Ronan's Report

My first visit to South Westland was during my initial visit to New Zealand back in 2003. I had an immediate connection to the place. It felt like home. Over the years I spent lots of time there with many friends made along the way. I lived there for 4 months at one stage. So many adventures and stories – roofing sheds way down the Cascade River, night time earthquakes in the wilderness knocking me to the ground, trouble with the cops for night shooting where we shouldn’t be, catching a big shark at Open Bay Island, trying to surf, trying to hunt, camping with Iza, lots of fishing and so much more.. On a recent trip to the Coast I brought my 2 kids for the first time. We rented a little beach house in Okuru for the week. An ideal base. The beach in front of the house can be a great fishing spot. The scene from the beach back towards the mountains was the scene that connected me to the place 21 years ago. I remember the moment because it was much more than just a beautiful view. It was like I recognised it. It was very special for me to see my 2 kids in that scene.

I wasn’t sure how the kids would cope with the sandflies! On the first day they didn’t seem to be around but at the end of the day they both had lots of bites! especially Adaline. Lesson learned for me. Every day after that I put repellant on them – non deet stuff. It worked really well.

I didn’t have to try too hard to entertain them. They made their own fun. They loved the fishing and spin casting, building dams, skipping stones, shooting cans with the air rifle, beach walks, climbing rocks and so on. All the stuff that kids are supposed to do but that seem to be less and less of a priority these days. Not for me though. I think proper rough and tumble play is essential for kids. Their playful, adventurous personalities suited the coast. They loved every minute of it.

Adaline is just old enough to learn to drive the boat. She was pretty good at manoeuvring me around the shorelines while I sight-fished from the roof of the cabin. Her throttle control nearly threw me off the roof at one stage but she learned not to be too quick with it. When she gets a little stronger she’ll be better. It’s great fun for me watching them enjoy and learn about all the stuff that surrounds fishing. I’m not pushing them in to it, I’ll just expose them to it all and hopefully they’ll find their own path. I’ll be there to help them along.

It was a great week for everyone. Wesley had his own boat with him and had some very good fishing on the lakes. 7 coast days and only one rain day. Thats as good as you can expect over there. Iza was away visiting her family so unfortunately she wasn’t with us. I know she’d have loved to too. Also if she was there I wouldn’t have forgotten the hair brush for Adaline – I improvised with 3 forks. The kids are looking forward to going back – and so am I.

Some photos below from a few guide days over winter. Also some blind and sight fishing from recent trips to the Mackenzie lakes and a coastal lagoon. Buzzer fishing in the calm was superb at both locations. Early season buzzer fishing on NZ lakes can be unbelievable – and it’s still a relatively under appreciated way to fish. Buzzers – aka midge, chironomid or duck fly.

The new season has landed. I went out on Oct 1 to explore new water but couldn’t get there. Private forest roads and lambing kept the obvious 3 ways in unaccessible. I learned a bit though, including who to contact to get access and how to get there so I’ll have another crack when the lambing is over.

To check out my flies available at Fulling Mill click here. To get in touch about guiding this season or next you can email me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website. Here’s a link to a recent Fulling Mill blog I wrote about September and October in NZ.

Tight lines and free Palestine – what a horrible year it’s been for them. Ronan..

Sometimes things happen in fishing to put your resolve to the test. How much do you want to go fishing? Well, I answered that question one day in May when myself and a Wesley tried to get to a high country lake. There had been rain overnight so I expected snow on the higher portion of the track. I figured we’d have a crack regardless. I’ve towed the boat up there is various levels of wet and snow without any major trouble. Having said that, in the past, most of the seriously wet conditions I’ve experienced happened to be on the way down the hill, so I had gravity on my side. This was to be the wettest I’ve experienced getting up the hill..

