Just a quick blog today to clear the decks. I had a busy and successful season finale with some superb trout for clients. One very big fish to report on too. Before I get to that I’d like to share the rest of the seasons highlights. It’s a while since I put up a blog so some of these photos go right back to summer! I’ll also be changing back to the previous blog format after this one. Paul and I made this change back to the old format because it seemed like a good Idea, but the one I’ve been using for the last few years is much better for images. I put a slideshow at the bottom or you can click on the thumbnail images, but you have to go back to click the next one. WordPress can be very user unfriendly at times!!
Some exciting stuff coming up – Jeff and I will be doing another episode of Pure Fly NZ with Nick Reygaert. We have some ideas but nothing is set in stone as yet. Also the Piscatorial pot! I probably wont run it this month but I hope to run it in June. We’ll certainly need a good stock of wood for the brazier – which wont be a problem! Also a potential visit to the coast on the cards..
If you’d like to get in touch about guided fly fishing next season please get in touch. The season is already quite full but still some decent gaps for multi-day trips. ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.
Enjoy the pics below and I’ll be back soon with something more!
Tight Lines, Ronan..
ps, Here is a link to my flies available from Fulling Mill.
I haven’t needed the winch often, but it saved me here! The grounds seemed firm under foot – but it wasnt!
Natures paving..
No fish – but very enjoyable none the less.
Out with Michael.
He’s been out with me a few times now, working on casting..
..and catching plenty fish!
The beginning of a solo day.
Tough going but managed 2 in a pool near the end of the day.
A decent seatrout.
Scrambling country!
The beginning of a few days with Brian.
Perfect conditions and plenty fish..
A great pool this one..
Day 2. Plenty action but just 2 to the net.
Including this solid bow and one bigger.
Fishing myself today..
Some exploring.. No fish but promising water for October.
Change of location and decent fishing.
Lovely water.
Doesnt get much nicer!
The sun makes this place look extra stunning.
a 5.5lb bow on my Kiwi dun.
The line jumped and wrapped as a rainbow ran. Nothing I could do!
Redemption. On the dry again.
Out with Robbie. First fish of the day.
Then this super bow over 6lbs.
Robbie into one.
Changing tactics..
A solid bow.
Day 2. Robbie works the eye.
Great day!
Robbie into a goodie.
A beauty for me.
And this superb fish a while later.
Same fish..
A beauty for Robbie..
A quick close-up..
..and away he goes.
Then another for Robbie..
..and another!
Just me today.. The Hotspot takes this lovely fish from a deep riffle.
The grip and grin! A very handy way to photograph fish..
.. this is a nicer way but harder to get right.
Nice conditions. We had months of this in central over late summer.
A sper 6lber to finish the day – on my Brown Nymph.
As we flew deep into Fjordland last January I wondered what might make this adventure an adventure. Something always happens when you put yourself in the hands of nature. Could be good, could be bad, maybe dangerous maybe not but something always adds to the story…
We landed about 3kms up a river which flows directly into a Flord. It looked as if we were above the tidal zone so we thought it should be a good base of opperations. Nick brought his raft so from here we could access the fjord downstream or the main river upstream. The objective for the 3 days was to learn and explore as much of the system as possible by foot and raft from the ocean to the headwaters. When the heli departed we were alone in the wilderness. I joked that I hoped we haden’t forgotten anything.
Day 1.
After considering the weather forecast we decided that the best option for day 1 was the main river. The sea breeze in the forecast might make the fjord difficult for the oarsman. Upstream was a very large, long pool; barely flowing. We decided to assemble the raft to get through that first pool to access the flowing river above it. It made sence to have that job done anyway. As we started to assemble the raft I noticed Nick looking a little bothered – and nothing bothers Nick! “What’s up”, I asked? “Forgot the bolts’ he said.. Feck. Okay, so this is a hurdle. We have a raft but we can’t assemble the frame. Not going to let this beat us, we gathered what we could to put the raft together. Tent string, 80lb nylon, duct tape and zip-ties. What couldn’t be assembled with that? Well not this raft! Before long we were all go. MacGyver would have been proud. After a couple of teething problems we advanced up river. As we rowed up Nick questioned the damp green slime on the logs. Is this tidal? We agreed that it could be but wern’t totally sure. When we got to the end of the long pool we tied up the raft with 80lb test and continued upriver on foot.
The river was small, a few cumecs I guess. Clear and beautiful flowing through pristine beech forest. A mix of bouldery pools and gravelly runs. Ideal trout water. We quickly moved upstream without trout to slow us down. We blind fished now and again when a piece of water screamed fish – but they weren’t there. We fished to about a kilometre short of where the river becomes unfishable. At that point we decided not to push on since they simply weren’t there. Apart from a couple of 2lbers we saw nothing. After a 2 hour hike back down the river we got to the raft. It was strewn up on top of some logs with the 80lb test tangled in a root system. I guess it was tidal. I rowed back down the long pool. About 20m from camp, Nick hooked into a super fish from the raft. A great surprise. A 6.5lb stunning seatrout and a perfect end to the fishing day. We got back to camp and cracked open a cold beer from Nicks Yeti and got the fire going. I then set to work cooking steak, spuds and beans. Good food, company, fire and few beers in the wilderenss is hard to beat…
Day 2.
