Ronan's Report

NZ 2011 started in Fairlie at about 6pm on Tuesday the 11th of October. Kevin Alexander and I went to a nearby lake and fished into darkness. Kevin had a couple at a stream mouth in shallow water, no joy for me. The following day was lazy but effective fishing. We drove up mystery river X and jumped out and sight fished the more likely pools. We had some decent fish and fishing without exerting too much energy.

Day 3 I fished alone. I tackled a gorge that I was never through before in medium to low water, which is pretty much ideal. You never know what you may encounter going through a gorge for the first time. I have scaled rock walls to get around bluffs, Swam while carrying a 15kg pack (which quickly at least doubles in weight) to get around bluffs I couldn’t climb, Climbed out of and then back into gorges over cliffs where swimming was not an option, Fallen over on rocks where a broken leg would be inconvenience. Oddly enough I never really fell in! The truth is however, fishing through a gorge is the pinnacle of NZ fishing for me. All day long stumbling, stalking, scrambling, climbing, casting, falling, catching, loosing, cursing and talking to myself. I do that a lot.

I had a superb day fishing for very difficult fish through 8kms of gorge. By the end of it I was bruised, battered and wrecked. My feet hurt, My right nee and left elbow were cut and bruised from a fall, my legs were stiff and my back hurt. This is all good pain. I enjoy it. Every “full on” day from now on will get easier as fitness improves. It’s been nearly 2 years since I had a tough day like this one and I want more!

6 out of 7 fish took a size 16 lightly weighted nymph attached to a size 14 tungsten and lead nymph by a 14″ dropper. I can tell you without a doubt in my mind that this is the best general method for NZ river trout. Better fish usually take the 16. Fish them 4-5 foot under an indicator or a dry.

Thats all for now… Ronan..

I’m relaxing at a good friend’s house in Fairlie in New Zealand’s South Island where the season is just 2 weeks old. I had a good hard day on the river fishing through a tough gorge but before I talk about that I want to mention the season finale in Ireland..

John and I had an eventful day on Kylemore about a week before the end. I may have had a hat-trick of hat-tricks.. John is not sure! Here’s what I think..

1. I landed 3 trout together, all little ones but 3 none the less. It’s only the second time i ever did that. Pitty i didn’t have 4 flies on!! 🙂

2. I hooked what I believed to be a Grilse, Landed what I believed to be a large seatrout and released what john believed to be a brown trout!

3. I had the 3 salmonid species over the course of the day (assuming #2 was a seatrout!)

The most notable event of the day was when we were about 100m from the end of our drift, we saw a salmon jump. A short time later another. They were very quiet all morning so this was encouraging. They continued to move until we finished the drift. We went back up to drift over the more active water, John had seen 2 salmon/grilse move very close together so we tried to drift onto that very spot. We were successful as it turned out. A good fish rashly crashed through my flies, all fins and tails and madness but no hook up. A cast or 2 later a super fish came across the water with it’s back out like a rising submarine in what felt like slow motion, I waited for the line to go but it didn’t, and again, no hook up. 3 minutes later a solid subsurface take and after a scrappy battle and a couple of runs I landed a small grilse. Then it went dead.. totally dead. I often heard anglers talk about Fish turning on and off and I have witnessed it many times myself, but never as definative as this.

I don’t know why all the fish came my way on this day but it’s not uncommon when fly fishing from a drifting boat that one angler gets the majority of action even though both anglers are fishing similar flies and lines.

Lough Inagh had to be the choice for the last day of the season. Each year Colin, The fishery manager, Invites friends of the fishery to come and fish the final day on river and lake. We have a competition, then to the bar for a top class meal followed by the prize giving. The aftermath continues into the small hours…

I was going for 3 in a row in the competition but came last! Some days nothing works.. My boat partner Will had a superb grilse which was the 133rd and last of the 2011 season.

Sincere Thanks to Maire, Dominic, Thomas and Colin for an epic season! (And Brian Regan.. I owe you one!)

Ronan..

The last few weeks have been tough, even though Lough Inagh (my local fishery) and the river that leaves it have been producing all time record salmon catches, including 8 salmon in one day. I have had a few fish but unfortunately have not always been able to get on the part of the system I’d like to due to angling pressure, Massively high water, Gale force 10 winds or being otherwise tied up with something non fishing.  There are great prospects until the end of September once this front passes. If your thinking about some salmon fishing to end your season I recommend Inagh, Its fishing very well. Talk to Colin, He’ll set you straight. 003539534706.

The season is nearing its end and there are a number of things I didn’t get to do and probably wont at this stage. I wanted to spend a few days fishing the midland lakes around Mullingar, Travel North for salmon, South for bass, East for carp, the list goes on. It’s impossible to do everything. All in all I have no complaints. I had a very good season and thankfully its not over yet. The weather is shite at the moment… Wind, rain and very high and often slightly coloured water are the norm which makes things tough. Things will settle down soon and the fishing will fire again!