My boat is pretty heavy – not sure how heavy exactly but it’s no dingy. Onwards up the track without issue. It was raining but the track was okay. We hoped the snow would be above the lake elevation but no such luck. Driving through the snow and everything still seemed good – no problem with traction. There were very fresh tracks through the snow in front of me so I assumed another angler had the same idea. This was comforting! We were almost at the lake when we had a steep decline before a steep incline. The decline was fine. Half way up the incline I lost traction. I reversed and tried again without success. Getting out to assess the situation I realised how bad the track was. A mix of mud, ice and snow. No chance. I put the waders on because it was such a mess! After a good few more attempts the truck was well stuck in the ditch with the trailer at an angle. I tried to take the trailer off but the weight on it due to the unusual angle made it impossible to remove. At this stage I couldn’t go forwards at all and the angle of the trailer meant I couldn’t go backwards either. What now? Reduce air pressure maybe.. Then the fella who was ahead of us came back down. He was from the North Island and just down for a tour. I was very happy to se him. His 4×4 was well kitted out and he gave me a tow out. Even with him towing me we couldn’t get to the top of the hill with my boat on the back. We did manage to straighten my truck and trailer. We had no choice but to abandon the boat and fish the bank. It was now easy to remove the trailer but turning it around wasn’t possible. Just too steep, slippery and generally shite so we rolled her back into the ditch where it was safe and secure. I hoped we’d sort that out at the end of the day when the track had (hopefully) dried a bit. Without a trailer and with the help of my new friend we made it to the top of the hill. It was to be an easy drive to the lake from there. I jumped out and thanked our saviour. Peter I think he said his name was. We said farewell. As his Pajero passed my boat, he started sliding towards it on the greasy track. I tried to push his truck away from the boat, for all the good I did and also called at him to floor it.. It was that or he’d hit the boat. He just about scraped by without contact and went about his day.

Now there’s a new problem. In the unlikely event of another vehicle coming up he would also be likely to slide into the boat, especially with the track in such a mess after our antics.. so I can’t leave it there. The lake is in sight but I have to rethink this. On the side of the the steep, muddy track there was a strip of grassy verge just wide enough to drive on. Traction seemed good and the ground firm, but there was no room for error with a steep hill on the side. The only chance was to reverse back down the hill on the grassy verge, hitch on the boat, pull it out of the ditch and then floor it up the hill on the grass and then get back onto the track on the top of the hill before the big rock.. Jeepers.

Aside from the safety issue of abandoning the boat in a dodgy place, I really wanted to use the boat on the lake that day so the decision was made. Let’s do it. I reversed down with a few test forward movements to make sure I could go forward. Everything seemed good. I got near the boat and we were able to pivot her in the ditch and hitch it on. Rear locker in, low range too. I popped the boat out of the ditch and gave it the beans up the hill. The left turn before the rock to get back onto the track proved tricky, probably due to the rear locker engaged and snow on the grass. I couldn’t stop, thankfully the front wheels got some grip and got me back on track. Fuckin hell. Relief. That took hours. It might seem crazy with the steep hill on the right to have attempted this but I had to get the boat out of there. We looked at other options too like rolling the boat down the road without the truck attached but we were already half way up hill when the shit hit the fan. This was likely to end in disaster. With the state of the track reversing back down was not an option.. Whether I should have done it or not, I did.. and was it worth it?? Yes. The question is, If I still had my old 80 would I have gotten stuck???

May was also a good month of guiding. Not always easy in a some crazy conditions. 3 blizzards, rain wind, you name it, May had it. Certainly an adventurous month where nothing got in the way of the fishing.

To see my flies over at Fulling Mill check this out. They’re also available in store at Patagonia Queenstown. To enquire about this seasons guiding availability you can get in touch here or at ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight Lines and Free Palestine, Ronan..

By now in Central Otago things are usually warming up a little, but they’re not! It’s been a very cold winter here. Hard frosts most mornings making it hard to get motivated to go out. Some days it warms up a bit for a couple of hours. There’s been very little rain but I see no impediment to fish running the rivers to spawn. I think with the settled and consistent river flows this will be a very successful spawning season. I haven’t fished very much this winter. Certainly the least I’ve ever fished through June / July. I’ve been putting all my attention into our old house keeping on top of an ever increasing job list. It’s a labour of love. Over the next couple of months the lakes will fire up. I think the first glimmer of spring will bring some brilliant lake fishing and I’ll be there to cash in.