The best weather day. Since there were no fish in the river then they must be in the tidal zone. Nicks big seatrout from tidal water the evening before certainly made us feel very excited about 3kms of tidal river water before getting to the fjord. We set off at about 7am. Nick on oars and me casting. Teamwork. Nick keeping the boat on the best bank, just far enough out for me to efficiently and effectively cover the water with my streamer. After a slow start I picked up a fish from a stream mouth. Then the fishing really amped up. We’d catch about 2 a piece and then swap positions – oars for the rod. The fish generally weren’t big but the action was pretty constant. We were fishing this tidal zone at low tide. There was great excitement as the tight river section opened out into an awesome fjord. Just to see it was enough. But what will we find here? First up was a very fishy shorline. We pulled up the raft and fished it from the shore – and it was good! We landed quite a few here before heading for the drop-off where thousands or years of deposition from the river meets the ocean. Now and agian the tent string keeping the oarlocks from falling down would break. We got pretty good at fixing this on the fly. a couple of minutes and we were off again. The flats on the way from the river to the drop-off looked fishy we saw very little. There were occasional bust-ups out in the black ocean water, sometimes close to the drop-off. This was clearly an opportunity. Before we persued that we tried for a blue cod for dinner. We were depending on catching fish for dinner! Nick and I lost one each but didn’t get one. As luck would have it, A cray boat in the bay saw us and came in for chat. A beautiful boat called the Amazon. Certainly the nicest fishing boat I’ve seen! The crew were a very sound bunch of fellas and we chatted for quite a while. When they offered us a few cray tails we happily said yes please! Dinner was sorted. Before they went on their way they towed us way out into the fjord so that we could drift back in with the wind and catch some cod. The idea was good but it was unsuccessful. We then turned our attention to the drop-off and the bust-ups. When a shot finally presented I picked up my 7 weight trout rod. I hooked a kahawai (probably – but who knows) which took off out and down. When I was near the end of my backing he broke me. My mistake. Wrong rod. More to the point – wrong reel. The birds were following the fish so we followed the birds. This was not easy on oars with considerable wind. Finally another opportunity. This time I picked up Nick’s 10 wt Scott Meridian with a large Hatch reel on it. This time I was correctly armed and landed a nice kahawai after a super strong fight. Nick and I hooked a couple of others too but just the one landed. It was high summer so the days were long. That was a good thing because we were about 6kms from camp and it was getting late. We wanted to fit in the fishy bank again too. By now the tide would be low again. We got another couple there before the row up the tidal zone of the river channel. The tide was going out again which slowed the progress on oars but still no major problem. The fishing was quiet while I rowed. Nick took the last kilometre on oars while I fished again. Then, right at camp (just like yesterday) I hooked into a strong fish. I caught a glimpse and said it wasn’t a trout or a kahawai. To my delight a jack mackerel came to the net. This is an ocean fish 3kms up a river in fresh water! Tidal, yes – but fresh water. What a day. It was 9.30pm by the time we made it back to camp. I got a big fire going. Nick was on cooking duty. Spuds, beans and crayfish. Probably the best crayfish I’ve eaten thanks to Nick the chef and the fishermen from the Amazon. After Nick went to his tent I stayed up for a while to wind down and just relax by the fire. I needed it after a non-stop brilliant day.
Day 3.
The main river was not an option so it had to be the tidal zone again. With the tide slightly different we had a chance to see it in another light. This was indeed interesting. With higher water in the tidal zone the fishing was very poor. Nick got one or 2 and I got my best trout of the trip. A stunning, fat seatrout. A great result but nowhere near the numbers of trout on the previous day. Down at the fishy bank, we arrived on low tide and it was good again. We caught a few. The advancing tide filled the edges quickly and this knocked out the fishing. We thought it might improve it but it didn’t. At least not on this day! We then fished the flats concentrating on the gutters or anything fishy. It was quiet but nick did get a follow from a very large trout. Possibly over 10lbs – that sort of big. Time flew by and we had a heli to catch. We checked out some shallows filling up with the rising tide. These were full of whitebait. I’m sure trout would come into these areas at times but not today. The row back up river was easy with the flowing tide. We got back to camp at high tide. Funny how our timing worked out – this was the first time we saw camp at high tide in 3 days. Luckily there was enough gravel for the heli to land. We took the raft apart and laughed about how the duct tape, zip-ties, 80lb nylon and tent string held it together for 3 days of hardship. With everything packed up there was time to sit down and have a beer and chat about 3 amazing days exploring this system. We discussed what we had learned and agreed that it left us with more questions than answers. We’ll just have to go back!
Nick Reygaert
Most of you will have seen some of Nicks fly fishing productions from The Source to Pure Fly NZ and so much in between. You might know him as a cameraman more than an angler. Well I can tell you something – he’s an angler first and foremost, and one of the toughest I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with. Dawn til dusk is no problem for him. Fly fishing is his life whether he’s behind a camera or not.
Tight lines, Ronan.
Ps, for guiding bookings visit my website or email me ronan@sexyloops.com. For a look at my flies available from Fulling Mill, including the streamers I used on this trip, click here. FYI, just enough time to grab some kiwi duns and size 16 clarets for the end of april – best hatch fishing of the year!
Flying into Fjordland wilderness..
The persuit of adventure!
Dropped beside camp for the few days..
First to assemble the raft..
..Nick forgot the bolts so zip-ties and duct tape will have to do!
Ready to go upstream. We’ll use the boat to get through this long pool..
With the boat tied up – possibly in the tidal zone – the fishing begins..
Beautiful water..
Had to take the packs off for this crossing!
So much potential but not seeing any fish..
Great to see this place..
Water getting fishier..
..but still no fish!
No fish here either..
..or here..
I think we timed the river wrong. The fish must be in the tidal zone at this time of year.
We fished almost all the fishable water and saw just 2 small fish.
After 2 hours walk we were back at the boat.
Clearly it was in the tidal zone! Luckily the 80lb nylon held it!
Nick got this cracker at camp from the boat at the very end of the day!
A brilliant 6.5lb trout.
Camp.
Excited about the prospect of day 2 in the tidal zone..
My first of the trip..
Great action at low tide in the tidal zone heading to the fjord.
Lots of fish!
A goodie for Nick..
..one for me.
The fishy bank.
Then back in the boat to get to the drop-off.
What a place.
Right out at the drop-off into the deep sea.
Searching for blue cod for dinner. We lost a couple.
Then these fellas came for a chat! A really sound crayfish crew. They gave us crays for dinner!
Then into a kahawai, finally!
They can pull! The 10 weight Scott and Hatch were well tested.
A quick stop on the way back to camp.
The camp fish! 3kms up the tidal zone in fresh water – a Jack Mackerel!
The waterfall at camp.
It was after 9pm when we got to camp so dinner was late!
Nick did a great job on the pan,
One of the best dinners ever!
Happy days is right!
Breakfast on day 3.
Dragging down the boat.
Running repairs.
Back down the tidal zone. Certainly no point going up river.
Fishing was much harder with the slight change of tide.
The oar rope broke frequently. We learned to fix it in a couple of minutes.
My fish of the trip on the Killer Smelt!
A beautiful seatrout..
Heading back to camp for pick-up.
Checking out a backwater en-route.
Rowing back after a super 3 days.
The raft did surprisingly well held together with string, tape and zip-ties! H&S at its best!
Packing up.
The 500 arrives. Great machines – they can carry a lot of weight.
It’s been a very full on start to the year. Some guiding which has been great but more importantly I’ve had a lot of time to fish myself – I’m not quite sure how that happened but I’m not complaining! There’s been lots of highlights. One of them, the biggest highlight for sure was a trip to Fjordland with Nick Reygaert. The trouble is, too much other stuff has happened since to do that trip justice in a shared blog. It deserves it’s own report and it will come!! I’m just not sure when yet.
