Celebrating our 50 Year Anniversary 1976 to 2026
A Brief History
It all started in 1976, when legendary Teacher and guide, Mike Spry, established his Fly Fishermans' Clinic in Khancoban, in the Upper Murray Region of Australia. Here, he taught fly fishing in comprehensive, live in classes over a week during his annual holidays. However the daily grind of a real job eventually got to him and wife Marg, so they finally moved to Khancoban full time in 1986. Here, he established a more permenant base and commenced guiding and a larger number of fly fishing courses.
Shortly after setting up in Khancoban, Mike began to expand the business by setting up a shop, accommodation and mail order business, as well as guiding, especially on his favourite river, the Swampy Plains, where drift boats made access to the water much easier. He was assited by a growing number of office staff, guides and other assistants. Amongst this lot were wife Marg and son Will, who was on hand to assist at fishing courses and with the guiding during his summer university breaks.
Amongst the growth of the business was overseas trips to locations such as Alaska, Scotland and a staple destination of New Zealand, mainly in the Central North Island Plateau region around Taupo
In 1993, Will completed his university studies and was offered a lifestyle in New Zealand as a full time guide, which he grabbed with both hands. Here a permenant base was set up, with accommodation and guiding - the mainstay being week long trips based in Twizel, in the center of the South Island, with guiding on the Lakes, Rivers and streams of the Mackenzie Country. Following on from Mike's lead, he set up drift boat fishing trips on the Waitaki River, to compliment his walk/wade guiding program. The Fly Fishing courses continued on a smaller scale as well.
Sadly, Mike passed away early in 1997 and whilst the business was thriving, without a strong helmsman at the rudder, the decision was made to close down the business in Australia and make New Zealand the permenant base of operations.
Fast forward to 2024, when Will Junior decided that he liked the lifestyle on offer and joined the ranks as our newest guide - the 3rd generation of professional guides to be involved in the business. We are very proud to have him on board and to move into our 50th year of operations in 2026. As mentioned earlier, we're keen to have him involved in our Drift Boat fishing program, as the director of this activity and to help us expand our guiding and teaching program as well.
Meet Our Team
Will & Shelley Spry
Will started fishing as a young lad on the rivers and channel country around Deniliquin in southern NSW, Australia, where carp and redfin were the mainstay. Trips with his old man to the Upper Murray were his introduction to trout fishing, with most fishing done initially with lures, then moving onto fly fishing at around age 13, from which he has never looked back.
The basic skills were mastered in the high country of Australia, but it was in the wild country of New Zealand, where he moved in 1993, that he managed to learn what fly fishing for trout is truely all about. Guiding and fishing the Mackenzie region, wiht frequent side trips to other parts of the South Island helped him work out the best ways to fish and more importantly, the intricacies of sight fishing and fooling fish with a fly.
