Lake Brunner

"Where the Brown Trout Die of Old Age!"

New Zealand

The mighty Grey River, and its numerous tributary rivers, streams, spring creeks and lakes, make the central West Coast a superb fly fishing destination.  Picture above is an upper section of the Grey  above the confluences of the Arnold and Ahaura Rivers, on glorious winter afternoon.

Here, with Southern Alps as a backdrop, in a region which still boasts 77% native rain-forest cover, there are an abundance of pristine angling locations to chose from. Freestone rivers come in al shapes and sizes, from lowland sections of a big river such as the Grey River, down to its smaller alpine tributaries like the one at left below. In between, there are fascinating rivers such as the Crooked, where in the space of a few miles the scenery changes from alpine gorges to a meandering lowland river discharging into Lake Brunner.

There is variety not only in the landscapes, but in the rivers composition - encompassed are wide mountain valleys, with a multitude of "braided" channels, and a base of stones and gravels, through to boulder-studded, boisterous mountain streams or tight gorges where the river flows through bedrock in an endless series of pools, rapids and runs, and the cobbled, slippery Arnold with bed of oiled cannon balls..

the black Arnold River	a blue Southern Alps river	a green Paparoa mountain stream

Water colours vary as much as the rivers themselves do - from the heavily tannin-stained black and mysterious Arnold, to crystal clear streams where the water is almost invisible. The rivers draining the main divide, such as the Crooked, generally have a blue pools with a tint like kerosene. Those streams draining the seaward Paparoa ranges by contrast have pools of rich green, due no doubt to the different mineral composition of the base rocks.