New Zealand Fly Fishing Recommendations
 

My husband and I will be traveling to New Zealand in March 2018 for about a 16 day trip. At present, we plan to only spend a few days on the North Island with most of our time on the South Island. Can any one recommend locations/streams for trout fly fishing? I know many of the lakes also boast trout, but we prefer the streams. Based on recommendations, this will help me finalize our travel itinerary. Thanks.

Did you try NZ Fly Fishing Forum?
http://www.flyfishingforum.co.nz/
Or this one:
http://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/

Brenda - you need to go the Tongariro River at the south end of Lake Taupo. It's an angler's paradise and a lovely river.
See if you can stay at Creel Lodge in Turangi which is a lovely motel right on the banks of the river with a cute little café.
I'm a big river person and the Tongariro is probably my favourite river in the North Island. World famous for the trout fishing. We usually fish in the lake because I am not sure I would cope with standing in the river all day!
Check out these areas:
"Many fly fishermen travel the world in search of opportunities to catch big wild trout. While this search might take them all over the globe, New Zealand is one of the rare places where an array of fly fishing experiences are available in an easy-to-access, California-sized chunk of land. The South Island contains a variety of fishing experiences and the stand-out areas are Nelson, Canterbury, West Coast and the Lower South Island."

Thanks for the referenced websites Diamantina. I did start checking the fly fishing websites, but not the ones you recommended, will do though. I do believe we will need a fishing guide who can provide the necessary equipment as we don't want to tote that gear with us. Good guide recommendations are very welcome.

Tasmangirl, fishing in Taupo was one of the areas I wanted to do, but thought we would have to nix that location because we would need to drive into Rototura in order to catch a plane down to Christchurh. However, upon further inquiry, I discovered we can fly from Taupo, but will just require going through Auckland first. I will look into your recommendation for Taupo--sounds great. The other location based on research appears to be around Queenstown. I did locate a guide who offers his services where we won't need to have waders, but we can instead fish in regular light weight pants/shorts and hiking shoes. I know my husband would love to get in two fishing opportunities on this trip!

Taupo/Turangi is lovely but a bit awkward if you do not have a car.
Rotorua is not that far (maybe 1.5 hours) and quite a good easy road if you did want to fly from there. Taupo Airport is very small so it will be a small plane.
Queenstown would be great as well. South Island rivers are bigger, bolder and faster than North Island rivers. Must be all the mountains down there. We grew up in the south Island and loved swimming in the rivers.
A guide would know the best spots so that would be a good idea.
American writer Zane Grey came here to fish in the 1920's and thought it was 'paradise'.

We will have a car, so no problem with that. I was just trying to avoid Rototura to preserve days for the South Island.

Make sure your car rental can be left at Taupo Airport then?
It's about 1/2 hour drive to the airport from Turangi. Or you could stay in Taupo and get the guide to take you to the river.

Wanaka on the SI is a popular fly fishing area. I remember being told once that the brown trout practically jump out of the Clutha River:)

Good point Tasmangirl about possible issues of leaving the car at the Taupo airport. I think we will just continue to Rototura where I know we can leave the rental.

Melnq8, we will definitely look into the fishing at Wanaka, thanks.