Another highlight I’d like to mention was on a day I went in search of a big fish or 2 on a solo mission. It was a day when I needed to walk a lot of river to find fish. Over the day I walked about 12 kilometres of river and only saw only 5 fish. 3 of those I landed. Number one and two took my Kiwi Dun without much difficulty but the 3rd was a different story. This turned into an hour long cat and mouse tactical battle on the last pool of the day. It started as I approached a long, slow pool and saw some nervous water half way up. Then a rise in the same area. “Brilliant” I thought, “theres a fish in the pool”. I advanced carefully up the pool looking as intently as possible – then I spooked a small fish of about 3lbs. That was not what I was expecting. Surely that was not the fish I saw first? I didn’t think it was a small fish. On the reasonable chance there’s still a big fish cruising the pool, I’ll continue to proceed with caution – that was my thinking. Sure enough, I saw another rise and it looked big. “Game on” I thought. I moved slowly to intercept the rise but could not see the fish. Then he rose under the cut bank at my feet. Knee length grass obscured me from the fishes vision and I could just make out his tail as it pushed him gently upstream and out of sight. The light was not great. This was the point when I decided to take a more careful approach than I might usually take. I decided not to persue the fish by way of following him up the pool because I thought I could easily spook him. Instead I decided to reset altogether. I went right back to the start of the pool and started my approach again. I ended up doing this numerous times. Somtimes I got a half chance, sometimes a brief visual, sometimes nothing. On one occasion I got a great visual and enough time to make a cast. 3 actually. I covered him each time with the dun and he totally ignored it each time. The fish was cruising like a trout looking for a cicadas but there were none on the water – at least none that I could see. I put one on anyway and once again reset. Back to the start. Another careful, slow and stealthy approach. Then, right up at the head of the pool I saw him rise. “Now” I thought.. I ran lightfooted half way to the rise then slowed right down. My thinking was that if he was cruising towards me after that rise he should be close now. From a crouched position I was scoping all round, now staying still. Then I saw him – cruising at 45 degrees away from my bank but in my general direction. I laid out my cast and dropped the cicada about 2 metres in front of him with an intentional plop. He immediatly set his course for it and cruised confidently all the way to it and….. chomp. The lift into such big weight is like a drug and I’m certainly addicted. What a high.
I thought he would make the magic 10lbs. He looked it during the fight but my weigh net said 9.5lbs. Of course it doesn’t matter but there is a certain fixation people have (me included!) about those ellusive double figure fish which is why I like to say the weight. That was the end of a really amazing day in the backcountry. I had the whole upper river to myself and I walked pretty much all of it.
In other news, I’m delighted to have another 4 fly patterns in the 2022 Fulling Mill catalog. I could not be happier with how well the team at Fulling Mill replicated these flies. 3 of them are streamers and one is a dry. One of the streamers is the tried and trusted Bruiser. Immortalised in the Lake Pukaki episode of Pure Fly NZ. This fly caught all the fish for both Jeff and myself on day 2 – before it had a name! The 2nd one is the Killer Smelt. A newer pattern designed to immitate cockabullies and smelt. I’ve had great success on this fly. It works well in clear water when darker streamers will get follows but not takes. This is also great in the salt. And last but not least is the Green Machine. Lighter in colour than the Bruiser and darker than the smelt, this fly completes the little family of streamers. In my humble opinion, what sets these flies apart is their simplicity. Just 2 main componants of possum and marabou which seemlessly gel together in the water. Their profile is very lifelike with natural, fluid movement. Another advantage of these flies is that they don’t wrap around. They’re tied on the Fulling Mill Competition Heavyweight hook which is incredibly strong. Just as good as the Kamasan B175 which I always used in the past, now I just use the FM version. The dry fly is actually one of my fathers creations which he’d been tying for NZ for about 10 years, so it’s very much tried and trusted. It’s a favourite of many of my clients as well as one of my own. The only thing I added to this fly was the sighter post to make it more visable. In a 14 its a great mayfly immitation and the 12 is superb for larger mayflies or as a general dry. I’m excited to see how these flies do around the world! I know dad has had a lot of success on his dry on Lough Corrib in the West of Ireland during olive and sedge hatches. A good friend is using them in Tasmania right now. There’s a batch of 60 streamers headed to Malaysia to help Paul fill up 6 boxes of flies for the guides involved in the Sungai Tiang project. I’m really looking forward to seeing them in action over there! I know my good friend John O Malley is going to give them a swim on Corrib for early season brownies. I’m confident they’ll work well. All my Fulling Mill patterns are available here.
Feel free to get in touch about guided fly fishing on the lower South Island for the remainder of the season if you’re within NZ. For those of you abroad, it looks like visitors will be allowed in this October – although a dates has not yet been set. Feel free to get in touch to arrange a booking starting in November to be on the safe side. ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website
Tight lines! Ronan..
New flies for Fulling Mill.
The Bruiser. Tried and trusted and immortalised on the Pukaki episode of Pure Fly NZ.
The Killer Smelt – A great cockabully or smelt fly.
The Green Machine – Simplicity itself, a great streamer.
Out with Michael on a day when the first cast was all important.
A lovely trout on my brown nymph.
Out with Wesley and Mark.
One for me to open our account.
Wesley.
Some colour but thats no harm!
A great fish for Mark..
..on my Claret Nymph.
Weslry resorts to the worm!
Nice water..
Out with Matt for the day..
First of the day..
Very good fish!
Stunning day – but didn’t see as many as expected.
Out on my own!
Small water..
..with crazy strong rainbows.
One on the claret nymph..
.. and one on the hotspot.
Big fish hunting today – solitary. The best way.
I walked many kilometres..
A relatively small fish to start. 5.5lbs on my Kiwi Dun, now available from Fulling Mill.
Stunning water..
9lbs on the Kiwi Dun – A great fly invented by my dad.
Well taken!
The Kiwi Dun a bit bedraggled after 2 hefty trout..
Old Split Fin’s pool..
At the end of the day this 9.5lber on my cicada. My best of the season.
Back he goes. About 12kms of river for 5 sighted fish – 3 to the net.
Up to Central with the family and the boat!
My Kiwi Dun..
.It did very well in size 12 for these cruisers of the trout flats.
Trout flats at their best!
Adaline!
She loves the water!
Family holidays are better with a boat!
Great day out..
Loads of fish in the vicinity of where the boat was tied up.
How good is this? Just brilliant!!
Out with the HT4 – Super rod..
Lunch time!
Then back to this..
There was more water in this outtake than flowing into the Clutha.
The start of a fantastic day with Josh and Courtny.
After a casting lesson it was non stop action..
5lbs – Josh had to work for this one!
One for Courtny..
