Why hire a fishing guide in NZ?

I’ve been asked by a few who don’t see the value in paying for the services of a New Zealand professional fly fishing guide why they should actually  use a guide.

I see there are two types of anglers who  should hire a guide. Firstly there are those who are  limited by  time and  wish to maximize their angling  opportunity and secondly   those who have a desire to improve their angling skills. Most anglers  I guide get both at the same time. 

Guided  anglers quickly get to learn that it’s more often that not  an attention to detail that is often the difference between success and failure. 

One quick example I’ll offer, would be if  there’s a willingness to  change flies after every refusal or  thinking  because the trout showed interest in the fly the first time  they’ll eat it on the next presentation.  I’ll always opt for the former.   

It’s akin to putting a steamed Brussel Sprout in front of a two year old. If he ain’t gonna eat it the first time he sure as hell ain’t gonna eat it  the second , third,  fourth or fifth time you put it in front of him.  But he might eat it in a stir fry, creatively disguised in a medley of other vegetables.  

These two scenarios  nearly always have different outcomes. It’s  the little things, like the willingness to change flies multiple times for one trout, that  do  make the difference when fishing for  New Zealand trout and it sets anglers apart. 

Many anglers only ever fish alone or with the same mate for many years and I do see  limited skill sets as such . I’ll  always advocate that to learn something new you need to be exposed to something different to what you’ve always done and that should be one of the key aspects to fishing with a guide.