The Fly Shop800·669·3474

Included in your angling package at the Poronui Ranch is seven nights high quality twin share accommodation, all meals, an open bar, same day laundry service and six days of guided fly fishing.

Not included in your angling package at Poronui Ranch are fishing gear, fishing license, transfers, staff gratuities and items of a personal nature.

The Fly Shop® is not in the insurance business, but we recommend Travel Guard coverage as a service with a desire to see your best interests protected. It is impossible to know when an unfortunate situation (loss of luggage, fly rods, illness in the family, or an accident) may occur. However, such things can and do happen, and this insurance can provide a means of recourse against non-refundable financial losses.

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13 hours, you will cross several time zones and the International Dateline, arriving two days later on the calendar.

Arrive in Auckland:
Air New Zealand flights will arrive into the Auckland Airport, a super-modern international facility, early in the morning. Here you will clear immigrations (passport control) and customs. This is all very easy, and you will immediately know you are in a different land, by the courteous and polite nature of the airport officials.

From the International Airport it is a five minute, free shuttle bus ride (or a pleasant 15-minute walk, albeit with your luggage in tow) to the adjacent Domestic Terminal. Here you will take one of several daily domestic flights via Air New Zealand to Taupo. The flight takes only about an hour.

Once you arrive in Taupo, if you are scheduled to go directly into the lodge, you will be met as you get off the plane by a Poronui Ranch arranged-for transfer agent. The driver, who knows every bump in the road, will leisurely make his way in an air-conditioned vehicle, showing you some of the highlights along the way. The drive from Taupo to the lodge takes approximately 45 minutes.

Depart New Zealand for the States:
After breakfast and saying your goodbyes to the staff, anglers will be transported via auto back to Taupo in plenty of time to catch a flight up to Auckland to begin their journey home, or the continuation of their New Zealand angling or travel holiday.

Direct flights from Auckland to LAX or SFO depart in the evening between 7 and 11 p.m., arriving Stateside the same day, mid-morning (remember the International Dateline).

winds briefly along the scenic shores of massive Lake Taupo, then out into the countryside, terminating in the wooded hillsides of this massive 16,000-acre ranch. Your host at Poronui, Eve Reilly, is famous for her hospitality, incredible skill in the kitchen, and all-around competence – she is an amazing person! Whether you stay at the main lodge, the Blake House or the Safari Camp, she will make sure you are very well taken care of. Don't expect to be losing any weight on this trip!

Every day at Poronui is memorable, starting with the luxurious accommodations and delectable fresh breakfasts. Poronui Lodge is large enough to host twelve anglers comfortably and has a casual-yet-elegant atmosphere that makes guests feel immediately at home. Every soda, glass of fine New Zealand wine, beer, or cocktail is included. What isn't available is a lot of space.

with rainbows and browns averaging 3-5 pounds. It truly is the stuff of dreams! While more sedate in approach, the Maori streams are just as remarkable of fisheries – many are tiny creeks that would hold pan-sized fish back home, but are full of dry-fly inhaling monsters just as large as found with the helicopters, and in an incredible landscape. Imagine watching a 5-pound brown trout rising deliberately to your Royal Wulff in a crystalline pool the size of your SUV!

Finally, there are two world-class streams right on the lodge property. The petite Taharua River, a classic meadow spring creek that flows right beside the main lodge and the Blake House, is famous for having received the first batch of brown trout in all the North Island, many, many years ago. Ask your guide the story – it's fascinating, as is the unique coloring of these fish. They are cut off from upwardly migrating fish from lower drainages by an impassable rapids downstream, so are a pure and amazing subspecies. The lodge often has an "After Dinner Hatch" fish-out here, to coincide with the late evening mayfly hatches. Their other river, the Mohaka, is a classic freestone fishery resembling Northern California's McCloud River – an endless procession of riffles, runs, pools and pocket water, flowing through a deep, forested canyon. Expect a mix of browns and rainbows here, many in the 3-4 pound range (with the occasional slob over 6 lbs), all of which seem to like dries. And if you have an overcast day limiting visibility, put on a nymph-and-indicator rig…you'll crush 'em! Many people fall in love with this river, and choose to spend a couple of days fishing different beats along its prodigious length, despite the availability of dozens of other spectacular streams.

All the water of New Zealand is open to the public, but Poronui, using a fleet of helicopters located right on the ranch, can be on water in minutes that seldom sees anyone but their own guests. There are more than two dozen blue ribbon streams and rivers within easy striking distance, and fisheries with enough diversity to appeal to any angler. The angling menu is completely filled with crystal clear spring creeks and classic freestone rivers. You will decide with your guide each day where you will fish the next day, depending on personal preferences.

Speaking of guides, Poronui Ranch has a team of permanent full-time guides who are considered the consummate professionals in their field. They share an extraordinary knowledge of the country, and collectively have more than a hundred years fishing experience in their waters. Poronui's guides know every stream intimately, and ensure angling pressure is constantly monitored to maintain the health and confidence of the trout.

Once on the water, the fishing and hiking are not particularly strenuous and the success of each day is measured by a different yardstick. Though large numbers of fish are not uncommon, what is more likely are numbers of large fish. Casting skills are extremely important and proper presentation is usually the only necessary key to success. Fly selection isn't critical and these often huge trout rise aggressively to any number of dry flies. Nymphs are devastatingly effective, and streamers are occasionally the answer to the trophy trout that swim in most of the huge, deep pools.