Just thinking back on my last trip to Romano and how well it fished. I tend to fish the late spring early/ summer time frame at Romano for a couple of reasons. Firstly, late April through June generally offers the most consistent weather, with lots of sun and with winds that are usually pretty manageable. Secondly, these months also offer the best opportunities found during the year for shots at the big migratory tarpon that swim these north coast waters during their yearly migration.

As we flew 300 feet above the tree line, a thick canopy of Beech Trees sprawled out beneath us for as far as the eye could see. The “wap wap wap” of the helicopter blades slicing through the air temporality silencing the chorus of the millions of Cicadas who inhabit this forest, where the males of the species vibrate their tymbals, a noise-producing organ on the side of their abdomen, in the hope of attracting females to mate.

After five days of rain on the north island I decided to fly south to visit my friend Chris Bell who guides out of the Christchurch area. Felt very fortunate that Chris had an open day and was able to guide us. Christchurch is a really nice town with a great vibe to it and with Chris available for a day, the prospect of a couple of rain free nights in Christchurch, or so I thought, was all I needed to jump on a plane south.