The Hurunui is a river I'd always wanted to fish. It's full of big browns and has a much bigger fish than most of the Canterbury rivers. Back in March I spent a day up the River with an old friend of mine Kyle Adams. Over the years Kyle and I have spend a bit of time together but we'd never managed to get on the water together until this day. Kyle spent a few years working as a guide out of the West Coasts Cedar Lodge, after the first pool is was easy to see why Kyle had done so well at Cedar he's an excellent angler, plus also from a guiding point of view Kyle has eagle eyes and he certainly saw and caught a lot more fish than me that day.

I had with me as usual some new gear to try out, of particular interest was the new Scott S4 fly rod. I had heard about these rods from friends in the US and thought the 9' #6 would be a good back country rod. We caught fish on the dry, heavy nymphs and at times battled a gusty wind and the S4 seemed to handle it all. Imporantly for me it seemed a lot lighter in the hand than what I had been used to and after a long day on the river this was a God send.

Like all South Island rivers the water clarity of the Huranui is breathtaking. The river winds its way through deep gorges, beach forest and open pasture, every piece of which is breathtaking., I just can't wait to get back.