When we started Manic above all we wanted to find a bunch of brands that had outstanding products that would stop and make you smile. So when we came accross Hatch there was never really any question.

One of the issues in the New Zealand market is Hatch are often compared to a bunch of Chinese or Korean made reels that quite frankly are not of the same standard. We sell a bunch of these lower priced reels under other brands. What's important is these reels are priced appropriately. One of the issues in the market is a bunch of the low cost reels are coming out by big name brands at very high prices. Are the other other reels good enough? Yes/Except for when it comes to chasing trophy trout, monster Kingfish, or when planning the trip of a life time chasing bonefish. It's under these circumstances that a product like Hatch exceeds and is not just nice, it's necessary. You'll notice that Scott rods don't bring out a bunch of high priced reels under their brand instead they focus on making great rods. Similarly the sole focus of hatch is making the best reels and that's exactly what they do!

Anyway Hatch have just launched a new website which is worth checking out,

Also you might want to view these motorbike tests done on Hatch reels on You Tube. These will make you laugh!

Motorbike test on 9 Plus

Motorbike test on 3 Plus

Also check out our blog post when we first received these reels last year.

Lastly Chris Beech from Australia reviewed the Hatch reels in Fly Life Magazine a few months ago.

In summary Hatch fly reels make you smile.

As the fishing season kicks on, it's easy to get complacent that you're catching enough fish and that you've figured it out. Maybe, just maybe you're missing something.

For me the attraction to fly fishing is trying to perfect the unperfectable. We generally all know the fact that we won't know it all, and that we'll always have the odd curve ball thrown at us by the weather and/or the fish. What very few of us do is actively go out of our way to spice up our own fishing by learning and trying new techniques.

Here are a few idea's to improve your fishing experience and put you at the leading edge of the learning curve.

1. Call Chris

As a good starting point, there are a bunch of great guides out there like Chris Dore. A  guy like Chris can not only give you a great day on the water fishing somewhere new, he can also help you to improve your casting skills, show you how better to read water, give you a new point of view on fly selection ..... the list goes on. Anyway you get the point right? Letting a guy like Chris into your fishing world will improve your skills and your fishing will never be the same again.

2. Go see Mike

Mike Davis is an owner in the Hunting and Fishing store in Rotorua. What's important to note is that Mike is one of the best fly fisher's in New Zealand. So when you go into his store not only do you get to see a bunch of cool tackle. You get the right advice to back it up. Mike wont just sell you any rod he'll find the right one to suit your needs. So what's the difference? The fact that a guy like Mike spends his spare time on the rivers, is a really big deal, in a day and age when there is more gear than any of us would ever need the most important thing in getting the right product is someone with a good understanding of what is available and what will best suit your needs.

3. Compete with Yoshi, you know you want to

One of the great ways I improved my fishing skills was entering fly fishing competitions. I was suddenly in a bunch of different fishing situations where I needed to figure out how to catch fish. Yoshi from New Markets Rod and Reel is a great competition angler and will be able to let you know how you can get into competition fishing and how to gear yourself up to be successful.

4. Read Zane's stuff

Zane Mirfin is New Zealand's most published Fly Fishing writer and photographer. What's more is Zane is a phenominal angler and guide, we fished together at the start of the season and Zane totally showed me up. What was great is I learnt a lot and now really take time to read every word  Zane writes. So check out Fish and Game magazine and any of Zanes books and take note, this guy knows what he's talking about.

5. It's all about people

As you can see from this it's all about the getting in touch with the right people and learning what you can from them. And there are a bunch of great guys and girls around the country that you can learn from. The most important thing you can do is make sure you are up for change. Remember if you spend 20 years doing the same thing every day you still end up with just one days experience.There is too much to learn is so little time you'd better get cracking.

And if you can't get our right now, then click here to have a look at some of my articles to get you going.