Ronan's Report

There’s not much for me to report from this weekend so I’ll keep it short. On Friday morning, after being up all night with severe stomach cramps and vomiting I went to hospital where I spent the next 36 hours. I got home last night. This morning due to gales I only put the boat in for a short while and I spent the next 4 or so hours on the bank. I caught one fish. My waders leaked. My stomach is about 70% ok. Work in the morning. No pints. A weekend to forget! (although the intravenous morphine was nice, not a pint but on tap!)

Ronan..

Wading in thick mud brought this reward..

Next weekend I only have Sunday to fish so I made the most of this one. I would have anyway of course! I got out for 2 hours on Friday evening on Dunstan. I had a few events and one I converted into a landed fish. It looks as though the browns are starting to put on some condition.

Saturday I fished alone. I went back to the spot that’s been treating me so well lately and once again it didn’t disappoint. I put the boat in but due to the lake still dropping and incredibly low I could not submerge the trailer. I thought after I left the boat on anchor to find a spot where I could submerge the trailer to make it easy to get the boat out again at the end of the day. This turned out to be a bad idea as I got bogged and lost the first hour and 20minutes of the day digging the truck out.

Once I was on the water my slow start was forgotten about. I was made eat my words a little during the fishing day, something that happens me quite regularly. 2 blogs ago I spoke about the takes from depth being certain and solid and having a 12 event day converted into 12 landed fish. Well on Saturday I converted about 20 events into 5 fish! I lost about 5 really good fish at the stage in the fight just before the fish gives in and slides into the net. It’s generally unusual to lose a fish after being hooked up solid for a few moments. One could dwell on ways to fix this, or wonder if one was at fault but statistically everything will happen eventually so the best thing to do about this unusual occurrence is nothing. Thanks John O Malley! After landing 17 out of 17 hooked pike one season, John assured me that statistics would even things up. He was right. I think I lost the next 17.

Today (Sunday 19^{th of August}) I fished with Mike Wilkinson. I decided we should try some new water. It’s important to explore. If you don’t you won’t learn much. The main thing we learned today was not to go back, not that it was terrible, there’s just much better water available not too far away. The fishing was slow and difficult but we managed a few fish. Thinking hard and always making sure we were covering water with some feature or contrast made the difference. Boat fishing is not chuck and chance. I’m always 100% aware of the type and depth (within reason) of water I’m fishing over. Maximise on your fishing day by only fishing the best water. Local knowledge is not so important. It’s instinctive. Like a river a lake can be read.

Back to the necessary evil tomorrow. Tight lines all! Good fishing with you today Mike!

Ronan.. (CI, Joiner, Fishing host by appointment)

The weekends are too short! 2 days a week on the water is just not enough.

I had a mixed 2 days on the water. Kevin came down from Fairlie for the weekend and we fished on Saturday. The same tactics as last week nailed 7 really good rainbows for us.

Today Paul Macandrew and I fished together. The plan was to put the boat in but it was too wild. I’ve had a few close calls on small boats and yachts and I don’t want to push my luck any more. Aside from the danger side of the coin, there’s no comfort fishing from a small boat in a big wave. We fished a few river and stream mouths from the bank instead. We didn’t catch any but it was good to fish with and meet Paul. I expect we’ll have a few more missions on the water in the not so distant future.

5 days work and I’ll be back on the water. Nothing else makes sense.

Ronan..

My laptop has died, this time for good I think so I’m using a 15 year old computer to put this weeks report together. Not an easy task. To say it’s slow would be an understatement! It seems to be working however so I won’t jinx it..

Last weekend I had intended to fish Saturday and Sunday on one or 2 of the Southern Lakes. Friday night was a late one so I fished the second half of Saturday on Dunstan. It was very good! There were lots of fish moving and I had a few but they are still on the thin side. I have not encountered any rainbows out there so I’m guessing they are either out deep or up the river. I tried the sinking like on it without much success.

