January 2002

Letter from the Jim Lyon Party posted to us in April 2002
Four life-long friends from Arizona headed to New Zealand and the South Island in particular to hunt the famous NZ brown trout with fly rods in January 2002. Fortunately, we had found and booked seven days at The Homestead through Mike McClelland of The Best of New Zealand Fly Fishing.

We found our stay at The Homestead, an idyllic farm right on the banks of the Rough River, to be everything we had hoped and more. The proprietors, Bill and Jan Clayton, were gracious and accommodating hosts and really went out of their way to make us feel at home. The farm-fresh meals were healthy and delicious and kept us in fine shape for the challenging fishing of the Westland Region. Bill's local knowledge of the surrounding rivers and where and when they had been fished was truly vital to our success. He arranged river access through private lands that we couldn't have had on our own and set us up with guides Russell and John that were top-notch. Bill was even able to schedule helicopter service right from The Homestead.

Our week at The Homestead was magical. We stalked, sight-cost, caught and released many trophy Brown trout from such renowned Westland rivers as the Rough, the Inangahua, the Ohikinui, the Hauperi, the Big and Little Grey, Larry's Creek and the Waitahu. The dry fly action was incredible! My most memorable day was with Jim. We literally walked out our back door at The Homestead, stepped into the helicopter and flew to the upper Rough for a full day of the absolute best, most challenging dry fly fishing imaginable! We broke a rod on a fish that morning and then took turns sighting and casting and landing some of the most beautiful trout we'd ever seen. I'll never forget it!

Another member of our group, Chuckie, managed to fish and catch fish on the Rough River all the way from the Big Grey to the upper canyon. We have many happy memories from The Homestead and we've already made a promise to each other - we WILL return to challenge those glorious trout once again!

Catches of the Day
Jim Lyon 26" inches - 5.7 lbs Brown Trout from the Upper Rough River	Todd Gillenwater 25" inches - 5.5 lbs Brown Trout from the Upper Rough River
Chuckie Lormer 23" inches - 3.5 lbs Brown Trout from the Lower Rough River	Charlie Ray 27" inches - 7.0 lbs Brown Trout from the Inanagahua River