On August 17th I’ll be in Patagonia Queenstown for an informal event. I’m not one for giving speeches but I’ll be there to chat about my fly patterns with Fulling Mill and how they came to be. I expect I’ll tie a few flies too and generally talk fishing! If you’re around pop in and say hello. It’s free but can register your interest here. I’ll be donating all of my payment to Doctors Without Borders working in Palestine.

Below are some photos from April and into May. They tell the story of a good month! The highlight was taking Will out with his dad Brendan who is a regular client. Will is 12, The same age I was when my grandad gave me my first fly rod. We started with a lesson for about 2 hours and then put it into practice. I could see the ability was there but he just lacked a little confidence. After a few near misses Will connected with his first on a fly and landed a super trout. On the dry too. With more confidence he got another fish later in the day. He managed 2 for the day which is a solid day for any angler in NZ. He’s coming back for more in September!

I also had a great session with my own 2 kids. We popped out locally just in time for a great little hatch. Adaline and Lochlan learned more about wet wading than anything and Lochlan managed to fall in (again). They were great with the net and helped me land a big brown! I think they’re starting to understand what it’s all about.

For a look at my flies check out this link. and if you’d like to book some dates for next season check out my website or email ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight lines. Ronan..

There’s something very special about getting into some of New Zealand’s most wild and beautiful places. In late March myself and Chuan did just that. We had a couple of days. Day 1 was very sunny but with a brutal downstream wind which certainly cost us a few fish. The late season sun cast contrasting shadows across the river making sighting challenging in many places. Fish were touchy but we had 6 for the day. A good day apart from Chuans hat blowing off and disappearing down a rapid. Shortly after he got in a fight with a sandfly which gave him a fat lip! Day 2 was cloudy with a little less wind. The cloud was better for sighting than the sun. The diffuse light caused by the cloud and having a good backdrop to sight against was an ideal combination for sighting. That was a good lesson for this river in March. Fish were even more spooky on day 2. Sometimes we’d quietly arrive at a pool and sight a fish. As quickly as we’d see him he’d just melt away into the pool. It was one of those days where they seemed to have an extra sense. We only managed a couple. No regrets though. Places like this are as much about the location as the fishing. There were hunters and other anglers in the hut too. A mix of Kiwis, Singaporean, Scotsmen and Irish. Some craic! I might have had a few beers and a whisky too many. I felt sorry for the hunters wanting an early night before their hunt.. that just didn’t happen!

After our wilderness adventure Kim arrived and the 3 of us got stuck in to a variety of fishing. Rivers and lakes both in the mix. I’ve been guiding Chuan and Kim for about 8 years now and still try to show them something new on every trip. This was no exception and we had some good fishing on a river and a lake they saw for the first time. This is why exploring new water is so important to me. I want to keep it fresh and interesting for myself and my clients.

June now and my streamers are doing the business! For a look at all my flies check out this link. For bookings and info about next season please check out my website or contact me ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight lines and Free Palestine.. Ronan..

One of the most memorable days of my season was in March. I was out with Skyler and Eamonn. The prospects for the day were good with a little rain forecast in the morning followed by a nice sunny day from about noon. Off we went to the river. The morning was cool and dry. We got rigged up excited about what the day might bring. Shortly after starting fishing some light rain began. As we moved up river the rain turned into snow and the temperature rapidly dropped. This was unexpected but I didn’t think it would persist. Well, persist it did. It got heavier to the point of blizzard conditions and inches of snow started to accumulate on the ground. I was confident it would abate and the sun would come out and warm us up.. but 2 hours later the snow was still bucketing down with no end it sight. We were all wet wading. My feet were freezing – all our feet were freezing. With no sign of a break in the cloud I had to make the very unusual decision to bail out. Nobody complained. Once the decision was made to get out, it seemed important to make haste. Frostbite crossed my mind for the first time in my fishing life. We walked back in the river to stop our toes from freezing. I doubt we were in any real danger but holy feck it was cold. We got back to my truck and headed to the warmth of my house. We had lunch with the heat pump on full and cups of hot tea. After about an hour our core temperatures came up a bit and we were ready for round 2. The sun was now shining and it was nice a warm. Hot even! Such extremes in a day I’ve rarely experienced. It was March 15th which is usually still like summer!