Saturday was different! I motored across a nearby lake (not Dunstan!) to try some totally new water. I got to an area with a small river flowing in and some dead trees sticking out of the lake. The water here is cristal clear which makes the drop offs clearly evident. I started with a clear intermediate line and a woolley bugger drifting along and over the drop-off. This gave me a good start but something was telling me go deeper, so I did. Much deeper in fact. I used a Di7 line from Airflo which is bacically a 40 foot superfast sinking shooting head on intermediate running line. I fished it with my 8wt tcx. The wind was idealy light so I could cover water but still have time to let my line reach depth. usually 10-20 foot. My technique is to cast it out about 25-30m, let it sink for various amounts of time then slowly (sometimes quickly!) retrieve it back to the boat. Some people recommend a short leader with a sinking line so that the fly quickly follows the fly line at whatever depth its at. I dont agree with this. I prefer a long leader and allow the first few retrieves to get the fly to the level (depth) of the fly line. A long cast is an advantage with this method because after the fly has reached the depth of the line you should still be far enough from the boat or back to prospect a lot of water. Also plenty fish take the fly as its diving to line level. The longer you can effectively keep the fly from the fly line the less fish you will spook. Takes from depth must be experienced to be believed. They are usually certain, clean and solid. On Saturday I hooked 12 and landed 12.

This is my first NZ winter in ten years so this fishing is basically new to me. I have just realised a type of fishing that consumes my thoughts. I want to on the water and no where else but I have to work. The world is all messed up. It should be 2 days work and 5 days fishing.

Ronan..

I put a note of facebook last week suggesting that any anglers who would like to meet up for a day or 2 fishing should do so in Cromwell. On Friday night last, Quentin, James, and Jeff drove up from Invercargill.  Carl arrived from Wanaka (a bit late!) on Saturday morning and all six of us hit the lake. Carl and I took my boat out and after a few miss starts we were away!

Fishing was slow but after a couple of quiet hours we found a few fish cruising over shallow sand flats. We abandoned the boat to make the best of the opportunity. Woolley Buggers only inspired follows but size 16 midge patterns worked well. In one hour I hooked 4 and landed 2, Carl hooked a few and Mike who was not far away also landed 2 and I expect hooked a few more also. Quentin, James and Jeff also had some decent action where ever they were.

All in all it was a good day out. I’ve known Carl for years but this is the first time we fished together. I hope we can get a few more days on the water in the coming season and the remainder of this one. I expect Carl will want to even up the 3-0 score card for the day anyway! 🙂

On Sunday it was just Jeff and I fishing. The wind was strong, very strong at times and this completely knocked out the sight fishing. We tried blind fishing the sand flats where the fish were the day before with buggers and this produced 2 hook ups and 1 landed fish each. We tried lough style in the wave for 2 or 3 hours and amazingly this produced only one fish. I really expected more. Long drifts over a variety of depths between 1 and 8’ with varied lake bed from sand to silt to dense weed to not so dense weed and only one fish! In summer I expect the same tactic to take 15 to 20 fish for a day. Bring it on!

Carl put an Idea in my head on Saturday and it will be turned into reality. He suggested that I put a polling platform on the boat! Daltona can float on 5 or 6 inches of water, She’s wide and very stable and low to the water which makes her a great flats boat (with the engine up obviously). Watch this space! Frankly I can’t wait. The spotting potential from a raised platform has to be huge. Bring this on too! Yea!

And finally some good news. The Around the Mountain Trail which was set to severely and irreversibly detract from the scenic beauty, the serenity and the quality of fishing in the Oreti Valley has been denied. Not completely unfortunately. Permission has been granted for the track to go ahead below Oreti road. Not perfect but a good result none the less. To all the anglers and non anglers who submitted in opposition, attended and or spoke at the hearing, wrote to the Southland Times, wrote to your MP’s, whatever. This is a good result for us and all anglers and indeed everybody who wants to use and enjoy the Oreti Valley just the way it is.

This weekend Daltona and I will fish Hawea or Wanaka I think! Anyone keen?

The Lough Inagh system and Kylemore Lough and river in Connemara, Co. Galway Ireland are fishing really well. Google them for info!

Ronan..