Kia Ora and Welcome,
My name is Serge A Bonnafoux. I am a long-standing member of New Zealand Professional Fly Fishing Guide Association.
I have been fly fishing in New Zealand since 1992 and started guiding in 2002.
As the demand for travel and fly fishing is high, I do encourage you to consider confirming reservations early in order to book the trip you hope for.
Fly fishing in New Zealand has earned its reputation as the global sight-fishing capital. An island nation with a spine of towering mountains that rise up from the Tasman and Pacific, the landscape is predicated on rock and water. The heavy rains that come during our winter months continues the scouring of rock that has been ongoing for thousands of years. There is little sedimentation in our waters and it simply rains or mountain snows melt and runs off. Most of our mountain rivers are gin-clear and while trout can look extremely different through different water types, we can find them with a long well-trained eye. From there it is a game of teamwork. I set pace, look for trout and communicate with you. We talk each fish through and ensure we are on the same page as to what the trout is doing, what the best set up for that particular fish is and what approach and presentation is best. Each trout is a fun, engaging project that we decipher together – and then you make the cast! We seldom prospect the water. We almost always, always hunt our trout and work together – it’s a great game!
The video below was filmed on a lower elevation, east coast stream that is a little more tannic as it flows through farmlands. But while a little tannic, it is extremely clear.