Fly Blog

NZ 2011 started in Fairlie at about 6pm on Tuesday the 11th of October. Kevin Alexander and I went to a nearby lake and fished into darkness. Kevin had a couple at a stream mouth in shallow water, no joy for me. The following day was lazy but effective fishing. We drove up mystery river X and jumped out and sight fished the more likely pools. We had some decent fish and fishing without exerting too much energy.

Day 3 I fished alone. I tackled a gorge that I was never through before in medium to low water, which is pretty much ideal. You never know what you may encounter going through a gorge for the first time. I have scaled rock walls to get around bluffs, Swam while carrying a 15kg pack (which quickly at least doubles in weight) to get around bluffs I couldn’t climb, Climbed out of and then back into gorges over cliffs where swimming was not an option, Fallen over on rocks where a broken leg would be inconvenience. Oddly enough I never really fell in! The truth is however, fishing through a gorge is the pinnacle of NZ fishing for me. All day long stumbling, stalking, scrambling, climbing, casting, falling, catching, loosing, cursing and talking to myself. I do that a lot.

I had a superb day fishing for very difficult fish through 8kms of gorge. By the end of it I was bruised, battered and wrecked. My feet hurt, My right nee and left elbow were cut and bruised from a fall, my legs were stiff and my back hurt. This is all good pain. I enjoy it. Every “full on” day from now on will get easier as fitness improves. It’s been nearly 2 years since I had a tough day like this one and I want more!

6 out of 7 fish took a size 16 lightly weighted nymph attached to a size 14 tungsten and lead nymph by a 14″ dropper. I can tell you without a doubt in my mind that this is the best general method for NZ river trout. Better fish usually take the 16. Fish them 4-5 foot under an indicator or a dry.

Thats all for now… Ronan..

Hello all.. Ronan here. I’ll be on the blog for the next few months along with Paul. Were at Chris Dore’s  place at the moment, the weather has been pretty crap so we’ve been using the time wisely. Paul and I (mainly Paul but I’m learning!) have been editing the footage collected from 4 camera’s over 4 days in fjordland. It took longer than expected but we have 3 great shows coming up on sexyloops tv so get ready for them!

I spent the first month of the NZ season fishing with my Dad.. great fun and we had alot of fish. Also targeted some  big fish with good success.

I’l be fishing with paul for the next 4 months in NZ, Tasmania, maybe Thailand and as much else as I can afford!

Just spent the afternoon fishing with Jo. Had a couple of fish. One around four and another of six and a quarter. Nice start. Both on smallish nymphs. Truck seems to work, so it’s all go!