Español

Foro en Español
Manual de Lanzado
Sección de Carlos
The Downloads

Trailer... Buy...

Falsecast

Monday: Paul Arden
Tuesday: Tonio
Wednesday: Matt Klara
Thursday: Clark Reid
Friday: Stoatstail
Saturday: Viking Lars
Sunday: Sean Geer

Firstly, please be gentle. This is my first FP (and most likely last!) Apologies in advance if it's a bit all over the place, but that's just the way it is.

It's over 3 months since I got back from NZ and the hangover is finally over, although it's likely this is because my friends down under tell me the weather is shite and the fishing season is over down there. Come October I may well be itching to get back there again and who knows, I might return in 2009! Kiwi's don't relax just yet, I am buying lotto tickets at a frenetic pace!
In the past 3 months I have managed to gain over 2 stone, (30pounds). The same thing happened after my previous trip to NZ. I have come to accept that I have two weights, one on the southern hemisphere and one on the north. It may have something to do with some sort of magnetic polar energy, but I suspect that it is more likely to be the Guinness. (see pic #1) I may have to move to NZ for health reasons!

Recently an online flyfishing forum member asked for some advice on NZ rivers and got a wee bit upset when I didn't give him a map of NZ showing all the hot spots that I learned during my trips. I did give him some good advice, but I didn't name rivers for him. I told him to fish hard and fish fast, find good water and head into the upper reaches, take a tent and some food, wine, Speights, take chances and go nuts. Fish hard.

For example if you fish a pool in 3 minutes one can fish say 8 pools an hour, covering some likely water in between the holding pools. To do this you have to fish fast, fly always at the ready, and only likely water fished. Even then there may only be 3 or 4 casts and only in areas where the fish aren't easily spotted. If the water is clear then two or three blind casts into the riffled water may suffice. At all times you keep your eyes peeled for fish. Of course you will miss/spook fish, many more than an angler who spends 15 minutes fishing a pool, but statistically I would argue you should land more fish. You won't have a better percentage catch rate, and you will spook more fish than you would if you fished twice as slow, but personally I fish to catch fish and as many as is possible on a given day and this will happen by covering many more fish, and fish that are out and on the feed, not fish that are in hiding.

I know that many top flyfishers that will disagree with this approach to rivers. Instead they will advise to fish slow, try to spot every fish, wait for the fish to come out from its hiding place and basically fish much less water.
Perhaps some see the 'hard and fast' approach as being against the ethics or tradition of fly fishing? Maybe it is? Spooking fish does piss me off, no doubt about it. I hate to see a big brown shoot out from under the bank and all because I didn't give the pool/run enough respect. I fucked up. The guy fishing with me probably think 'that fucking idiot has done it again'. He's a shite angler.
But is it always such a bad thing to spook a fish that had his head stuck under the bank?
A fish that you have about as much chance catching as I had getting laid at the Reefton sexyloops Xmas party! (Which was brilliant by the way... See pics #2)

Ok, we do try and spot every fish, and sometimes we will not miss a fish in the day. To do this one angler walks each bank and the opportunities are generally split 50-50. If you have a much better angle of approach then you will get the shot, but otherwise it is done in a rotational manner. If a fish is feeding and doesn't take then there may be an opportunity to change the fly and have another shot, but often the chance will be passed on to the other angler who may be fishing a different pattern or a different technique. Generally a fish will be given a few chances to take a fly and if the fish is 'doggo' i.e. lying on the bottom he will soon be walked past and left.

I tried to introduce this approach to others. I became friends and fished with a flyfisher in NZ and I'm sure that he questioned my technique every minute of the first few days. I tried to fish at his pace. The guy is a good flyfisher. His cast is good, his knowledge on flies and his presentation was good, but man was he slow. Each pool was given more respect than the Dalai Lama. Flies were changed regularly. Each possible shape in the water was teased with beautifully presented flies. Eventually I would get frustrated and tear ahead and fish 3 pools. Eventually my partner had to adjust and fish fast, or fish statistically, spotting each pool and flicking the files into the likely water and bolting ahead to the next bit of water in order to keep up with me. I do know that I was catching more fish with my approach. I was getting more chances, spotting more fish, and getting many more hits. I also know that he began to catch more fish using the hard and fast approach than his careful, methodical approach. Looking back he may actually hate me for making him adjust. I do hope not.

I should explain that I learned my NZ river fishing style due to necessity. On my first and second trips to NZ, I fished with Ronan, (aka Stuntman Ronan). We have been fishing together for about 16 years, although a better word might well be competing. I'm competitive, but damn it so is he. At 15 we were competitive and I guess we never really lost it. I think it's a good thing. It drives you further and makes you fish harder. Over the years we (or at least 1) have learned to enjoy the others success, but that success does make me try harder. We would always carry head torches fishing as it is quite likely that it will be dark night by the time we get off the water.

