Fly Blog

Mark Adamson and I fished together on the Waiau near Te Anau on Saturday. I expected it to be better. We didn’t see many fish and those we did see were difficult. It was still a good day on the water though, they all are I guess! The sun doesn’t get very high in the sky at this time of year, this makes it hard to see fish. Also with the sun so low in the sky, night time comes quickly so if your keen on a night fish you don’t have to wait long. We fished a couple of river mouths into darkness without much success. Again, I expected them to be better. I thought this was about the best time of year to fish river mouths! Maybe I was wrong. Too late? Too early? Not sure…

Ronan..

Since Dad left almost a week ago I’ve been staying with my good friend Kevin Alexander in Fairlie. I’ve been busy online with organising flights to, from and within Australia, writing my first ever CV, contacting recruitment companies, visa applications, Christmas shopping (unsuccessfully) as well as staying in touch with family and friends. I still made time to get out on the water though, mostly on the local reservoir.

The fishing has been hit and miss. Some days the river mouths have been fantastic and other days, for no reason I can deduct, they’ve been dead! That’s fishing though and it’s all good. On one evening of note I had 3 fish in about 3 hours. A salmon, a brown and a rainbow, The next day I blanked but Mark Adamson managed a couple. All of the lake fishing were doing is from our boat (mine and Kevins). She has a few small problems but without doubt it was the best 400 nzd (thats 200 each!) we’ve ever spent. I doubt an outing in her goes by without mentioning what a bargain we got.

When travelling around the south island catch and release is what I do 99% of the time. The main reason for this is conservation but I eat fish so sometimes I take one or 2 when I know the body of water I’m fishing wont suffer from the loss of a fish or 2. this is generally true on lakes and large rivers. I really enjoy fishing for the table. It’s different because its not about deceiving the fish, It’s about food. I still have hunter gatherer instincts. Yesterday Kevin and I went out on the lake in the evening. We got 2 fish; the first one we took, the second went back.

I’m spending Christmas with Kevin, His Partner Freddie and her family and their baby Macy in Te Anau. Thanks in advance for having me. I have bought you all exceptional gifts so I’ll be expecting the same!

In case I don’t get a blog up on Christmas day I’ll say Happy Christmas to you all now! I hope its a good one. I know Kevin and I will sneak away to the river for an hour or 3, tight lines if you do the same!

Enjoy the festivities! Stuntman Ronan..

Mark and I went to Te Anau as planned but chose the wrong river to fish for 3 reasons.

1. We fished Saturday and Sunday, The busiest days on any river. On Saturday we were too late to the river to get the best water even though Mark left Dunedin at 5am! On Sunday we were too late to the river because we drank too many pints in the Redcliff on Saturday night.. I think I had some whisky too… Bad idea!

2. The fish in the part of the river we fished hadn’t settled back into their normal routine after a flood a week or so ago. They seemed non existent but I’m pretty sure they were there. To compound it, sighting conditions were terrible on Sunday.

3. The Norwester.

We still managed a few fish but it was a frustrating weekend fishing.

More soon!

Ronan..

The weather has been shithouse as they say over here for the passed while. Some serious gales (blowing the roof off our neighbours house, over ours and landing on another neighbours house!) and torrential rain blowing out all the rivers. Perfect blue sky days were regular enough but most rivers were too high and coloured to fish. I had some great fishing  before the weather broke with Chris Dore (NZ’s #1 guide!!) and Fraser Hocks. We had many fish in the 2-4lb bracket on small nymphs not too far from Queenstown. It’s important not to give away exact locations. There’s plenty water for everyone so there’s no point putting undue pressure on the specific rivers. Explore. It’s more fun anyway!

I had some very enjoyable lake edge fishing near Glenorchy targeting cruising browns with woolly buggers in shallow water. Spot the fish, leave the fly lifeless on the bottom and strip it away when the fish is in attacking range. The result is a manic chase usually ending in a strike. Fun.

Tomorrow Mark Adamson and I are heading towards Te Anau where any amount of water awaits. The Redcliff also awaits… My joint number one bar in the world!

Happy Halloween!

Ronan..