4.5lbs – her first trout!
Low and clear..
This fish went nuts. First run was as fast as I’ve seen a trout move.
It feels like the season has only started and it’s January already. This is why I try to get the most out of winter fishing – once the regular season opens, it’s over in no time, it accelerates. I guess thats why we have to make the best of everything. Life is short and we don’t know whats coming. On that note, I’m certainly trying to make the best of these challenging times. Yes, my business is in ruins and I worry about and miss my family in Ireland but all other aspects of life are better. Family time, my own fishing time, time in the workshop and restoring our old house and garden. In a normal guiding season I don’t see the inside of my workshop and maintaining the house is limited to mowing the lawns now and again. I know I’ll miss this when things go back to normal. In fact, it’s made me rethink what’s actually important so much so that I’m considering reducing my number of guide days per year to keep more of this work / life balance that I’m enjoying so much. I think when all this is over many people will realise the good points of this strange time – and there are many, at least there are here in NZ. I want to enjoy the good bits right now and forget about the negative as much as I can. I’m not going to look back and think I missed out or could have done things differently. I’m thankful to be in NZ where our freedom has not been affected like peoples in other parts of the world.
I’ve been on the water 3 out of the first 4 days of this year. Good results from various conditions. I have a very exciting exploratory backcountry mission coming up so this year is kicking off in style. More on all that in my next blog.
I’m attempting to improve my photography a little. David Lambroughton has been giving me a few valuable pointers. I’ve taken my wifes 10 year old Lumix GF2 out of the closet and got a polarising filter for it. I love the results. Polarising was always something I wanted from my picture taking but waterproof cameras are limited in this regard. Putting my sunnies in front of the lens wears thin! Don’t worry, you wont see “Photography” after my name or watermarks on any images! The photo’s below tell the story of a great finale to 2021.
I have 4 new patterns coming out this year with Fulling Mill. 3 streamers and a dry. I’m excited about that. More on those soon. My nymphs are currently available here.
Feel free to get in touch about guided fly fishing whether your in NZ or abroad. ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.
Tight lines and I sincerely wish you all a great 2022. Ronan..
Day 1 of 2 with Dougal. Off to the highcountry.
Beautiful water. Very few trout about..
Not ideal sighting conditions but things improved in the afternoon.
Some sunlight!
Split Fins old pool.. I think he’s finally done his dash.
Enjoying the view.. One small trout for the day.
Day 2. After a very slow morning things picked up in the afternoon.
A fiesty 5lber for Dougal..
On the board!
A large trout with a larger eel behind him. The eel passed the trout like a ship in the night.
Worth a streamer shot.
One at the end of the day on my brown nymph!
An hour on a small still-water with Kevin..
Not many fish about today..
Just half an hour to fish on the way home..
Off to the wilderness with Wesley.
rigging up..
Windy!
A great start on a sheltered shore – my Killer Smelt took this one.
Same fish better showing the beautiful copper tones.
Unrelenting wind!
Wind like this brings me back to fishing Corrib and Mask. I love it!
Not much action in the waves today.
It didn’t let up for a minute all day..
Wesley takes a nap..
Fishing the rolling wave..
Lunch time.
Back to the gales!
Some shelter behind points, bays and islands – On this day, this is where the fish were..
Brilliant fish..
One more to finish the day..
Walking back.
Still no let up from the wind.
Another day, another still-water – a farm dam.
Beautiful..
Wesley stalking one..
A hefty lump of a brown for me!
Wesley is in..
Back he goes.
Great to have options when rivers are high and coloured.
Off to another lake during a cold southerly.
I had some great fishing..
This on on “the Bruiser” My possum and marabou streamer, soon to be available from Fulling Mill.
The HT6 bent again!
Super fish.
No Irish lake angler wouldn’t love these conditions..
They were in the waves today..
Guiding Philip. He had a great day!
The best of about half a dozen.
Same trout on my faters little dry – also soon to be available from Fulling Mill.
Superb.
Out with Graeme and John..
Fewer fish than I expected but we made up for it by covering more ground.
A good brown for Graeme. 5 for the day! Graemes worm was deadly!
A recent experience fishing a lake with rainbows only (no browns) made me think about the differences between rainbows and browns. Their general behaviour – especially on lakes – is quite different. Most lakes I fish have a mix of browns and bows but I don’t usually target the rainbows. Not entirely because I prefer fishing for browns but because browns tend to occupy shallower water making them more of a sight fishing target. Even if sight fishing is not on the cards, brown trout tend to favour shallow water which is generally easier to read. Because of this, I enjoy fishing the shallow water more so rainbows are often a by-catch.
Yesterday I fished Manorburn Dam for the 2nd time recently. Manorburn has rainbows only so right away I found myself thinking differently and feeling a little on the backfoot. Sight fishing the edges or shallow flats (1 to 2 feet) wont work well because rainbows don’t generally cruise as tight or as shallow as as browns. Fishing around shallow structure (over 2 feet roughly) will work, maybe not quite as well as for browns but it’s a good start point anyway. I put on a heavy but small streamer on a floating line with a long leader to fish out into the deep and then retrieve in onto the shallow stuff. This worked well. The water in the lake, although quite clear, appears very black so finding structure was not always easy. Because of this I found myself loosing faith in certain areas and moving. I’m not really sure if this was right or wrong. More persistance may well have worked but I needed some sort of visual – deep rocks or weed beds etc. I could go on about my thinking but I can sum this up simply. In lakes, rainbows favour deeper water, so with the absence of browns, this is where I feel the focus of my fishing needs to be.
One of the interesting things about the fishing yesterday was the number of trout Guy and I picked up near the surface in deep, black water. Initially it came as a surprise because I thought we’d need to get a fly deep for the deep water to work. We were fishing from the boat so depending on the drift, one of us was often fishing over very deep water since the shorline drop-off was so steep. The black water was more productive then the water near the bank. We took a couple for the table and they were full of green beetles which explains this. Fish will move well off shore looking for terrestrials on the surface. It’s a pity we didn’t gut one there and then to get this clue. It would certainly have changed how we fished. There was nothing rising during the day but they must have still been on the prowl after eating them all morning, or maybe they were taking sunken beetles. Lesson learned for next time. While I’m on the topic, browns will also follow terrestrials out into deep water.
In rivers, the differences between rainbows and browns are much less. People talk about rainbows liking fast riffles but in my experience, you’ll catch a brown anywhere you’ll catch a rainbow. The main difference from what I’ve seen is that rainbows will not come into shallow backwaters or cruise the shallow edges of pools, whereas browns love this type of water – outside this, they’re very similar in a river – on the South Island anyway.
