This event was notable before a fly was even cast, with as many female as male participants signed up for the first time ever in a Sport Fly Fishing New Zealand competition, and everyone was eager to see how the Fly Ferns Squad, who were all present, would fare as part of their preparation for next year’s World Championships in the USA.

In truth the weekend did not disappoint, with Suzie Foggo becoming champion and the first female competition winner on a river in over a decade and Sarah Delany joined her in third – another first as it is the only time we have had two ladies on the podium together, demonstrating their rapidly growing interest and skill level in the sport.

 

 

In spite of the bad weather, Suzie took control throughout the Saturday winning the first session and taking runner-up in the second and said : “With quite a bit of rain prior to the competition and all-day Saturday I knew it might take more than one technique to catch fish. I primarily Euro Nymphed with two flies or a single fly in some areas but also had success wet lining two woolly buggers after getting takes on the swing while nymphing. I made sure I covered my water methodically using a grid system and allowed 20 minutes at the end of each session to re-fish hot spots.

Because the water was higher and more coloured than normal, I tried a variety of flies both bright and natural and found my most successful were a natural hare and copper nymph and a pink bead nymph. The woolly bugger that caught fish was olive with a gold bead and plenty of flash in the tail. I thought worm pattern flies would be great in the dirty water but although I tried them in all sessions, they were not successful at all.

 

Thanks to organiser Craig and congratulations to second placed Simon and third placed Sarah. I had great partners throughout in Sarah, Louise and Rachel to fish with and even the rain didn’t dampen our spirits. It was fantastic to have a competition with equal numbers of men and women entered and so great to be on the podium with fellow Fly Ferns squad member Sarah Delany.”

 

Her last session was a lot more challenging, but she did enough to hold off Simon Thomas who made a late run, taking second with six fish on the Sunday. Although this is Suzie’s first win, she had previously just missed out on countback to Ollie Bassett, our current National Champion.