Ronan's Report

I forgot my weigh-net and my lunch. After climbing into the steep sided gorge I broke my glasses. What a start! The prospect of not being able to verify a double, should I catch one, worried me more than the difficulty of landing a fish in a gorge without a net. A day without food I can live with. I tied my glasses back together and took on the day.

I fished to a decent number of fish over the course of the day. They were off, not feeding, dogo. Some were incredibly spooky, some allowed me to get a second shot in but then bolted. I took various measures to beat the situation; long leader, extra long leader, fine leader, small flies, streamers, single fly etc but it didn’t matter. I could see from the manner of the fish that they were not playing. They were sitting very still, tail barely moving in the glassy tails of the pools. I pushed on, I decided that on a day like this, my only chance was to cover lots of river and therefore more fish.

At around midday after an early start, I found a small brown happily feeding in a slightly riffled tail of a pool. I put on a dry and he ate it first cast. The bigger fish, seatrout, were still dogo. Try as I might, I could not get a hint of a positive response. Nevertheless, I was happy in my surroundings and still confident that I’d find a decent fish on the fin. Time flew by and before I knew it I was approaching the last pool of the day. I spotted a big fish at the tail. I quickly took my shot. Nothing. Five more shots, still nothing. Streamer… the fish sidestepped the fly and then bolted for cover. I took a few more steps to look up into the pool before climbing out of the gorge and walking out. There was a decent fish on the fin. Ha! I got into a good casting position but could no longer see the fish through the glare. I went back out of the glare to see the fish and mark his position off an overhanging rock. Back into position and I took the shot.. the fly landed where I wanted it to. I watched as the tippet sank beneath the glare.. The tippet was being pulled under at a constant rate by the single weighted nymph. Suddenly, the sink rate increased, just by a little. This was evidence enough to strike. The fat hen fish jumped repeatedly then charged up the pool, while trying to get under every rock and ledge on the way. I landed the fish, took a quick photo and then happily climbed out of the gorge. I had a secret farm dam in mind for the next day…

This weekend? Coast?? Not sure yet!

Ronan..

A stunning 3lber from a wilderness gorge.

Some superb fish swim in the secret dam.. Lots of little ones too, great promise for the future.

Hooked em, broke in him. Lost sight of him as he swam off.. I cast again in the murky water after retying an identical fly on. Suddenly, a solid take from the murk. I got my fly back!

This was my last cast of the day! The fish were incredibly spooky and difficult all day.

These inquisitive calves were brave.. the ring leader kept bringing them closer to me!

Easy morning on the Waiau in Te Anau..

Guy drives into the morning mist!

I wore out 30 out of the 36 studs. Time for a new set! Worth the money for the grip!

The fishing was very bad on the lake so I collected some firewood instead.

Iza's first casting lesson!

We pulled up on a gravel bar. The fishing was terrible!

Ready!

A quick look back after the climb out!

The murk where he lived!

I think these are tiny snails. they were in the surface film. They collected on my hand as I retrieved..