Another successful Xplorer Queenstown Gathering has wrapped up, marked by friendly faces, extreme weather, great food, and truly world class fishing. With everyone based at a comfortable centrally located lodge, teams of 4 anglers set out to fish several of the trophy QFFC club waters around Queenstown and Doordrecht.
The area is renowned for its extremely harsh weather, where hands are often paralyzingly cold, and your ears ring from the relentlessly biting wind, and where snowfall is commonplace and the edges of dams are often frozen. But equally renowned for big, beautiful wild-fighting fish. The MTD strain fish with their picturesque coloration, spade-like tails, white fin tips and broad shoulders are the reason we brave the frigid and challenging conditions.
The Gathering is a special congregation of diehard anglers, all friendly and extremely knowledgeable. It’s not your run of the mill fly fishing “comp” where competition is the flavor of the event. The Gathering encourages the sharing of the days catch reports and a drink in the onsite pub at the end of the day with plenty of laughs along the way.
A good number of fish in excess of both 60cm as well as 10Lbs were caught, what with fish being in the winter spawn mindset, anglers adopted the local strategy of fishing eggs and worms slowly – and often under an indicator. This Queenstown doba-doba technique is highly effective, and with our new range of high-float easy casting indicators we recommend you give it a try this season when things area bit slow.
Overall Xplorer is proud to be the title sponsor of this amazing event, in truly the best Stillwater fishing in the country! This event reminds us of what great fishing we have within our country. We recommend you consider the Queenstown area for your next trip, Contact us for more info!