Ben is an excellent and patient guide. We spent two great days together on amazing rivers. The trout were huge and fought extremely hard. I loved it. It was the trout fishing trip of a lifetime thanks to Ben and the trout. If you have a chance to fish with Ben, don’t miss it.
My son and I have had the pleasure of being guided by Ben over the past six or more years. He’s helped us both catch trophy salmon and trout and both grow as anglers. His knowledge is second to none, his attention to client needs and his customer care are exemplary. We’ve always enjoyed our time on the river and in Ben’s company. Can’t recommend him highly enough
Fishing with Ben @ Braided Rivers Fishing Guides was nothing short of phenomenal. Probably the best three days of flyfishing I have ever experienced, and I live in fly fishing heaven. We saw absolutely beautiful water and caught some great fish. I have never sight fished before and it was incredible. Ben has the eyesight of a hawk. You would be doing yourself a great disservice if you go to Christchurch and do not give Ben a call. the fishing and the camaraderie will not disappoint you.
Ben was an awesome guide and person to go fishing during my honeymoon in NZ. He is a guide who is passionate about his work and his knowledge about the area and techniques was top notch. Everything was taken care of from start to finish. All high quality gear and tackle was supplied along with a great boxed lunch. Although we only had a few open spots due to the NZ fishing season not being fully opened at the time of our trip, Ben knew where all the best spots were for where we could fish for some giant Trout. Trout was caught up in excess of 10lbs. Bigger than what we would catch in Southern California by a mile. We will definitely hire Ben in our next visit to NZ. Thank you Ben for the great talks and a memorable fishing trip!
Thanks Ben for one of the best fishing trips of my life. Catching a rainbow trout was a bucket list item and you came through despite how rusty I was at fly fishing.
I booked the salmon fishing day trip – mainly for my husband….I did not expect to that I would love it so much too! We had an amazing day and Ben was so knowledgeable and friendly. I was worried as we hadn’t done this kind of fishing before but Ben was patient and a very good teacher! We would do it all again i a heartbeat!
We met in the dark hours of the morning with a good drive ahead of us. Ben’s an easy guy to get on with, but talk soon turned to the Salmon with some great background information discussed on our way to the Rakaia Gorge.As we were setting up the fish began to jump and my casting was soon fairly accurate due to the help of some great gear.I also made a few “random” quality casts but Ben encouraged me to make the best use of the lure in the water and we were soon rewarded with my first catch of the day – a 5.8lb 2 year old in lovely condition! I’ve had a bit of luck on my own fly rod, but it might have been a bit delicate for this guy, so I was grateful for a bit of heavier duty spinning gear to play the fish onto the sandy beach. We took some photos and set up the gear to try again.Next cast I hooked up again, initially thinking I had another snag due to fishing the lure close to the gravel bottom, but then came that reassuring thumping vibration through the braid and rod tip which promised another round of the sport we had travelled for. Five minutes later we had a 9.3lb 3 year old jack hanging from the scales and some more photos to boot.It was great just to be out in the scenic wilds with a chatty like-minded bloke. If no salmon or trout had been caught on the trip, it would still have been a good day out for me, the catch was a bonus.
I chose to fish with Ben because of his specialisation in salmon fishing. He knows the Rakaia River very well, having scouted the best spots in advance and making sure we were in position at first light. I had a nice sea run Brown Trout in the ice box before breakfast. It was a very enjoyable day.
Great trip with a great guy, perfect organisation. Everything was planned to make the trip perfect, spare equipment, spare guide, contingency plans … Plenty of fish and lots of laughs. Even the weather was at the party! I had a blast and will definitely come back if I can.
Our experience with Ben was second to none. Our group contained three fishermen of varying experience, yet Ben was still able to find locations and fish to suit each members needs. As overseas visitors, Ben was able to broaden our knowledge of the whole region and show us some spectacular locations during our experience. Ben was willing to offer advice and share his many years of fishing knowledge with our team. This made the trip an even more rewarding experience for all members involved.
Ben has an incredible knowledge of the streams and rivers within the South Island. He has the ability to guide throughout the Canterbury region as well as the remote rivers of the West Coast. This allowed him to plan the best trip that we could have had, given the challenging weather conditions during our trip.
Ben is the perfect guide for those who are serious about finding the good fishing spots in the north of the South Island and care less about expending the effort to get there. We could not have been more pleased with his work during our trip.