In other news, fishing has been really good. Very little guiding but doing an occasional day. They’ve both been great!! I’ve been checking out quite a bit of new water with varying results – typical of exploring – you take the good with the bad. The only way to find out is to fish it.
My nymphs are doing the business as always. They’re available here.
Feel free to get in touch about guiding in 2022-23 season. I imagine its going to be a busy one. If you’re in NZ, we have the rest of the season to ourselves so lets enjoy it! ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.
Tight Lines, Ronan..
Early season fishing – I forgot to put this in my last blog!
Some great bows. Here’s Brayden with the best one of the day.
Out with Dougal recently.
The only glimer of sunshine for the day.
Boisterous water.
Some great trout.
The both love going fishing. Most go back but we regularly keep one.
May camera which spent 5 days submerged in a river. Miraculously I found it – still working!
Walking downstream..
The start of a magnificent day – My Hotspot nymph is hard to beat.
Perfecrt weather and water.
My hotspot nymph – perfect for fast, coloured riffles.
6lbs of fat!
Another super fish on my claret nymph.
One to finish the day..
A good day out guiding Simon and James..
Simon working a fish on a tricky seam.
Simon is new to fly fishing. This is just his second trout. A casting lesson to start the day paid off!
James managed one on the last pool.. Lots of bad luck before the curse was finally broken.
Looks like fun!
brown trout.
Wesley and I exploring some new water..
More deer than trout! There’s 2 in the pic.
Nice water..
..but no fish..
Prospecting some perfect holding water..
Up and down all day. No 2 steps on the same level – and feckin hard work!
Beautiful place even if there were no trout.
Looking down from a clifftop.
A rainy day on a highcounty dam. This one is coming home for dinner.
A celebration of trout. Cold smoked, raw and fried. Absolutely fantastic.
No photoshop, just super colour – and delicious.
A few hours in the highcountry with Wesley and Cate.
A stunning brown for me..
..they really dont get much nicer.
The end of a good session!
Day out with David and Roddy.
Lunch..
Plenty of these..
Many fish depended on a perfect first cast to catch them..
My size 16 claret was deadly in the shallow riffles.
Great action all day.
Some exploring.
Looking good..
..looking even better..
..and better still!!
Landed a couple. This is a great find.
A day exploring Manorburn and Greenland with Camo-Guy.
Between 2002 and 2011 I fished the majority of every NZ season. Total freedom. I’d work in Ireland during the NZ winter and save as much as I could for the next trip to NZ. After moving to NZ full time in 2011, much of the freedom continued – I just had to fit the fishing around work. As a single man I’d fish every weekend, public holiday and day off throughout all seasons. Things are different now. My wife and 2 kids are now my priority. It’s amazing how quickly time passes and I’m enjoying every minute with them. Recently I got a window to go away and fish myself for 3 days. I really don’t remember when I had this last! Guiding is different, I’m talking personal personal fishing time. Mark was on board to join me right away as we were trying to put a trip together anyway. Next I thought I’d ask a few of the other lads. 4 of us ended up hitting the road for 3 days… I forgot how great the freedom of being on the road fishing feels. That was the drug for 9 years of NZ seasons before I decided to live here. Of course I still fish a lot, a few days a week I’ll get out for a fish. Even if it’s just a few hours. But it’s so hard now to get away over night with my 2 little beauties to look after.
We had 3 brilliant days of fishing. We broke up in different groups each day and covered small streams, stillwaters and rivers. It was a nice mix of tried and trusted and totally new water. One of the exploration days yielded a superb find. A piece of water that I cant wait to get back to with better conditions. Also an excellent guiding option. The highlight of the 3 days for me was a stillwater that I used to fish a lot many years ago. Kevin (Shotgun) first took me there in about 2004. I have so many great memories of the place since then. I had magic fishing on it with my dad – some of our best memories of fishing together over here actually. I also fished it with Chris Dore, Bob Wyatt, Tonio, Fraser and now Wesley. Early season access has always been hard to get with lambing but we were just lucky on our day that they had moved the ewes into the next field and the farmer was happy to let us through. About the fishing – Wesley went left and I went right. Numbers were less than in the past but still plenty to keep us focused. We each landed a few of the most beautiful trout an angler can can catch. Sight fishing with a dry dropper accounted for most. When we were almost finished on it, I changed to a double nymph rig to fish some deep water blind. I moved 3 before landing another stunner.. That was the icing on the cake. I have to say, I’m delighted and relieved to have my HT6 again. It’s been cursed that rod! It keeps getting broken – not manufacture error I should say – just stupit shit keeps happening to it! I feel like the curse is now over and I’ll be able to enjoy this fabulous rod again. If not, I have a back up. Ha! Take that, curse!
Part of the craic on a trip like this is getting into the pub at the end of the day for feed and a schather of pints. I rarely look past the steak option and the beer was good. The pub was quiet but 4 like-minded fellas will always have a good time!
3 days, good friends, lots of craic and plenty trout. Now I need another fix!
In other news, I’ve had a few days guiding – delighted to get them under the circumstances. All very successful days with lots to the net each day. The best result had to be from Angela, who after a casting lesson landed three 5lb browns. That was her first day with a fly rod! Pretty amazing result. Great to see Brian again after his 11lber last season. Also lovely to get out with Sam and Fred again. Last time we fished together Sam broke in 4 big trout. On our recent day she made no mistakes! They both landed some magnificent trout. I know Chuan will be jealous..
Pure Fly NZ has moved off mainstream tv and onto youtube. This makes it very easy to access where ever you are in the world! Myself and Jeff had some super fishing in our episode and Nick was right there to capture it all. You can watch it, and all the other episodes from series 4 for free on youtube. Here’s a link to our episode.
If you’re in NZ and interested in some guided fly fishing, feel free to drop me a line to book a trip before you can’t travel at all!! Visit my website or email ronan@sexyloops.com
My nymphs have been accounting for nearly all the river fish and some of the lake fish in the gallery below. If you’re thinking about stocking up for the NZ season, these are my tried and trusted range of weighted nymphs. You can check them out here.
Tight lines, Ronan..
Great fun on the lake in September..
Superb mid-range rods. If you’re looking for a versatile rod for NZ, the Primal Raw 7 is a great option.
Great conditioned fish and plenty of them. I wasn’t hanging out for October 1!
September lake edge cruisers loved my little Claret nymph from Fulling Mill.
No skinny fish which early season is often related to.
Perfect!
Great day guiding Brian. He landed 7 super trout using a range of tactics.
September sight fishing..
Have to fill a few gaps here for the new season.