New Zealand 2011 is is rapidly approaching and I have prepared nothing yet. I haven’t even tied a fly. I’ll get myself into gear soon (I leave in less than a month). If anyone has any flies they would like me to try either here in Ireland or in NZ or Oz or anywhere for that matter just send them to me, I will be happy to oblige. This would of course be a selfless act! (Ronan Creane, Roundstone, Co. Galway, Ireland.)

Electric Picnic 2011 was an epic event. Free to roam between hundreds of random acts with random strangers and friends alike, all with the same purpose… Fun with a healthy dose of madness! I will never miss it again if I’m in Ireland when its on.. I might even fly home for it!

I’m serious about those flies. Send them and I’ll fish them for you! It will be like fishing vicariously through me 🙂

All the best for now… Ronan..

Right now I’m getting ready for the Electric Picnic Music Festival. Most of my preparation is listening to some of the multitude of bands that are playing to get an idea of who I want to listen to over the 3 days and nights. I also did some packing. Tent, clothes, poteen, camera, sleeping bag etc. I wont see water for the next 3 days unless it’s in a bottle and even that’s unlikely!

I’ve been busy with some non fishing projects lately but made some time to get out on the water. John and I targeted pike, trout, salmon (sort of!!) and pollack over the weekend with some success.

On Saturday evening I met John on the water with the family unit, Namely Bronwen and their daughter Georgia. This was one of Georgia’s first encounters with fly fishing. She is one.

I’ll be back next week (asuming I survive the next few days!).

Ronan..

These guys are in the Little Big Tent tomorrow night… Think I’ll check em out!

The weekend before last John arranged a Corrib PFFA Ireland (Pike Fly Fishers Association) meeting. It was attended by Stuart, Steve, Kristian, John and myself. Day one was in Maam and once again the area did not fire. 4 rods (I only got to bed at 10am on day one so missed the day… Lucky me!) and not a single fish. Day 2 was a different story! We started in Ardnasillagh Bay. Kristian and I had a great start quickly boating 4 pike in the 6-9lb region and we lost a couple. The second half of the day saw us going down the lake to some big fish hot spots. Kristian and myself got distracted by loads of very large trout rising. I simply cannot fish for pike when trout are on the top. Kristian had a superb brown of 4.5lb and another of 1.5lb on my size 14 dry claret sedge which I tie for NZ. I moved a few but boated nothing. John, Steve and Stuart stuck to pike. John had 2 great fish, One 14lbs and another 20lbs 15oz. I have no pics of these fish but hopefully I’ll have them soon. I’ll put them in the next blog. It was great to have Stuart and Steve down to fish our local water. I learned a lot from them about tying pike flies and picked up a few tips on tying pike traces. Thanks fellas! I hope ye learned a bit from us too.

One thing that sometimes pisses me off about Irish fly fishing is how effort and persistence is so hesitant to pay off. When it does pay off it makes it all the sweeter however. After a successful day guiding Norman Kyle (head ghillee on a stretch of the River Tyne in England) I went to fish the river myself. I repeated some water Norman had fished to no avail and then decided to walk across the mountain (bog) to another river beat known as Pine Island. This area has not produced much in recent years but I had a good feeling. When I got there the walkway out to the small island was flooded as I knew it would be, so I wet waded out to it. I stud there soaked to the balls and thought to myself ” I deserve a fish for this” but experience has told me many times that “deserve” does not hold water over here. This time it did! I landed a powerful 6lb grilse on a Sunray Shadow and rose 2 more. As wet as I was, I happily walked back to the van.

Shane Flaherty (Fuzz) and Myself fished Kylemore Lough yesterday. Conditions were Ideal apart from the lake being too high. We fished hard and had 3 seatrout to 1.5lbs, a nice brown and rose a salmon. 10 grilse were landed on the river the previous day.

Today I took my cousin Paddy Creane, 11, out on Inagh for his first day fly fishing. He fished hard and well in very difficult conditions. The rain dumped on us continually and the wind blew. I asked Paddy, “are you cold”, “A little” he said,” but I’m not going in.. I’m wet too!, I love this, but its not as easy as I expected. It’s a challenge”. He got a brown and a sea trout and put his name in the Inagh trout register for the first time of many. Watch this space!

We have had a load of rain in the last few days and the Ballynahinch/Inagh system should fish very well in the coming week. The same is true for the entire Kylemore fishery. If your thinking about coming over now is the time! Contact details in my previous blogs.

Tight lines!

Ronan..

On warm, sunny days when trout or salmon are unlikely to take a fly, pollack will always oblige. I went out to Deer Island, about 45 minutes from Roundstone in my boat last Monday to target them. I brought my 11 year old cousin, Patrick, out with me. I set up a boat rod for him with 6 feathers and a 6oz weight and it wasn’t long til the rod hit the gunnels! I didn’t help him. He got stuck in and hauled what turned out to be 3 good pollack from from the depths. It made my day watching Patrick battling to get the fish into the boat. I filleted the fish for him, He made a fiver on one and fed the family with the rest. A proud moment no doubt!

