and Ben set off while myself and August held back and kept an eye on him.  Within twenty minutes of the guys being gone the bull had dropped so low we could no longer see him.  Just a few minutes later we heard a shot echo through the valley.  We picked up our packs and quickly hustled up the drainage to see what had taken place.

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Josh and his old bull tahr

As we caught up to the guys Josh was admiring his first tahr.  A unique and old one horned beast.  We quickly shot photos as light faded and again we had a long packout in the dark followed by another dinner of backstrap and cold beers.

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Ben wondering what the story behind old one horn was

Want to see how close the bull got before Josh took his shot?  Watch the following as we take you through Day 2 of our hunt!

Special thanks to Ben and August and if you’re interested in hunting any big game animals free range in New Zealand definitely hit up Ben at his website > www.bghnz.co.nz/

Written by : Zack Boughton

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