A box full of my nymphs available from Fulling Mill. Just put Ronan’s nymphs in the search box.
My dads NZ dry. An excellent all round pattern.
Ready for battle.
There’s a few things I need but this will keep me going!
Ready.
First fish of the season!
Mark and I landed 6. Hard to get good pics because we were wading out! A magnificent opening day.
First guide day of the season ..
After a casting lesson Angela landed three 5lbers. An amazing result!
The nicest of the 3 fives.
Out with Samantha and Fred..
A brilliant fish for Sam. Her best of the day.
Perfect conditions.
6lbs for Fred.
Hooked about a dozen, landed 8 great fish.
Reunited with my HT6..
3 days away with Wesley, Mark and Brayden.
Brilliant fishing!
The HT6 is the best 6 weight out there..
Another one goes back..
Brayden borrowed my back up HT6.
Brayden onto one.
End of a great day!
Day 2. The best weather day.
A brilliant fish in the net.
Blind fishing a double nymph rig with the HT6.
Years since I fished here. So many great memories.
The most beautirul trout live here.
6.5lbs of perfection – and strong!
A super moment..
Perfcetion for Wesley.
After the backwater we went up river.
Some beauties for Wesley.
Stunning..
The farther we went the wilder it got!
Lovely.
Long days already and we were in no rush to turn around.
Change flies.
Just seeing a river is so satisfying.
Popped in to fish this backwater. Got one. Lots of potential.
The last pool before the hike out.
One last view of the backwater..
What a day..
This lead to quite a headache on day 3! Might be why I got no photos!!
From about mid July, trout start repopulating the lakes in large numbers. Spawning for most browns and many rainbows has finished. This is a great time to fish the lakes. The trout are keen to pile on condition, so the fishing can be superb. You’ll pick up some skinny fish but it’s quite amazing just how good the condition is on the vast majority of these winter fish. I’ve been out quite a bit making the most of it. When conditions permit, I’ve had some great sight fishing along the edges. When the wind has been up, my possum & marabou buggers have been doing really well. I’ve been fishing another method too. Something new for me.
This method is simple. I have fished it before but never quite like my current approach to it. It’s a dry / dropper rig fished blind – okay, so nothing new there – but for me there is. Normally when the wind gets up and I can’t sight the edges I turn to a bugger or small streamer. I love this method so it was hard for me to change. I always thought that nymphs fished blind under a dry in the wind would work. In fact, I knew it would work, but would it be better than buggers or streamers? Probably not – but maybe. Recently – finally – I put it to the test, both shore based and drifting. Like any blind fishing, it’s not just chuck and chance. I’m always looking for structure, contrast, weed beds, sand patches etc. The trick is to cover as much likely water as possible, as efficiently as possible. so, while drifting for example, I fish a relatively short line. Long enough so that fish near the fly won’t see the boat. Keeping it short gives me the great advantage of being able to pick it up and lay it down with just one false cast. Speed can be key here. 3 or 4 false casts and you might drift past a good weed patch, or spook fish by carrying too much line for too long. I don’t leave the fly sitting for long. About 10 to 20 seconds, then pick it up an place it somewhere else. I’m always aware of the speed of the drift versus the water I want to cover. A drogue is on the cards. It’s a very involved way to fish. It requires focus because you must have your fly in likely water all the time to stack the odds in your favour. Thats what blind fishing is come to think of it. I’ve mainly been fishing 2 to 4 feet of water with this method. At this depth I know I can get my fly to “likely trout cruising depth” quickly. I’ve been using my size 14 dark nymphs with a 2mm bead to suit this depth, but there’s loads of scope to take it further. Bigger, more buoyant dries holding heavier mymphs on longer droppers for deeper water. maybe more than one nymph? This method really suits boat fishing because you can find large expances of ideal water and work it. Thats not generally as easy from the bank but it’s a good tactic on the shore too. The advantage of the dry fly indicator over direct nymphing is the static or sinking presentation and the indication to strike. Typical to most methods, I’ve had days where everything sticks and days where I lost a lot of fish.
To weigh it up against bugger fishing – you’ll cover more fish with buggers but they won’t all eat. You’ll cover fewer fish with this dry / dropper method but more will eat (in my opinion!) I think the only way to test it is to fish against Jeff Forsee on buggers while I use the dry dropper. That said it, the dry / dropper method suits both anglers fishing it because bugger fishing is quite dispuptive even to the water outside the anglers focus. There would have to be some rules to give both methods equal footing. I’m sure Jeff will be keen! (We would have been out there doing it yesterday only for this feckin lockdown – which I fully agree with!)
Guiding through winter has been quiet which is pretty normal. However, my now regular client, Bill was down a few times. We had good fishing, mixing it up with sight and blind fishing on a number of lakes and working on casting. While up in Mackenzie country we had an encounter with an absolute monster. Sighted on a lake edge. I’d say 12lbs plus. I don’t think canal fish can get in to this lake, so that was a genuine monster. He was hovering with his dorsal just poking out. One good cast from Bill and the trout violently spooked, shifting a lot of water. I’m itching to get back! That was certainly a fish of a lifetime and I want to catch it.
In other news, I’ve been using my green boat a bit lately. She still has no name! I totally misjudged it as a boat. I thought it was too heavy for fishing shallows and only good for cruising with the family. To my delight, It’s great to fish from and drifts like a dream. Ideal for one but fine for two too. Wesley was out with me recently and he found it really easy and comfortable to fish from the hatch opening. It works like a lean bar whichever way we drift, so I don’t need to mount a casting deck on the bow – though I might anyway! It’s a very versatile boat. Easy to tow and launch, very economical with a 15hp 4 stroke Evinrude – clips along nicely with that, drifts well and easy to cast from with nothing for flyline to wrap around (well, almost nothing). The other big advantage is the cabin. It will keep any amount of gear dry and out of the weather and there room for me to sleep in it. I’m really looking forward to the future with this boat. Some of you may remember Daltona. She’s still in the workshop and the renovation is moving forward very slowly. I will get there!
I wrote a piece for Fulling Mill lately about my top 10 trout for the 20 – 21 season. Here is a link to it. Some great trout in there and a brief recap on each one.
If you’d like to get in touch about guided fishing this season or next please do. Strange times but it costs nothing to have a chat! Email me at ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.
Tight Lines, Ronan..
Out on my own – Waitaki.
A good July day. Landed 4 including this one on a dry – Indicator Klink from Fulling Mill. This has become my go-to dry.
Out with the family for a few hours.
Lochlan
Adaline
Lochlan after catching his first trout! In all the panic I didn’t get a pic of the fight.