I had a few pollack on the fly and a sandeel. No sign of any mackerel yet which is strange.

The highlight of the week for me was on Lough Inagh at 11.30am yesterday morning. I was fishing a sinking line in shallow water. As i raised the rod tip to recast, bringing the bob fly towards the surface, a salmon nailed the fly, jumped, then took off ripping line off the floor of the boat before making the reel sing for about 70 meters. What a fantastic moment! I kept in control of the fish as much with the engine as the rod and reel. The salmon weighed 8 or 9lbs and took a silver and red daddy. I was using 6lb flourocarbon.

Have a great weekend! I’ll be busy on the water..

Ronan..

It’s been a mixed week of fishing. I’ve been doing some guiding for anglers after salmon, chasing pike and trout on Corrib, targeting monster browns on Lough Inagh as well as seatrout, salmon and normal sized browns. One client had an arctic char, they’re very rare over here and usually small, but very pretty and there is something very special about catching them. Unfortunately i didn’t get a pic! In my 16 years fishing Inagh I’ve only had about 7 or 8 char.

I have no idea what’s in store for the next few days.. I might target pollack around the rocks from my boat, might try for a salmon, might be working!

By the way, if anyone wants to hire me as a guide, give me a call! +353 87 770 1986

For info on staying at the Lough Inagh Lodge call Maura on 00353 95 34706 or log on to http://www.loughinaghlodgehotel.ie/

For fishing bookings and info contact Colin Folan on 00353 95 34706 or 00353 86 867 9459

Have a great August bank holiday!

Ronan..

Conditions at 9am were perfect. Within the first hour John landed a hard fighting 2lb+ seatrout on a Silver Stoat. During the battle I noticed a wall of wind and rain charging down the lake in our direction. It was with us for the rest of the day. We battled on fishing known salmon water drift after drift, A drogue made the drifts last a reasonable amount of time, without it the fishing would have been even more chaotic than it already was. At times, going back up into the wind to start another drift really got my adrenalin pumping. Wind and waves so strong at times the boat hardly moved forwards, To open up the engine would mean disaster, even as we were going the boat occasionally took on water. This is fun though! Watch the waves and gun it when you can. There was so much water coming back on top of me from the boat breaking through the waves, Sometimes stinging my face and eye’s, that wearing a hood or cap was pointless! Your getting wet, that’s all there’s too it, keep bailing. We would always start the drift well above where we normally would to allow the drogue to grab. Then we had relative peace again until the end of the drift, a little wetter than the last.

Kylemore Lough is a stunning place to fish. I’ll be back when the conditions are more favorable!

For bookings contact Nancy on 00353 95 41143 or http://www.kylemorehouse.net/

I just tied up a few flies for fishing on Kylemore lough in Connemara, Co. Galway tomorrow. It pays to have a range of flies in varied sizes and colours for lough style fly-fishing. Bushier flies on the bob, then getting more slender and streamlined towards the tail. These flies are tied with seatrout and salmon in mind, but they will also work for browns.

Ronan..

I sort of went off the radar for the last while. Women, drinking and getting stitches in my hand were all to blame. I had one blog to write about early morning caenis feeders but to be honest, the day in question was almost identical to the other blog I wrote on the topic.. The only difference was Johns brother Damien was with us. I’ll add some pics anyway.

The weather is fantastic right now and I’m getting motivated again. John just informed me about some late evening sedge fishing on Corrib. That will probably be our next venture. Hopefully tomorrow evening actually. Stitches in hand or not I’ll man up and get out there. Doctors are rarely right in my experience anyhow.

At some point in the near future I’ll be targeting salmon and seatrout, both locally and in North Co. Mayo and maybe Co. Sligo. Decent runs of fish are arriving and I dont want to miss the boat on this like I did last season.

I’m taking my boat out of Maam tomorrow and putting it on the sea outside my front door. Maam,at the Nortwest tip of Lough Corrib, has been absolutely useless this year so I wont waste any more time there. The sea will present some great fly-fishing opportunities for the rest of the summer. Lots of pollock and mackerel to be caught, there is talk of bass but I’m not holding my breath on that one, at least not around here. I hope to get down south to target them however. There’s a good chance of ballan wrasse on fly and maybe horse mackerel. Sandeels too. There are mullet around but they generally just frustrate the crap out of me. Yesterday evening they did just that.

So thats about it.. I’ve set myself up for some good blogs and I want to deliver on them. Time and this blog’s title will tell.

Ronan..

Ps. Tip of the week. Don’t buy an Airflo 40+ sinking line. They come apart at the joint between the running line and the head. I’ve seen it happen to the only four 40+’s I know of.

Also, on a totally different note, pardon the pun, I went to see a band recently that I’ve been enjoying.  They’re called Austra. Have a listen! This song is a good intro to the band but all their stuff is great. I like it anyway! Link at the bottom..

Oh, one more thing.. Get yourself over here Paul, It’s time!