Fly Fishing with Chris Dore

So I’ve received a number of messages this week as to how I fish Mr Glister streamers. Do I just swing it, do I strip it? Well, it all depends on the water etc and how the fish are reacting.

In larger, deeper pools I will often fish them slow and deep across and down, letting it swing under control across the current. While the fly sports plenty of m...

One thing I often see in many anglers fly boxes are a plethora of different patterns but sure enough, most are of a similar size range, and usually tungsten beaded.

Now we all know that trout will most likely eat your favourite size 14 beadhead but what if they don’t? Will you switch to another 14 of a different flavour? Chances are, changi...

So let’s look at caddis. The good old elk hair caddis has long been a favourite of mine as a dry / dropper fly, floating high with a wing angled upwards enough to see. But there’s another reason I fish them so much, trout will usually shun an emerger, dun or spinner that drags even to the slightest degree. However, caddis routi...

The Cochybondhu is a quintessential terrestrial pattern, subtle in the film but super enticing to trout. For all the newbies, the Cochy was the Kiwi anglers Blowfly, before the Blowfly, often our first up searching pattern.

The Cochy was responsible for my first ever hookup on the fly many moons ago, as I expertly worked my size 14 across the cu...

I personally don’t use stoneflies a lot in the waters I guide but they allow you to really go to town on profile, accents and importantly for big, come eat me legs, let’s talk more about this...

A good stonefly imitation is my go to in deeper, rocky runs, or big pools where you need your fly to be seen. On many of my Southern waters ...

Some nights on the water, movement just isn't enough, for one reason or another, be it picky fish, an abundance of food or maybe floating debris following a fresh, the fish just aren't noticing / eating your fly.

Now you can go bigger, look to inbuilt movement from Marabou and hackles etc or give them something they simply cant miss...

Personally I find...

Winter fishing getting you down? With very low and clear conditions for the majority of winter thus far, your usual winter fly box might be a little too much. Big, flashy streamers, size 8 glo bugs are putting fish down and why employ that big double tungsten bomb if the river is at half it's normal winter flow?

There are still a num...

It’s that time of the year when the browns are on the move and winter edges closer to the front of everyone’s mind. Flies get heavier as fish move less to feed and louder in design to catch the eye and egg patterns begin to get more attention.

Imitating the roe of spawning fish, or an 'emerging trout', for the purist, egg patte...

As the waters cool and the mayfly activity increases, fish will often move up higher into the riffles than usual. That ankle - calf deep water right up the head, or along the very edge of the riffly water now becomes my target area and anyone who fishes the famous, Mataura river knows: it's the shallowest of the rocky riffles that offer the best nymphing.

As the days grow short and temperatures drop, the trout begin to lift to the plethora of mayflies hatching out while conditions are optimal. A glance at most anglers fly patches usually reveals a preference towards hackled dry flies, those which sit on top of the surface. They are easily seen, and will catch a few fish but there are flies which will catch a lot mor...