He wanted to eat it!
Trout is a family favourite for dinner.
Scouting some water for some upcoming guiding. Plenty trout!
Low water but fishing well.
Out with Bill.
SLHT 6wt – Now Bills favourite rod.
Good fishing!
Flats!
When the wind got up the buggers came out!
Waitaki. They were here a week prior but they were hard to find on this day.
We worked hard in the wind and got a few.
No wind today!
We fished a few spots before finding fish.
Not many fish around but Bill landed 2 good trout.
Nice place to catch a trout..
We watched the mist slowly advance up the lake all day. Finally it got to us!
A quiet stream mouth.
Ducks!
Back on Dunstan.
Lost this one!
Saw a couple here.
Then the wind increased and fishing really amped up.
The Harfin reel well christened.
Small streamers doing well.
Heading out myself..
Pulled up the boat to walk a flat..
Lots of healthy trout about. Love that Primal too!
This was deadly fished blind under a dry.
I love boat fishing.
Won’t be breaking any speed records but the 15hp Evinrude does the job.
Pulled up to go for a walk.
This flat was too shallow.
Back in the boat and the action continued. Plenty fish for the day.
I never worry when the regular season ends because we have good winter fishing locally. That said, last winter was hard work, so I hoped for better fishing this winter. The winter season usually kicks off with a bang as some big rainbows move up river in May. This year saw very few fish move in May. Also, feck all in June and now were well into July and still no great action. Every day out I find some fish, but not the big thumpers I need to scratch this itch. I want a big silver bar – fresh out of the lake, or just a plain big bow. For the 5 or so winters before last winter I always got them. Plenty of them. But not this year or last. Last year I had the excuse that I was busy with 2 very young kids, but this year I have fished it a lot. I have guided it and fished it hard. Lots of days, but I simply have not had that great day. I think the fish are there in very low numbers. Maybe the run is still to come! I certainly hope so. Lately I’ve actually gotten fed up going out to fish it. At the end of each fishing day, I return saying “right, thats it, not going back”… but the next time I have a window, I’m back out there, frustrating myself once again – sometimes not enjoying it. I move quickly to cover multiple spots which have always held fish. I also look in new water, blind fish, sight fish. Really work it hard but nothing decent to report apart from some dark 2 to 4lb bows or 1lb maidens but thats simply not what I want. I’m not greedy either – If I could catch one fresh run 6lb plus rainbow I’d be happy. That would make my winter. One day out – one of the few days with decent action – I hooked 8 only landing 2 rat bows. One fish I lost that day was one of those special fish, but I only caught a glimpse.
I had to get well away from the local in search of some good fishing. I went to fish some lakes I like to fish in winter. It felt like I hadn’t caught a decent trout for ages and I couldn’t take it anymore! The day on the lake saved my sanity. I worked a rocky shore hard all day with dries, nymphs and streamers – sight and blind and landed 7 trout to 7lbs. Lots of reel screaming runs from super trout.. I feel like an angler again.
Feel free to get in touch about guided fly fishing over winter or next season. Check out my website or email me @ ronan@sexyloops.com.
The amount of water allowed to be taken for irrigation from the local river, the Manuherikia, is coming up for review. Currently, so much is taken off the river that in summer the river gets too low and warm for fish to thrive, especially in the lower reaches. The fish shut down completely as soon as the day warms up. I avoid the river when it’s like this so as not to further stress the trout, as do most anglers. With this, anglers loose much of their local river for fishing (and guiding in my case) for up to 2 months a season. Currently the river is permitted to get as low as 900 litres per second before abstraction is reduced to keep it at that level. This low flow also makes the lower river unsafe to swim in and visually pretty horrible as brown algae takes over. This should be quite a large river but it’s not allowed to be as the demand for irrigation increases with land use intensification. Some of the water take-outs are huge, taking what appear to me to be half the river at some points. Sadly, this is quite normal for many NZ rivers but we have a chance now to make the situation on the Manuherikia a little better. Please take a moment to fill out this survey – it only takes a couple of minutes. The link is at the bottom left of the page. Of course, the optimum flow outlined in the scenarios would be 3000l/s. You don’t have to live here to care about the river so please have your say. If you’d like to take a little more time and write a submission, please do so. You can email it to policy@orc.govt.nz . You have until June 18th. Thanks in advance to those who make the effort to take the survey or write a submission.
We’re right in the swing of winter fishing right now. As always its fickle but mostly pretty good. That’s the nature of chasing migrating trout; you may or may not find them. The most exciting prospect for me at this time of year is catching is a large, fresh run rainbow. I’ve been lucky in the past, usually catching one over 8lbs every winter, sometimes more. This winter (so far) and last winter combined, the best I managed to catch has been about 5lbs. I’m not sure whats changed but those big fish seem hard to find. I’m dying to get stuck in a big one again. I’m out tomorrow fishing myself so hopefully I’ll get one.
I’ve had a busy May guiding, relatevily speaking. All up very successful. Only one blank with 2 complete beginners to fly fishing. That was an interesting day though. I don’t think I’ve ever guided an ambidexterous person before but both Ian and Craig were. What are the odds? The first challenge for them was to decide which arm was best suited for the task. After about an hour I had to insist that they “pick and arm” or we were not going to advance much. Once they did they did great – Ian in particular (sorry Craig!), a real natural caster and angler. I hope they keep it up!
It was great to see my regular client and friend Brendan back over again from Australia. We mixed up the few days with local rivers and lakes and a couple of days deep in the backcountry – hoping for a big rainbow or brown. We caught heaps of average sized fish. We saw some very big fish but they elluded us. The best we landed was over 5. A nice fresh run fish. A magic couple of days though, covering about 20 kilometres of river. Frosty mornings with mostly sunny weather to follow and little wind. The sun sets quite early in the valleys at this time of year so warm gear was essential. The backcounty hut provided great shelter for the night. It was a very basic hut which gets little use but a good sweep out, tidy up and warm fire made us right at home. That and some good food and wine. Next time I’ll have to bring a roll mat because one of the two bunks is made with floor boards. Brendan didn’t find it very comfortable!
Lots more stuff too all documented in the photo’s below! Some very enjoyable days out with friends and great to use the new club boat. It’s a weapon!
Feel free to get in touch to book a winter fishing mission. Contact me on ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.
Tight lines, Ronan..
A good day out with Simon.
The best of 6 for the day.
Ready for the first float of the winter season.
Great day out but couldn’t find any bg fish.. plenty little ones.
Wesley fishes a nice seem.
There was a good fish here which we didn’t get..
Stunning water open all year round.
Big country!