It should be said that this summer was cooler than usual. There were some very cold spells which actually made some options fishable in high summer that usually wouldn’t be. It was also extremely dry. I don’t think there’s been any notable rain in this area for about 6 months.

The photos below tell a few more stories. Trips with the kids and Rahel – our fantastic au pair, a lakes trip with Graeme, fishing with Bryan, the Highlights from the world famous Pisspot and more. Enjoy! Next up will be late March and into April.

For a look at my flies check this out. They’re all available to purchase in-store at Patagonia Queenstown too. To book for next season (filling up fast) contact me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

Tight lines and Free Palestine. Ronan..

As fly fishermen we often refer to the fishing gods. Good luck or bad, the fishing gods are there. I think for many of us its mostly in jest but with a little belief in there too. Maybe even a lot of belief. After a great moment or a great day I frequently find myself thanking something that I can’t see, usually looking up while doing it. This – or these, are the fishing gods. There would seem to be more than one as we always refer to fishing gods, plural.

On a day with Marcus earlier in the summer the fishing gods played a major role. The plan was to go after a big trout on a river we both love. I had been having a shocking run of luck on it. Constant bad days for almost 2 seasons. Everything going wrong – perfect forecasts turned to shite, beaten to it due to a flat tire, getting jumped or just generally not getting it right. For years previous to to that run of bad luck I couldn’t put a foot wrong. The fishing gods nearly always seemed to be on my side. I had a feeling that they were about to side with me (and Marcus) again.

We set off in the morning with a great forecast. Quietly confident that we’d get it right. We gave ourselves 2 days to do it so it was a big advantage to know that if things went wrong we had another chance the next day. It all started when I got overtaken by a guide (we’ll call him Jim) on approach to the dirt track. He accelerated ahead as I got stuck behind a farm truck. I wasn’t happy about this. The farm truck stayed on the main road as I peeled off onto the dirt track and put the boot down. I realised to my delight that my opponent didn’t take the shortcut – so I did. I cut him off at the top and took my rightful place in front. I knew I’d see him at the first gate anyway. When we got to the gate Marcus hopped out to open it. I drove through as did the other guide. Then the fecker tried to sneak around me! I was out of the vehicle at this stage to have a chat. When he saw me he stopped. “Ronan, I didn’t know you in your new truck” he said! We had a good laugh and then chatted about how we’d share the river. We both wanted the first beat. I was just about to let him take his first choice (since we had 2 days) but he got in before I could speak to offer a coin toss. Why not I thought. He won the toss so got his first choice. I actually prefer the other beat anyway but logistically it made a little more sense to do the lower beat first but it really didn’t matter. So meeting Jim changed the order of our days to the 2nd beat on day 1 and the 1st beat on day 2 as opposed to the other way around.

We got to the second beat and tackled up. Everything felt good. It was peaceful with nobody else around and warming up nicely. There was no rush getting started. The sun is very important for spotting and it encourages the cicadas out of the ground so we let it rise a bit before starting. Not too far up there was a very good pool which I know well. We took our time on it fishing both banks and picked up a few blind fishing. Two 3lbers and an incredibly fat 6, all on my green cicada. A really great start. As the day progressed the cicadas started to get on the water. Nothing major, just little flurries of them now and again. Marcus had a couple of opportunities both resulting in an eat but no connection. Then, in a pool I don’t generally see a fish in, we spotted a brute. Marcus got into position. I knew it was a very big fish. I could see the depth, width and length clearly in the water. There was a flurry of cicadas coming down at that time and the trout was making the most of it. Trout often cruise the pools looking for cicadas making them a little harder to intercept. This fish was on station only moving forwards and backwards a little while swinging left and right to slurp down cicadas. This gave us a great chance. A dream shot at a really big fish. First cast was dead right. Fish came over and a refused. Second cast on target – another refusal. I quickly took off the green cicada and put on a smaller tussock cicada. Cast 3 was on target and the brute lunged over to eat it just like a natural. The strike was good and fish was on. I was confident from the first sight that he was a double. During the fight I remained confident. The moment he went in the net I called it. “10 maybe 10 and a half” I said. I lifted the scale and he went straight to 10 and a bit pounds. Just over the increment. 10 is the magic number for trout fishermen and Marcus now has a magnificent double to talk about. He’s been close many times and this was something he really wanted and worked hard for so it couldn’t be more deserved. Come what may for the rest of the day or the next day, we’d achieved what we came here to do.

