Written by: Alberto Rey

Young Diego adopted Kiwi fishing garb and scored a big rainbow.

Photos courtesy Diego Rey

It took him 38 hours to get from western New York to the Otago Region of New Zealand’s South Island, but sixteen-year-old, Diego Rey landed his first Kiwi rainbow trout, guided by Chris Daughters of Cedar Lodge. Diego caught the fish using a cricket imitation, shown below with the real deal. The unseasonably warm weather made for some crazy dry fly action.

Alberto Rey is an Orvis-endorsed guide, an artist, and a faculty member in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media at the State University of New York at Fredonia. He also works with children through the Sportfishing and Aquatic Resource Educational Programming (S.A.R.E.P.) Youth Fly-Fishing Program. Finally, he is a former Trout Bum of the Week.

South Island trout feeding on big crickets will take a leggy dry fly.

Not bad for the first trout of the trip!