Here i go again asking for help.... going to a wedding in Hanmer this weekend, and want to sneak in some fishing, have had a look on the usual websites to see if there is any access for fly fishing close to Hanmer, we will only have a car, no 4wd, is there anywhere nearby than you can get access to a fishable river? On the net the only thing I could find was a 4wd track just after the Hanmer bridge?

Fish and Game have access signs at good access points all along the Waiau, with parking spots. I just stopped at one of these and fished, there was enough water to fish for an hour or so without crossing.

Hi James, January is a good time, plenty of terrestrials for the trout to feed on. I fished the waiau with a #6 fly rod using a dry fly as an indicator and a small pheasant tail or similar under it. Personaly when fishing big water i ignore most of it and concentrate on fishing the edges, I took a lovely 5lb brown from here standing in shin deep water and casting back towards the bank, he must have been siting in water no more than a foot deep.

Well got up to Hanmer, weather was awesome, shot over Jacks Pass to the Clarence, no joy, but the river was fantastic. Talking to a few people down there, it seems most of the fishing up there is sight fishing, and blind fishing in the high country rivers is tough work. I saw a few fish around some of the rivers around Hanmer, but nothing in the Clarence, still had a bloody good time though. Saw didymo for the first time. Ive got some didymo spray at home, but I was told that I could put my boots in the freezer overnight and that would take care of them, and just make sure that all of my gear is dead dry before using it again. Look forward to getting back down there......

The didymo spray I''m pretty sure is just detergent stuff, clean your gear with some dish-washing liquid and then dry it out and you'll be fine