(originally published in Tail #30 – July/August 2017)

Chasing yellowtail kingfish is as challenging as it gets. They are apex predators, and at a special time of year they roam the flats of New Zealand tearing ferociously through baitfish schools like nothing you’ve ever seen, offering ample opportunities to catch them on a fly rod.

For years, I had been talking to Alex Waller about heading to New Zealand to experience the mayhem and see firsthand what Alex and his crew had going on with their tag-and-release kingfish program. I talked my good friend Ben into tagging along and we packed our gear and jumped on the big metal bird for a short three hour flight.

After landing and packing the car full of gear, we hit the road for the next six hours. The drive was remarkable: the New Zealand countryside is breathtaking, with huge rolling mountains and crystal clear rivers. We felt like we had stepped off the plane and straight into Jurassic Park, thankfully minus the dinosaurs.

Once we had crossed the mountain range and had the flats in our sights in the distance, we were like fat kids in a cake shop. We made it to the cabin just as dusk approached, and it was time to go through the usual ritual, pulling all the gear out and spending the night rigging up for the week’s adventures. After catching up over a few Sailor Jerrys and getting everything ready to go, it was lights out. The next morning couldn’t come fast enough and we were all up after less than five hours of sleep. After a few cups of strong coffee and some cigarettes, we jumped in Alex’s whip and headed to the flats as light came over the long sandy straits of Golden Bay, the anticipation building with the rising sun.

We were armed with 9 and 10-weight rods loaded with floating lines, and Alex was nice enough to bring us to one of his favorite spots first thing in the morning. As the tide started to roll out, we made our way into the water and onto the flat, looking for stingrays flapping their broad wings over the sand, leaving muddy trails behind them. The kingfish are known to follow the stingrays as they feed, because the stingrays stir up extra baitfish and crabs, providing a potentially easy meal. Upon spotting a ray, we had to move quickly across the flat and make as long of a cast as possible. Sometimes with the wind you have to make the shot really fast; once the rays see you, they are off like a light and you can say goodbye to any kingfish behind them. When it all comes together and you see three or four green backs swimming aggressively towards you in a meter of water while hunting down your fly, you know it’s going to be fish on. The fastest fish hits the fly hard and fast, and the next 25 to 40 minutes are pure mayhem.

Upon getting a fish to hand, it was time to tag and release it. Alex and his friend Paul Mills from Revolution Fly Fishing New Zealand established a great tagging program, wanting more information about where these fish went, what they were doing once they left the flats, and how far they were traveling before being recaptured (or whether they stayed in the same general location). This was a truly valuable part of our experience on the trip. With over 150 kingfish tagged and released (at the time of writing) and 10 fish recaptured and released to fight another day, the project is a great way to learn more about these bruisers and assist in conservation efforts.

After spending a few days roaming the flats in search of these predators, it was clear that the guys had stumbled across something that would keep anglers coming back year after year. The fishing is amazing, but the backdrop that surrounds it–from green mountain ranges to the vast flats–makes this place a small piece of heaven, and provides an experience that will stick with you. After a few crazy encounters with these “hoods,” it was clear to me how much angling ability and fitness plays into it. Running through waist deep water just to get close enough to the rays and get your shot at a fish is very physically challenging, but provides for some insane fishing moments that won’t be forgotten.

After a few days of great conditions and even better fishing, the weather gods decided to rain down on our party. The temperature dropped over 10 degrees and it rained non-stop for three straight days. We had few other options, so it was off to the local pub to take over the pool tables and pass the time. The next day, we awoke to 25-plus mile per hour winds and strong rains. With relatively low expectations, we packed up the gear and headed out to the flats, just to see how bad the conditions really were. Sleeping in could have been a better option. The water had turned over and it was muddy as hell. Since we were already out, we headed over the range to a remote little bay with some sheltered flats and bays that looked fishy.

We pulled up to some cool looking water, and as the tide turned and the water started to move, we could see schools of baitfish getting harassed by kingfish. We couldn’t believe our luck as we pulled the gear out. We put some flies in the water, and within a few minutes had raised a few fish and felt better about our chances. Ben got lucky and got the first eat to break the skunk, and we managed a few more fish in some pretty poor conditions. We spent the last hours of the tide casting at the local kahawai, all while enjoying a few beers and some laughs about the ups and downs of the week.

