Canterbury Flyfishing Locations

Canterbury’s Spectacular Back Country Fisheries.

Omarama – Twizel – Tekapo – Fairlie – Timaru

The diversity of Canterbury’s incredible Back Country Brown and Rainbow trout fisheries see this region as one of New Zealand’s leading fly-fishing destinations. A seemingly endless maze of valley systems winding rivers that sets the scenes for some epic fly-fishing excursions.  These world class trout fishing rivers paired with Canterbury’s  spectacular scenery of snow-capped alpine Ranges,  pristine native forest, and beautiful alpine snow grass vegetation places Canterbury’s Back Country high on the list of New Zealand’s finest trout fishing regions.  The experience, adventure and classical fly fishing in this pristine wilderness environment will humble you in every way, this is nature at its finest, listening to the early morning bird calls, standing in a crystal-clear stream fly-fishing to feeding trout, this is fly-fishing New Zealand

Fly fishing Canterbury’s Back Country, including the McKenzie Highlands and Mount Cook National Parklands

The dramatic landscapes of Canterbury’s rugged mountain ranges known as the Southern Alps sets the scene for many fishing locations within this picturesque region.  The townships of Omarama, Twizel, Tekapo, Fairlie and Timaru are our primary area of focus for our guided fly-fishing adventures and excursions, the high number of epic rivers surrounding these locations and outer boundaries offers amazing river variety to the guide and angler.

Mount Cook National Parklands

The park is a harsh land of ice and rock. Glaciers cover 40% of it. There are 19 peaks over 3,000 m including New Zealand’s highest mountain, Aoraki/Mount Cook… The glaciers that have helped shape the park’s landscape include five major valley systems: Godley, Murchison, Tasman, Hooker and Mueller.

There is incredible fishing within the Mount Cook National Park and outer territories, a couple of unnamed creeks would be on our very short list of New Zealand’s best trout fishing waters.

To experience the best of Canterbury’s Backcountry fly fishing be sure to book a guide.

Contact us at Glendeer for guides availability and recommendations. Fly fishing Guides for New Zealand’s South Omarama, Twizel, Tekapo, Fairlie and Timaru.

Methven – Hanmer Springs

There are several beautiful big rivers systems between Methven and Hanmer Springs, these large rivers along with their smaller tributary streams and stunning clear mountain creeks offer fantastic fly fishing. A number of the prime rivers in this location require serious four-wheel drive access, guides know when best to attempt accessing these remote streams. For guides availability and recommendations contact Jude at Glendeer.

Canterbury’s Beech Forest

The alpine forest areas in North Canterbury contain large number of Beech forest stands, when the Beech tree seeding occurs mouse numbers can explode and trout feeding on mice mostly at night  become very large, word quickly spreads when mice seasons are expected, certain streams regularly produce these oversized trout and guides, and anglers are quick to take up the opportunity at catching these super-sized trophy trout.

Methven has one of New Zealand’s best online fishing shops, contact Steve Gerard owner of www.flyshop.co.nz

Reefton, Murchison and the Nelson lakes district

The fly-fishing regions of Reefton, Murchison and Nelson Lakes has cemented their place as one of New Zealand’s finest trout fishing areas. Again, like most regions there are many fine trout streams to explore and fish throughout this beautiful district, the smaller streams are definitely a lot easier to navigate and fish as river crossings in the larger boundary rivers can be a little challenging, the best times to fish the bigger river systems are in lower flows.

Murchison is a town in the Tasman Region of the South Island of New Zealand. It is near the western end of the “Four Rivers Plain”, at the confluence of the Buller River.  Fly fishing around Murchison offers numerous productive and beautiful rivers. The native forest in this location ensures great insect life, dry fly fishing on hot still days is as good as it gets, time taken walking the river edges is essential for locating feeding trout, trout are easily walked past in these boundary rivers as the fish have plenty of prime cover to hide.  Guides know all too well how often trout hold prime feeding zones in these technical river systems, your guides knowledge of prime holding zones through the river will see you fishing to a good number of sighted fish as good conditions permit.

Nelson Lakes National Park is located in the South Island of New Zealand, covering some 1,019 square kilometer’s it is centered at two large lakes, Rotoiti and Rotorua. All of which offer great trout fishing options. The park includes a high good surrounding valleys and mountain ranges that are popular for camping, tramping, and fishing.