There’s never enough daylight this time of year!
Out with Brendan, a regular client, for a few days.
I expected lots from Benmore but it was very tough. Only 2 for the day. I expected 10!
Natures artwork. A lovely sight to greet us on day 1 in the backcountry.
First run and first fish.
Brendans SLHT was bent a lot over the 2 days!
A little slmon.
So many 2 to 4lb browns.
Finally into something a bit better.
Steely, late season light.
A solid rainbow on the bank.
A quick “grip & grin” before he goes back..
Our lodging for the night. A basic backcountry hut.
Once I swept out the poop and got the fire going we were right at home!
Steak, spuds, beans and wine – standard backcountry fare.
After a good sleep – coffee!
Almost ready to take on day 2.
Got the fire going to warm us up before heading out..
Freezing morning. Beautiful though.
The rod was bent from the getgo!
Leaning into a solid bow.
Lovely water.
No place like the backcountry.
At the end of two great days and about 20 kilometres of river the heli out is very welcome!
Craig and Ian. Both ambidexterous scratch beginners. Took an hour to pick and arm!
They did great. really learned quickly. Both hooked trout but none to the net.
A few days with Rick, Lachlan and Tom.
Winter mornings – cold but beautiful!
Best of 4 on day 1.
great weather.
Great day!
Day 2. Spectacular setting! Only 2 landed but we saw lots.
The land of the long white cloud.
Tom, victorious again!
Nice backwater. Held a few trout.
Day 3. Cold start but we landed about 10.
Cold!
Good water..
The hotspot!
Out with Jeff for a day. Looking for big fish but not finding them!!
Great day out anyway..
Out in the club boat with Mark and Wesley. Blowing a huricane so we retreated to the river – after managing to catch one.
The river was no good.
Beautiful water but no fish.
Back to the boat. Rain starting but wind dropping.
Wet but happy..
Also wet and happy.
Pissing from the heavens!
We had some action. Landed a few for the day.
Mark into one..
Little one!
Day 2 in the club boat. With Sean today.
The new club boat is superb craft.
Landed a couple of these gleaming 2lbers. Kept them for dinner.
Lake Hawea.
Off home.
Dinner! One side for the cold smoker, a few fillets for the pan and stripped the bones to eat some raw.
As soon as the trans-Tasman travel restrictions were lifted I had some of my regulars booking trips. I didn’t think it was going to happen but finally, it did. It felt great to be busy again and things are looking good for May too. I had 8 consecutive guide days to finish off the regular season and managed a day myself on the 30th to polish it off. It wasn’t always easy and hatches were average to poor apart from one day where it really fired. Generally, April is the best month for mayfly hatches down here, so when it doesn’t happen it’s a little disappointing. Some days when the hatch was happening, we were almost running up river to find rising trout before it switched off again. Because it can switch off so suddenly! On one of the days, fly was pouring off for a while in the late afternoon. We got a couple during the hatch, then it stopped. Then 30 minutes later fly was pouring off again but the fish didn’t respond. 2 variables, fish and fly – and they both need to be “on” for it to work! All up, the guiding days went very well. I really enjoyed the time with my regular clients who are also friends at this stage and great to meet Vipin and Dave for the first time. About that day, Vipin was having a run of bad luck. Hooking fish but loosing them, getting the eat but not the hook-up and loosing a very big fish at the net. He landed a small one just big enough to count. At the end of the day I decided to look in one more pool to see if he could have another chance at a decent fish. There he was – under a tree. Vipin is a novice caster and this was a very tough shot for any angler. I coached and encouraged him and tried not to get frustrated. Then he made the side-cast land close to the target, the fish turned and swam downstream to see what made the disturbance and ate the fly. We got the fish and that absolutely made the day.
One thing I started looking at recently is the step counter on my phone. According to it, I walked 103kms in 8 guide days. The biggest day was nearly 19kms and the smallest was over 8. An average of 13kms per day. That all sounds about right to me. Walking is an integral part of fishing in NZ. Its not all on the river of course. Many of the 103 kilometres were walking to a river or river beat where vehicle access is not permitted, or climbing in and out of gorges. Ultimately, the harder you can go the more fish you’ll catch – or, at the very least you’ll see some great country!
The story of the 8 guide days is told in the photos below. I included the fish count so you can get a clear picture of just how varied that can be. Out of the 8 days, 2 were very hard where we could easily have blanked but managed 1 and 3 respectively. All the other days were good to very good. It goes without saying that angler ability has a huge role to play. The great thing about taking Marcus out, for example, is that I don’t have to plan much around wind because he can cast into it with relative ease. So where am I going with this? I’m not sure really, but casting skill and fitness are clearly of key importance to a successful trip here. One thing I think I need to advise my clients on at the time of booking is to get out and practice casting as much as possible. Also to get out walking a bit just to raise the fitness a little if needs be. It needs to be said though, you don’t need to be a marathon runner to have a great time fishing in NZ. There are plenty great options to suit anglers not keen on, or not able for big walks.
Still spaces available in May and it can be a super month! Feel free to get in touch. ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.
Tight lines, Ronan..
Day 1 of 8 – guiding Vipin and Dave today.
Vipin’s fish, proving the value of “one more pool”
Dave and Vipin did well with about 6 for the day.
Day 1 with Marcus – Backcountry
First of the trip – on a deep nymph rig in a deep pool!
Fishing was good!
Fish of the day and the trip. 8lbs.
Still an odd cicada about.
Another stunning late season trout. 6 for the day averaging over 6lbs each.
Day 2.
This was the best of 9 from day 2.
Amazing halos. A late season spectacle.
Day 3. Feckin’ hard!
A small fish at the end of the day to save the blank.
Day 4. Greeted by the rare NZ elephant.
Into a brown right away.
Autumnal brown.
You can’t put a foot wrong in here!
Seatrout
I love this gorge.
A brown with magnificent blue.
Deep pool..
Best seatrout of the mission. 7.25
Only a seatrout will have spots like this. Bright orange.
Nice holding water, but most does not hold fish.
But this one did.
Climbing / walking / scrambling continues.
Day 5.
We had a dozen solid trout..
..a super cap on a successful 5 days.
Day 1 with Bill.
His SLHT 6 is christened.
We had 5 or 6 for the day.
Day 2. Great start!
But then it got very hard. very few fish.
Lots of deer though.
after just 2 fish for 6 kms, we changed location..
Managed to put another on the board. 3 for the day.
I hired a babysitter so I could fish the last day of the regular season!
Well worth it..
My Fulling Mill Claret nymph still doing the business..
..but we had 7 of 9 on dries. A nice fish for Wesley.