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The post Tag, You’re It! first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post Tag, You’re It! appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

 When Australian fly fisherman Matthew Daniel headed to New Zealand in early March 2017 it was for one purpose; to sample the world class flats fly fishing for Yellowtail Kingfish aka Seriola lalandi lalandi. New Zealand is likely the only place on Earth where at certain times of the year, these apex predators venture into the shallows and patrol water below the knee line. This is when they become premier fly fishing targets and “kings” from 5lbs to 50lbs have been caught in mere inches of water.

As Matt outlined to me during a correspondence, he would normally head to NZ for the world class trout fishing on offer here and in that he is not alone.  It is no secret that as a fly fishing destination New Zealand offers some of the best sight fishing on the planet. Top that off with the diversity of the natural settings and proximity to other outdoor activities in the small towns and cities and you can see why it is up there with Patagonia, Argentina or Alaska on a touring fly flingers “to do” list. This makes the activity a healthy earner for the NZ economy and something  that has no doubt helped put the tourism dollar ahead of the primary industries dollar for the first time in recent years. Add this newly discovered saltwater fly fishing experience to the list and you have something extra and iconic to the New Zealand fly fishing scene that those other destinations cannot offer.

Matt didn’t come alone in this adventure, he brought three other keen fly fishing mates with him to throw chicken feathers in the salt in the hope of hooking a yellow and green freight train.

What Matt didn’t know is that a few months before he arrived, fly fishing guide Alex Waller was guiding a client who caught a kingfish in the same area Matt was bound for. The fish was tagged and released. The tagging was undertaken as part of a pilot tagging operation initiated by myself. The program is focused on those kings that dwell in the shallow water environments around NZ and sought out by fly anglers wanting to experience world class sight fishing. You can read about it here -> Project TagAKingOnFly. These fish have not previously been part of mainstream tagging operations and not a lot is really known about their movements. Generally speaking they are smaller fish but their value as a flats target to a fly angler is priceless. Priceless may not be the right term anymore, read on.

Back to early March 2017. Matt Daniel and his fly fishing party have arrived in Aotearoa and are headed to their destination in search of the king. I’m not going to make this another fishing tale flooded with metaphors to get you in the moment. The guts is chicken feathers were flung and yellowtail kingfish were caught and released. Sizes of fish ranged between 62 to 82cm and all brought their captors big smiles and great memories. One fish however was special. On one day, with one cast, Matt Daniel hooked into a 77cm king that had a surprise for him. It had a tag in it. Matt recorded the information on the tag and after a few photos, released the fish back home. Turns out this was the fish that Alex had tagged a few months before.

Matt Daniel and his piece of Gold.

When Matt contacted me about the fish I was keen to know what he came to New Zealand for and what he estimated he spent on his trip.  I’ve covered off why he came here in the opening line. Matt  looked into the costing for the trip and estimated each angler  would have spent about $2500 NZD. That’s a total spend of 10 parts to a piano or in simple terms, $10,000 NZD.

There is no doubt a good portion of that money would have filtered through to the local community where they visited and spent their time fly fishing. A community of around 400 people that is new to the activity of saltwater fly fishing has seen the economic impact on local tourism and if more stories similar to Matt’s become common place that will grow. Recalling that this is the same fish that has been caught twice now by a touring angler as the tag has proved. It is still swimming around, ready to earn again like it’s freshwater cousin the brown trout that draws many international fly fishing tourism dollars to our shores. Maybe we can start to put a price on this fish now?

A previously tagged and released kingfish makes another anglers trip.

With growing pressure on every primary resource in New Zealand and a shift [hopefully] towards community based management of some of these resources it is not hard to see how this scenario benefits stakeholders in small towns around New Zealand. Fly fishers traditionally have strong views of conserving angling resources and many fly fishing ecotourism destinations have come about due to the activity. In my opinion conserving fly fishing ecotourism should be at the table when decisions around Yellowtail Kingfish management and their habitats in particular are being made. Learning more about this group of kings is part of that story.

Thanks Matthew Daniel for coming to New Zealand with your fly fishing mates. Thanks for sharing your story and glad you experienced some of the best of New Zealand fly fishing.

The post Yellowtail Kingfish: The Gold That Keeps Giving first appeared on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.

The post Yellowtail Kingfish: The Gold That Keeps Giving appeared first on Tail Fly Fishing Magazine.