Ronan's Report

Paul and I first met John Newman (aka, John the Pom) in his home in Tasmania in 2009. We had loads in common. We enjoyed the finer things in life such as Frank Zappa, moonshine, sealsfur, Hairy Castles, the local pub, The Sheep Shearers Ball and fly-fishing. With such things in common a life long friendship was inevitable.

John emailed me recently to tell me that he was going to be in Ireland in August and he wanted some information on where to go to catch a pike on the fly. As luck would have it I was going to be in the country at the time so a date was set to chase down a Corrib pike.

Sometimes a day afloat is as much about having the craic as it is about catching a fish. This was definitely one of those days. In fact, the craic was probably more important. The fishing was shite anyway. We put in a serious effort none the less. We went to parts of the 44’000 acre lough where John O Malley and myself had great sport in the past with fish to well over 20lbs. The big girls were not out to play however. On the bright side though, John got his first ever pike, and his second which got his first ever human (see pic!). The time-space continuum nicely in balance!

John and John, It was a great day!

Ronan..

John chooses one of O Malleys vast supply of pike flies!

John the Pom and myself about to take on some Corrib Pike!

A fantastic Corrib sky..

A happy man after succeeding in his mission. You my remember John from many of my Tasmanian blogs from a few years ago. He happened to be in Ireland while I was home so we drank Guinness and fished!

Success!!!!

"I'll have this one"!! John had never caught a pike on the fly so that was the objective!

Two dappers enjoying ideal conditions for their sport..

One for John O Malley on the last drift of the day! No big boys out on that day which was a dam shame!!

Irish Pike with John and John, August 2015 052_1024x576

After we mopped up the blood we enjoyed the view..

...the little pike jumped from Johns grip and tried to eat him index finger first. It was like a scene from Sharknado.. only Pikenado!

Another Pike for John Newman! But this one is very angry....

John takes us home. He knows every rock on the Corrib, even the one he hit passing on the inside of Molloys Rock. "Nobody should ever pass on the inside of Molloys Rock he said..

Iza and I are just back in NZ after our multi-country adventure. For the first month we did our own thing before meeting up in Ireland for my sisters wedding. I only did a days fruitless fishing in Vietnam, the rest of the time I was tearing around the country on the back of my brothers motorbike. We also made time to drink the worst beer in the world, eat some of the best food in the world and see the sights. I also only did one days fishing in Jordan with limited success. Don’t get your hopes up about seeing anything amazing but I will have some good information on Jordan’s fly fishing potential.. The rest of the time in Jordan was spent diving and snorkeling in the Red Sea. Fishing was not priority (for a change) for much of the trip but I had a few weeks at home in the west of Ireland where it was. Some of the fishing was excellent, mostly on Lough Inagh for grilse and Kylemore Lough for big sea-trout. I’m not sure when exactly I’ll be able to put a report together but it will include salmon, seat-rout, brown trout, pike, some saltfly and being hospitalized in a military hospital in the south of Jordan, actually, that’s enough said about the latter. It was hell.

The photo’s below are from before we left NZ about 9 weeks ago. My intention was to get a report out before we left but better late than never! Some good stuff to come but I’m waiting on a memory card in the post from Ireland so a NZ report may come first. Needless to say I’ll be on the water all weekend!

It’s good to be back!

Ronan..

Just over a month to October 1st!         Groovy…

I've been working on a possum streamer for a while. The longest fibres are in the possums tail which I tie in as the tail of the fly giving it the required length. The fuzzy body hair bulks up the body of the fly.

Heading to the river!

Some more Clutha exploration.

Clutha panorama..

Lovely water. Nymphing worked best. We also had a few on egg patterns.

Kevin and I took it on again on Sunday. A change of tactics from the day before made the world of difference!

Iza and I didn't do so well on Saturday but the tea was good!

A wee brown goes back..

A superb rainbow!!

Back she goes.

Clutha, June 2015 part 2 032_1024x768

We hooked about a dozen, landed 7, this was the best !

Kevin into a heavy fish..

The one that got away!

Cool and crisp, Great to be out in it!

Clutha, June 2015 part 3 022_edited-1_934x768

More exploration and another braid. This one I'm looking forward to trying in summer.

The sun broke through eventually.

I fished alone on Saturday, Kevin joined me on Sunday. Fishing was tough!

Winter fishing has a lot to offer in NZ.

The fish in the braids are looking closer to spawning than a week ago. Time to leave them be and hit the main river.

A week later. A flood during the week changed the fishes locations and habits.