Ronan's Report

The last Cromwell gathering of anglers was fun and another one is on the horizon. “Wild Foods and Fly-Fishing” will be the theme. The land around Lake Dunstan moves with rabbits and hares, The lake is full of trout, Deer and pigs roam wild not too far away and although the west coast is a few hours away I’m sure a mission there to gather muscles, blue cod and crayfish could be arranged. I think early February it will take place. From memory, wild mushrooms will be easy pickings then and hopefully my potato crop will be ready even though they have not broken through the earth yet! My idea is simple. Everyone will be welcome. We will all fish on the Saturday and eat a wild food feast that evening cooked by me and my helpers (you don’t know who you are yet). We will drink. Some of us will push through till dawn. Then we will arise and fish the Sunday. Some of us will use boats on the lake, others can fish the rivers, whatever. It’s an event to bring people together, feast, fish and get pissed… in any order you see fit. Watch this space!

The season is in full swing now. Sean from Tassie and Teoni just stopped in for dinner and a few beers, Glen Ogden will be here soon from Victoria, Kristian from Denmark is also coming for the full season, and the legend Graeme Williams,( http://www.insightflyfishing.com.au/)the Northern Territories best guide, is also coming for a visit soon. Paul and I fished with Graeme a few years ago and it was a truly excellent experience. Richard Howard will be coming from Ireland (I’ll get to your email tomorrow!!) The social side of angling will soon be in full swing. Guy is coming through tomorrow and I may well head North with him for the weekend to fish around Omarama. Sean will be there too and maybe Chris Dore.

The weekend gone by was a great one on the water. Daltona gave only minimal trouble. Kevin and I fished together on Saturday morning and we both did well. As luck would have it for him the sun came out and the rain stopped shortly after he left the lake! I enjoyed some magic fishing in the flat calm. The top end of Dunstan is a unique fishery. Because the Clutha flows in there, there is a constant currant flowing over the flats. On flat calm spells the boat will drift along over the flats covering lots of water just as you would in a wind but because its calm you can read the water much better. I had about 25 trout for the weekend… and 2 seagulls!

Ronan..

ps. I’m exhausted writing this. When I read back over it nothing goes in! It is the way it is now anyway! Enjoy.. 🙂