I quickly learnt that it would be some sort of an endurance test to keep up with him on the rivers. He moves fast over all kind of terrain, almost resembling a ferret, and if you want to compete for fish then you simply have to move pretty fast yourself. (This may explain my losing over 10lb a month?) Last season was pretty amazing. I travelled with the two Ronans for the first 2 months of my trip. Three Irishmen took on the south island rivers and lakes. (Pic #3) The fishing was good and very good at times. We fished a lot of new water none of us had fished before. My younger brother Ronan had pretty much never flyfished up to this time. He arrived out of the blue one day from the North Island and simply wouldn't go away. He had little choice but to sink or swim and before a week had passed he was catching trout more or less every day, with several fish over 4lb and his best being 5.5lb out of a tiny creek that flowed into the mighty Buller river. This proves something. If an absolute novice can fish hard and fast then anyone that is reasonable fit and active can.

One thing for sure I have built up a reservoir of memories that will live with me forever. I had a day of 24 fish on dries, all between 3 and 4.5lb. On another day I had 19 fish with 4 of them being over 5lb, one weighing 6 and another of them 6.5lb. (This day I call 'redemption day' as I had a disaster on the same water the week prior and it was good to stick it up to the two Ronans )
One of my favourite days was on a backcountry trip somewhere on the south island. Lets call it mystery river x, a beautiful small to medium sized south island backcountry river.
Ronan (stuntman) had maybe 6 fish, with a couple over 5lb, and one close to 7!!! I probably had 4 prior to this fish, and none much more than 4lb, having missed a couple of opportunities of a better fish while the young lad (Ronan O'Malley) had a couple of decent fish.
I had started to become a wee bit obsessed, or maybe even possessed by the need to have one more shot. One more chance to turn an average day into a good day, something special. Its funny how a day can change so quickly. A poor day can become an incredible day in 5 mins. I guess it's a fine line eh? So I fished on. I started to try and stay out of earshot of the others so I couldn't hear the dreaded words 'Guys we need to walk out', and I knew we were at the limit of daylight.
Our day was just about over and we were staring into a 3.5hr walk out. We had fished hard and fast, giving each and every pool and run just enough respect. Spot the water, maybe flick 2 or 3 casts into the most likely riffled water. You don't have time to fish the pool methodically. After all when you fish with Ronan it's all about statistics.

I spotted him sitting in a wee pocket in some fast water. The fish looked almost purple in the water, something I had never seen to this degree before. I placed the fly about 1.5 metres above the fish, and half a metre to the left. As the sun was starting to drop in the sky I was unfortunate enough to not be able to see anything in the area where the fish lay due to the glare, so I asked Ronan to describe what was happening. He informed me that the fish had moved to the left, and to expect a take. Sure enough the fish came to the fly and gently sucked it down (although I didn't see a thing). With that Ronan shouted 'Strike' and I was in the fish.
After a great battle, involving me running down the river and stopping the fish from getting into the trees across the far side of the river, I had the good fortune of landing and photographing this beautiful creature. (see Pic # 4)
I was then more than happy to walk out and never stopped smiling for the 3.5 hours .

A fly fisher once told me 'I always sit and watch a pool for 20 minutes before I begin fishin...' "Eh.... What the fuck!! You could have caught 3 trout in 20 minutes" was my reply... bullshite. We don't speak much anymore, and he still doesn't catch many fish.

I had a friend in University who used to chance his arm with about 50 women every night in a club. He got slapped and had drink poured on him more than all of the rest of us put together. But god damn did this guy get laid alot...You see he played the statistical game. He 'spooked' a lot but he took a proverbial trout home every night we went out...

Luckily there is a lot of water in NZ. You really can fish 10km of water a day and not meet another angler. I don't think I met another angler in my first 20 fishing days in NZ last season. There were many days where we covered 8-10km and sometimes more of river. The main problem with this is the walk out. If you take a tent then you can camp and the following day you can fish a further 6km and then have the mother and father of all walk outs. It's a bitch, but you will get to fish waters where the fish are very rarely fished for and they can be big. Of course camping out is what its all about in NZ. Great big roaring fires, feasting on noodles and beans and maybe if you are lucky some powdered mash! (Pic 5) If you're clever and camp near a good pool then there is also the chance of a night fish. On one such trip last season I took a fish of 6.5lb, which absolutely blew my mind. I didn't see the fish until it was in the net, as we didn't want to turn on our lights and spook any further fish in the pool. A great big eel came along and scared the crap out of me as I was returning the fish. Thankfully he swam away just fine. I screamed like a girl.. (Pic 6 )

Since returning home I haven't been doing all that much trout fishing. Ronan and I have had a few days fishing together with some reasonable results. I now want to focus on flyfishing for Pike and maybe some saltwater flyfishing for the coming months and maybe give the trout a right go later in the season. (And maybe start tying for NZ 2009 just in case )

A couple of random pics include Paul's truck letting off a bit of steam, Mark sleeping because he is old and can't keep up with us youngsters, us gathering firewood NZ style with ronan on the roof and a couple of others...

Cheers for reading folks. Please sign Ronan's petition regarding salmon cages located in Connemara, west of Ireland. This farm will destroy a local fishery if people do not take action...

http://www.petitiononline.com/seatrout/petition.html

Thanks John O'Malley (aka Lumolegs O'Malley) aka (Tangles Lumolegs O'Malley...)

Pic Of Day

SL Promotions