Hanging out with the Bro

I fished last weekend with my brother Rob. We don't get to fish together enough but it's always great when we do.

Rob's still quite involved in the New Zealand competition scene and as a result I'm always eager to learn what new bit's and pieces he's been picking up along the way. Anyway here are a few picks and some things I learnt from Rob over the weekend.

1. Wading sticks are good

I'd always hassled people who asked me about wading sticks, thinking I didn't need them. Well maybe I'm just getting older but I just realised I do need one, especially when fishing fast rivers and trying to get into dodgy situations. I thought using a wading staff would be much slower, but I actally found I was able to cross rivers faster and of course a lot more safetly with the use of a wading staff. Anyway as a result I've just ordered a bunch of wading staff's from Airflo which should be here some time in May, in time for the Tongariro and winter fishing.

2. Spread your flies out

For a lot of the weekend Rob fished a dry fly with two nymphs. All of which were positioned around two feet _60cm) apart. I would normally fish the two nymphs much closer together but I realised by spreading them out the middle nymph fished mid current as an emerger pattern which is an excellent idea. Great for targeting fish working the water column and perfect for increasing the amount of water your covering effectively.

3. Softer rods are great for shortline nymphing

When fishing heavy nymphs I've always tended towards fast action rods. However I've also tended to fish long line techniques versus shortline techniques. Over the weekend Rob fished a G2 9'0" #6 and it was obvious that the softer tip was perfect for loading short casts and feeling for takes when shortlining.