Better get tying!

What a wild wet winter it has been here in the South Island! Certainly not great fishing conditions and much better suited for going hunting and tying copious amounts of trout flies for summer usage. One person who keeps me constantly fired up about the outdoors is my father Stuart, who at a few months off 80 years of age, is still mad keen to get out there and to do it. Dad dragged my brother Scott and I all over the place when we were youngsters and this winter I’ve been trying to fulfil the duties of a good son by taking the old fella out, as payback for the wonderful NZ outdoor scene he introduced us to so many years ago. In three short hunts this winter, Stuart managed to shoot 13 deer and to fill his sons' freezers with prime wild meat to boot. The message is clear to me. Get out there and enjoy the outdoors, because age is no barrier to enjoyment and success.

FISHING FRIENDS & MENTORS

The covid era has been a funny old thing. Sure the world has changed dramatically on so many fronts, but in many ways not much has changed at all. One of life’s great enjoyments has always been fishing friends met along the way in this great fishing experiment called life. True friends are one of life’s social lubricants that allow us to find great joy in good times, and in bad, and fishing is just the glue that makes such relationships even more special. Recently I was sent a photo that was a blast from the past from old friend and professional photographer Leif Milling. Leif is one of Sweden’s best known fishing identities with untold books and magazine articles to his credit. He told me that he had found