Video review: New Zealand Trophy Waters
I'm watching a guy wading an ice cold snow melt water stream in New Zealand as I write this. On a video of course (or should that be unfortunatly?).
There are several things about this guy: first of all he is wearing shorts and some sort of long blue stockings underneath. And it is the openening day in melt water. Man, that must be cold!
Secondly he is catching fish. Big fish! And beautiful. The one he is releasing right now must be at least 8 lbs. if not 10!
And the water is gin clear and the settings are so breathtaking that it is beyond description. The gorges are deep, the fish are huge and pictures are stunning.
This video is callled New Zealand Trophy Waters Volume 3, and I have seen it at least five times. The same goes for its predecessor Volume 2. These videos are made by the New Zealand production company called Deep Stream Production, headed by Bruce Masson.
Right now they are preparing for the second early season morning, and pouring warm water over their boots to remove the ice! Still in shorts and nylons!
Seeing this footage of large trout in deep streams rising to nymphs - naturals and artificials - really stirs my appetite to go to New Zealand, which has always been a dream destination for me.
The videos each consist of several parts, showing particular types of fishing and teaching you how to tie certain flies or rig your fly rod for this type of fishing. There is both nymph and dry fly fishing and many, many scenes of large fish being landed and released again.
The average sizes of fish that we see here are quite amazing, and a friend who is an experienced New Zealand fisher, seriously doubted that these were actually caught as numerous and rapidly as is shown, but I have no reason at all to agree with him. On several stretches you see more than one trophy size trout feeding in the same scene and many scenes show fish clearly in the water, show a fisher casting to it, show the hookup and the landing. A moment later the scenario is repeated just a bit further up or down the river. Just the title of the coming section "Trout Lined Up" indicates the abundance of fish. In howling winds and shorts (this time with no nylons) the angler Robbie McPhee lands a few more huge fish in an open part of a large, beautiful, rough but still extremely clear river. He deliberately keeps the fish in the shallows in order not to spook the other fish in the same pool! Then returns to get "that other lad" and spots four other fish lined up. You can see the shadows of them on the video. Robbie continues to catch more fish. And all of them are large - and extremely bautiful.
These videos have definitely given me even more appetite to go. I must try that some day!
With a mix of different types of fishing - stream and lake, brown trout and sea trout - fly tying, casting and the odd tip, these videos supply a nice look on NZ fishing as well as fly fishing in general.
Anybody with just the slightest taste for New Zealand should see them and all fly fishers are bound to enjoy them immensely.
The videos are NZ$ 40.- a piece. All three volumes are available for 105 NZ dollars. That is about 65 US dollars or 55 Euros. Add some postage, and you have a bargain.
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Comments
If you watch any or
If you watch any or all of the 7 available videos in this set and do not immediately book a trip to NZ you are not a fly fisher.