We've just received shipment of our new Sightfree Extreme Fluorocarbon tippet material. To make it all simple to understand this product is the best quality fluorocarbon available on the market for fly fishing and we have it under the Airflo brand for the New Zealand market.

This is why we added it to our range.

1. This is the best stuff in the world hands down, we can't tell you who makes it for us, but we can tell you that all the best fluorocarbon comes from Japan. This stuff is the highest quality available from the best factory available. With a bit of negotiation, sushi eating and head bowing we now have it in our range and with that in mind we are very lucky.

2. This stuff is super supple. the only down side of fluorocarbon is that it is stiff. The new Extreme is very supple and feels in the hand more like a coploymer. The resul is your flies will move a lot more naturally in the water.

3. This stuff is really clear. you only have to look at this stuff in your hand and you'll notice it's much clearer than other fluorocarbons.

4. It's tough. The way the manufacturer explains it, this extreme material is much purer than other fluorocarbons and as a result the bonds are much stronger within the material, the result is it is super strong.

So in summary, this new fluorocarbon is awesome This is what I'll be using for sure. We still sell G3 as it is a great price and so many anglers are confident with it. Also we will still run our copolymer as it's still going to be the best for tiny dries and again a lot of anglers love this material.

The new material is going to be a $34.99 for a 50m spool which is a little more expensive than G3 that is $24.99 for 50m. However as many of our competitors sell their 25 and 30m spools for $25 Sightfree Extreme is still going to be extremely well priced and of course much higher quality.

The Tongariro river in Turangi is still producing some nice browns. A few anglers are picking these fish up nymphing but those persisting with bigger flies and sinking lines are coming up with the results.

Here Andrew Shuster from Taupo's Hunting and Fishing - Fly and Gun Store shows us how it's done with a cracking brown taken on a large conehead woolly bugger

The two handed rods like the Scott A3 Switch that Andrew has been using has some big advantages over a standard single handed rod when it comes to fishing large flies on sinking lines in these bigger rivers. In my mind the biggest benefit is that it makes it so easy and as a result you'll find it effortless to put in a long day on the river.

Here Gary Lyttle also from Hunting and Fishing Taupo shows us how its done with a per fect Snap T Cast. Notice the water spray as he makes his load off the water.

If you haven't thought of it yet, it would be worth having a chat with the guys at Hunting and Fishing in Taupo next time you are through about how to go about fishing two handed rods, Gary and Andrew have really taken their time this year to figure these rods out and have been using them with great success.

With winter now well and truly upon us it's time to bring out those egg patterns again as the trout start getting used to natural eggs entering the drift. Last year we launched a bunch of new egg patterns onto the market and anglers have been reporting some great catches already this season. So our words of advice are, don't just stick to the traditional glo bug patterns. Our flies look and feel a lot more realistic to the trout and as a result really work well.

In this picture you can see our Otters Soft Milking Eggs in amoungst a bunch of real trout eggs. Still rather fish a glo bug?

Now these are the original fish killers. Made with a soft bead, these guys actually feel like a trout egg. And once they are wet the fine white veil forms the perfect imitation of milt over the eggs. Available in two sizes 12 and 14's. The 14's are by far the most productive but the #12's are worth having on hand if the river starts to colour. Available in 3 colours, they all work. Change the colour if fishing slows up and often fish will take a fresh look at your fly.

Our epoxy eggs are made with Tungsten beads so these are perfect for deep pools or pocket water where an unweighted fly will ride up off the bottom. For 2010 we've also launched these in size 8 with a 4.7mm Tungsten bead which works really well as a bomb.

The cluster. We put this in the range as it's a great fly to fish down and accross on a wetline. A few guys also use these at the stream mouths off a dropper with a booby on the point. The booby holds both of the flies off the bottom and the cluster just looks so tasty they ofetn get eaten first.

I'd heard all of the good reports about how well the Tongariro and other Taupo tributaries are fishing this year, so headed down to get my first fix for the winter.

As it turned out the Tongariro was blown out for the day, but my guess is from Friday onwards it will be on fire and certainly will be a hot spot for the weekend. So we headed for the Tauranga Taupo (TT) to thrash out the two handers and some big egg sucking leech streamers.

At this stage in the fight I'd just realised this was the first brown I'd seen in the Tauranga Taupo River.

Yip, it's a brownie that fell for an egg sucking leech. Who said brown's only like dull patterns? Give them some credit!

There is no better way to fish these big flies and heavy sink tips than on a 2-handed rod. It's super easy and ultra efficient.

Over the weekend my brother and I joined a few friends to fish Lake Otamangakau before it closes. In addition to a few inches of rain over the two days we got stuck into a bunch of great rainbows.

I could have sworn this fish was going to be a brown, caught out of a foot of water. We spotted this fish's bow waves in the shallows ambushed it with a small unweighted seal's fur bugger and to our surprise ended up dragging this big rainbow into the net.

As always it's good to hang out with the bro. And it was great to be driven around for the weekend on his new boat.

Palmy's Greig Cousins boated a stack of big fish as usual including a brown over 7lb's. Here he show's one of the many rainbows taken for the weekend on the line of choice a fast intermediate and either an orange or black beaded woolly bugger.

With the rivers coming into their own now and the lakes closing this was our last chance to tuck into these big rainbows. This fish came out of deeper water by letting the fast intermediate sink a little deeper again with a black bead skinny bugger.

Now after all of that rain it's time to start hitting the Tongariro and other lake Taupo tributaries. Early signs are the fishery is coming back to it's former self with plenty of fish above 2kg to be found.