I spent most of last week drifting down one of the North Islands great back country rivers. Rowed, fed, watered and looked after by Ian Ruthven from Absolutely Angling. All in aid of a new TV show for Australia's Fox Sports called Adventure Fishing.

Thanks also to the guys at Heli Sika for getting us into the right water, with all of our gear (three trips worth).

The film crew were awesome on this trip Auckland's Matt Meikle was on the camera and Cat from Sydney on sound (sorry again to Cat for drowning the $1,000 radio mic)

Micah Adams is the Host/Star of the show. A great alround angler that has fished extensively throughout the globe with a fly rod and every other method known to man.

Micah hooks up at the head of a run.

I'm not sure why I was on the show, but I wasn't complaining.

I'm still not sure why I was on the show, I didn't even manage to catch much. I certainly didn't catch anything here.

That said, there are worse things to do than throw some loops around one of our back country rivers with a bunch of mates.

Ok, I must have caught something. The rainbows this year were absolutely on steroids, packed full of energy and really difficult to handle in the fast water.

The weapons of choice: a Davis BC Stonefly trailed by either a Death Metal Pheasant tail or a Mirfz BLT Nymph.

With this much camera gear and fishing tackle we needed a guard dog for the trip. So thanks to Bella for all of the hard work and entertainment.

Ian Ruthven knows the rivers he guides intimately, here Ian points out the likely holding water to Micah.

A glass of wine, a camp fire and an evening rise. The perfect end to a day on the river.

Wilderness float trips like this are truly a trip of a lifetime and a must do trip for a bunch of mates or a father and son. Ian Ruthven is the perfect host, he appreciates good food and goes out of his way to make your experience pleasurable.

And what energy Ian doesn't expend setting up camp, cooking and guiding he expells providing a safe but exciting rafting experience on some of NZ's most stunning rivers.

For more information about Ian Ruthven and Absolutely Angling then check out his website HERE. If you get a chance make sure you book a trip with Ian, this is an experience not to be missed and impossible to properly do on your own.

And remember to keep an eye out for Adveture Fishing due to start screening on Fox Sports in late February in Australia.

Summer is a little delayed, in case you haven't noticed. So if you're a once a year Christmas holidays angler you may find things a little different this year. Different, maybe! But most likely, it's going to be much much better. Take a look at the results from a couple of days walking one of the North Islands lake egdes for Greig Cousins and Simon Chu. (All photo credits Greig Cousins and Simon Chu)

Greig Cousins hoists a lunker from the shallows. These fish are taken on #4 and #5 weight rods, proving you don't need heavy tackle for NZ's lakes. In fact these light rods are ideal for picking out spooky browns from the shallows.

Simon Chu, showing that his South Island stalking skills work a treat in the North Island too.

A cracking rainbow that fell to a redhead damsel. Rainbows often work slightly deeper water, so taking your time to work a fly through holes in the weedbeds can be surprisingly rewarding.

Not all stillwater nymphs are tiny. These bulky dragonfly nymphs are commonplace on NZ lakes and are easily imitated with a small olive or brown woolly bugger.

As always when you have limited time to fish this Christmas, make sure you think of something different to do so you can get away from the masses and reap rewards like this hefty brown from shallow water.

After a fair bit of bugging by our retailers we're bringing in the tungsten beads that we've been using on our Manic fly patterns. These little guys have more tungsten than most beads on the market so they sink super quick, this makes them great for making bombs and also means you can downsize your fly pattern and still be confident of getting your fly down.

Also they come in a bunch of cool anodised colours, like green, blue, pink, purple and red. For those of you that would prefer to stick with more subtle colours, the new coffee coloured beads are a hit as are the classic black beads.

This is the range we are running, not all of the colours come in all of the sizes but  there should be plenty to choose from.

These beads are great for spunking up a traditional pattern or for creating something totally new.

Sometimes you need to simply let loose and "fish rage". In other words take some time out to just eat, sleep and fish without any other distractions in place. For me there is no where better to do it than South Otago.

The weapons of choice for a back country exploit, Scott S4s NZ Special 9' #6, Scott S4 9' #5 and #6

When your planning a big fishing trip, it helps to hit the right rivers. It's even more important to bring along the right crew. This time I was joined by leading NZ guide Chris Dore (right with the smile) and Dunedin's Simon Chu (left with fish).

I missed my first few opportunities (out of touch!!) but once I finally hooked into one of the big spooky browns in shallow water the hard work was quickly put into perspective.

I wanted to prove a point here, this fish was taken in gale force winds on a Scott S4 #5 (with a #5 Ridge tactical) and was landed in under a minute....thanks also to Chris Dore for the skilled work with the net. You don't need stiff rods to deal with wind, you need a rod that is easy to load, and when it comes to landing these fish, simply learn to bend the rod.

Simon Chu shows us how it's done by putting a deep working curve in the S4 9' #5. Notice the rod is being bent smoothly from the butt and not just through the tip (which could cause a break).

Taking fish like this out of clear water is the perfect reward of good preperation. Make sure your carrying a good fly selection covering every possibility you may come accross and that you've taken the time to hone your skills so you can make every chance count. (Simon Chu Photo)

If chasing Southland's back country trophies isn't enough to keep you going then try the countless number of lowland streams for stunning browns. Perfect water for the Scott G2 8'8 #5 and tidy cdc patterns.

Mike Davis's Back Country Stonefly pattern is a reliable fish catcher on any river......who said South Island browns don't like rubber legs and flash-backs?

If you're like me and fishing time is precious then make sure you invest in getting the right help, a guide like Chris Dore has the ability to set you up with mind blowing opportunities on days that you may struggle to even see fish. And once your trip is long gone Chris will have left you with enough tips and idea's to keep you going until your next day on the water. Here Chris helps Simon Chu to land a chunky Southland rainbow.

I'm not even going to start the story of how bad my opening day was. So instead I thought I'd reflect back on a great day a couple of weeks back on Lake Aniwhenua.

This was our first fish of the day, not very big but it did come up to take the dry (in September) so certainly put a smile on my face.

This is a great time of the year for targeting cruising browns along lake edges. We used the boat to access the sandy flats at the top of the lake and waded our way into casting distance.

Through the deeper parts of the lake we drifted over the channels and weedbeds fishing small midge patterns. These were either fished in a team of three or suspended under a dry. The action between three rods was fast and furious.

Lets hope our rivers all start to clear so we can revisit our opening day plans, until then our stillwaters are looking like a more than adequate option.