The Weekly Five - 22
It's the controversial Christmas Edition
Welcome to The Weekly Five, Episode 22 and the last for 2024.
Christmas this year for South Flyfisher is … hanging out at Lake Te Anau, Fiordland, New Zealand, juggling family time whilst throwing wistful glances towards the distant shores that harbour wilderness streams and chunky fighting fish. Then a few days camping in one of my all-time favourite South Island streams near Queenstown where I’ll do my best to get my seven-year-old onto a feisty rainbow or three. I’m limiting my fly choice to one terrestrial a day here to keep things interesting.
Let’s have a look back at 2024.
Arguably the biggest fly fishing story this year was the return of Chinooks to the upper Klamath River in Oregon and Northern California. In the largest dam removal project in US history, four hydroelectric schemes built during 1918 and 1962 were demolished opening up passage for some very patient salmon to spawn again.
Most inaccurate advertising campaign of the year: “Orvis: Accuracy comes Alive” which stated emphatically that the Helios 4 is “Scientifically proven to be 4X more accurate than Helios-3 and up to 16X more accurate than the competition.” Yeah, right. But also the cleverest campaign; it got the industry talking about Orvis and their white labels all over again.
Best deal of the year definitely wasn’t Vista bailing out of Simms after two years, or Orvis laying off 8% of its workforce. Our pick is Snow Peak’s 70% acquisition of Swift Fly Fishing (operates the Epic brand) which gives this ultra-premium New Zealand innovator deeper pockets to launch a broader range of high quality products and expand faster into new international markets.
Top angling content goes to Eleven Angling who have excelled all year as consistently on-brand destination marketers, adeptly utilising the services of rockstar videographer/angler duo, Todd Moen and Brian O’Keefe, to produce some stunning YouTube videos during 2024.
Most excellent new gear release of 2024 is a tough one. The quality of our fly fishing tackle has improved immeasurably over the past decade with innovation now advancing in seemingly smaller steps – after the big breakthroughs in rod making, nylon, fly line production and fly tying material during previous decades. We’ve settled on Fishpond’s Riverkeeper Digital Thermometer - IPX7 submersible and a sensible addition to your vest or bag.
If you’re heading to warmer waters, get one and stop fishing if the temperatures lift beyond 61°F/16°C for steelhead, rainbow, brook, and cutthroat trout, and 66°F/19°C for brown trout. I encourage all tackle manufacturers to launch similar products in 2025 and make these as ubiquitous as the veritable nippers!
Tight lines over the vacation break and Happy New Year in advance from Wānaka, New Zealand.
Cheers, Michael
Southflyfisher
Speaking of Christmas … if you’re considering a trip to Kiribati (CXI) in 2025, be aware of a new cost for a fishing permit (yeah, the Christmas Grinch, I know). The cost of a fishing permit has risen from US$50 a week to an eye-watering US$250 per annum. The trick is to go twice in the same year to halve the new cost!
Merry Christmas, everyone.
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