About the Author

Ron Giles is an Auckland businessman who has been flyfishing for 30 years. During this time, he has travelled extensively on business around New Zealand and always taken along his flyrod. He has fished all the major trout rivers and lakes in NZ as well as a large number of trout waters known only to local anglers and their friends. This 'inside' information has seen him catch around 20 trout over the magic 10 lb (4.5 kg) mark. Several of these fish were caught in the waters described in the book including from the Flaxy Lakes, Boyle River, Ruakituri River, Hurunui River, Rough River and Lake Otamangakau. In fact, when Ron was doing some final checking in December on three South Island rivers, he caught a ten pounder from each of the three rivers he fished. These facts come from the records Ron has kept of every fishing trip; detailing weather, river conditions, trout hooked, technique employed and successful flies. Usually the flies are of his own making as Ron has tied his own flies right from when he first started fishing. His creations are eagerly sought-after by his angling friends, as his flies always seem to have a special appeal to trout. Ron has been a member of the Auckland Freshwater Anglers Club for 25 years and always enjoys the chance to swap fishing stories. These have provided the basis of his regular contribution of articles on troutfishing to fishing magazines. In all his writing, his aim is to inform but still entertain the reader. He has an easy-to-read writing style that enables him to keep the reader's interest even when writing about a very technical subject. Ron strongly believes that most anglers want a troutfishing book to tell them 'where to' and 'how to' catch trout. The great bulk of anglers are at the 'Intermediate' stage where they have fished the popular rivers and are now looking for new rivers and new challenges. Recent surveys have clearly shown that anglers all rate solitude and the quality fishing experience very highly. They are very upset to encounter other anglers so are looking for not-so-popular rivers in idyllic places. Ron feels that there are too few such books that specify rivers where this experience is possible. This book is his effort to fill the gap.