Ronan's Report

A Great Season Ends With Exciting Prospects..

May 18th, 2015 Ronan Creane No comments

Another river season has come to an end. Many rivers are still open in May but I find myself looking toward other options – lakes, river mouths, the canals or possibly the West Coast. Prior to a recent mission to the canals I did a little research on surrounding lakes, tarns and rivers to see if any remained open in May. As it turned out, all were closed since April 30th but it gave me lots of new ideas for next season. I’m actually pretty excited about it. There are some spring creeks, tarns and rivers that I’ve never fished, new territory to explore and some of it is not too far away. That’s one of the amazing things about this country; waterways in abundance and always something new to check out if you make the time to explore. Try something new instead of the tried and trusted.

Mark Adamson, Robbie Mcphee and myself finished off the brown trout season with a 3 day mission on a river we all enjoy. The fish were difficult, not really looking at our offerings at all but we all managed a few fish. We had a fantastic hut to stay in and the craic between the 3 of us in the evenings was as good as the fishing. I had a bad cold to deal with and deal with it I did with a few hot whiskeys. Mark had a couple too just because they’re a great drink to warm up the bones after a cold day on the river. The story of our trip is told in the photos below.

The lakes in central are fishing well! Iza and I had a great trip there 2 weeks ago. We had plenty cruising rainbows to fish for in certain spots and browns in others. I got my fathers buzzers working on Benmore too which is always a pleasure. It’s a very underrated, or more to the point, unknown way to catch trout here in NZ. When they work, they really work!

Finally, Trevor Bourne, a long time sexylooper has just moved to Wanaka from the UK to build Epic fly rods for Carl Mcneil. you’ll be seeing more of him up here. An all round good bugger and great angler. Welcome Trevor! And Happy Birthday..

Tight lines.. Winter is not closed season, its just the winter season!

Ronan..

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: Myself, Robbie and Mark at the beginning of our 3 day mission.

: The river was high and remained high each day due to constant snow melt and lots of rain.

: We regularly had to climb out of the gorge to make the going upriver a little easier.

: This Taimen like trout was incredibly long, it weighed 8.5lbs. with condition it would have been some fish, but, as we say in Ireland, “If your aunt had balls she’d be your uncle!”

: Robbie with a nice wee brownie.

: Breandan??

: On day one I got the fish of the trip. This went 9.25lbs and was one of my best this season. This fish never saw a mouse!

: Back to hut. Fire, craic, beer and food. Oh yea!

: Day 2, Mark into a good fish after a few false starts!

: A cracking late season fish for Robbie Mcphee. I love the “W” spot!

: An old gold miners hut.. I’d like to light a fire in the fireplace and spend the night in it!

: Back at camp, Mark shows us his battle scars..

: ..while I make the hot whiskeys!

: Mark into a fish on day 3.

: On a day when fish were not in taking mood at all, this one went all out to eat Marks nymph.

: As the rain came in we climbed out of the gorge to skip a bluff..

: We decided to pass quite a bit of hardship while we were up there. With limited fishing time due to the river rising quickly we had to hit straight for the best bit.

: Torrential rain on arrival back at the river. I hooked one, then we decided to get to the safe side of the river.. shortly after we decided to call it a day.. and a season!

: After what is always a tough climb out we had the ease of a track to walk out on.

: Even though there are lots of rivers open in May, I find myself drawn to the lakes.

: Iza into a good rainbow at one of my secret spots near Omarama!

: Iza wearing colours to match the rainbow trout!

: Fabulous colours..

: And another great fish for Iza. She’s had a super season!

: Back he goes…

: A herron on the toilet!

: I had some good buzzer fishing on Benmore to finish the Omarama trip. As always, we stayed at Buscot Station Backpackers.

: Recently I caught up my old friend, Trevor. He lives in Wanaka now building fly-rods. The stars have aligned for him, that’s for sure!

: The only fish of the day on the first cast!

: Lake Hawea is a spectacular place..

Back he goes...

This Taimen like trout was incredibly long, it weighed 8.5lbs. with condition it would have been some fish, but, as we say in Ireland, "If your aunt had balls she'd be your uncle!"

On day one I got the fish of the trip. This went 9.25lbs and was one of my best this season. This fish never saw a mouse!

Breandan??

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We regularly had to climb out of the gorge to make the going upriver a little easier.

The river was high and remained high each day due to constant snow melt and lots of rain.

Myself, Robbie ans Mark at the beginning of our 3 day mission.

A cracking late season fish for Robbie Mcphee. I love the "W" spot!

Robbie with a nice wee brownie.

Day 2, Mark into a good fish after a few false starts!

An old gold miners hut.. I'd like to light a fire in the fireplace and spend the night in it!

Back at camp, Mark shows us his battle scars..

..while I make the hot whiskeys!

Fishing with Robbie and Mark, April 2015 223_1024x768

Mark into a fish on day 3.

On a day when fish were not in taking mood at all, this one went all out to eat Marks nymph.

After what is always a tough climb out we had the ease of a track to walk out on.

Torrential rain on arrival back at the river. I hooked one, then we decided to get to the safe side of the river.. shortly after we decided to call it a day.. and a season!

We decided to pass quite a bit of hardshp while we were up there. With limited fishing time due to the river rising quickly we had to hit straight for the best bit.