On day 2 we fished the first beat. We saw very few and never had a decent shot all day. We met some Fish & Game officers up there who told us they’d just spoken with a couple of anglers who were dropped off somewhere on the 2nd beat in the morning. It’s a good thing our order of beats changed or those fellas would have been in front of us and we’d never have known without a vehicle to mark their presence. Fishing behind someone on this river would be a waste of time. So this is where the fishing gods came in. Jim overtaking us in the morning lead to us getting the order of our two days just right. It simply had to be in the order we had it in, and that order was down to luck – or fishing gods! Jim told me afterwards that he had no joy on the first beat either so it really was vital to fish the second beat on day 1. So, a big thank you to the fishing gods! Whether you believe in them or not..

This brings me to March so I’ll get onto that as soon as I have a chance. If you’d like to see the flies I use on a daily basis, including everything from this report please click this link. They’re all available from Patagonia Queenstown too. Right now for the April hatches my Kiwi Dun 14 with a 16 claret nymph trailer is deadly. Best fished on 5x tippet. I’ve been getting some good reports about my streamers doing the business on Lough Mask in Ireland and my hotspot and claret nymphs are working well for stalking trout in the UK. Great to hear the positive feedback. Next season is about half full so please get in quick if you’d like to book. Visit my website or email me ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight Lines.. Ronan..

The week with Chris, Steve and Joe was a great one. Not just for the superb mix of rivers and fishing but also for the chance to catch up with my good friend Chris Dore. One of the biggest cons about being a guide is that it’s so feckin hard to hang out with my fishing friends. We’re lucky to fish together once a year – usually in winter – so spending the week roughing it in Southland with Chris was great. We made time for a few beers in the evenings which always went down well. Chat, banter, fishing talk, the usual. The steak night in the caravan when Shellen joined us was a blast. She tied up a few flies and the craic was good. It was really good to meet her and I wish her the best with her future as a guide.

Chris and I go hard with our guiding and work at about the same intensity. We don’t look for easy options and we’ll do whatever it takes to give our clients what they hope for, and usually a lot more. This made us a good team to look after Steve and Joe. According to Steve and Joe, we guide in a different way but we compliment each other and both of the fellas enjoyed alternating between Chris and I each day. This is something we may do more of in the future. Chris and I enjoyed it too. It’s a great way for 2 anglers to really get the most from a trip to NZ. No sharing shots and you can hang out with your friend and compare stories each evening.

The week was very varied. It started with two completely different Heli days out of Wanaka. Both produced great results but they didn’t always come easy. Heli fishing doesn’t guarantee anything other than a remote and beautiful location so it’s always a relief when the fishing is good. It usually is good, but like I say, no guarantees. Then to Southland for another 5 days where we mixed it up with some of our favourite rivers. We had some really great days and some tough ones but we always came up trumps. Joe and Steve are both great anglers which really helps!

This takes me up to the end of January so I’m still way behind but that’s okay! There’s been some great highlights since, including 10lb brown with an epic story. The fishing gods really looked after us! More on that later..

Check out my flies featured below and a few more at Fulling Mill. They’ve all been great for me and quite a few others this season.

Next season is filling up quickly. Feel free to get in touch to make a booking or talk about options.

Tight lines.. Ronan..

December and into January… December is a great month to fish. Trout start looking up and responding well to terrestrials. Everyone seems to love dry fly action! There were some nice mayfly hatches too. Usually short and fickle but we made the best of it when it happened. As January arrived many of my local fisheries got too warm for good (or ethical) fishing. With this I venture away to find cooler water. I like to mix it up anyway.

One day I went to a high country river in the hope of some cicada action. We got to the river at 9am and got the piece of water I hoped for. At 11am, perched high on a rock I could see a vehicle (large black ute) pull up 1 kilometre above us. They could see us I’m sure and I’m pretty sure they saw my vehicle earlier too. It’s totally unethical to do this. It takes quite a brass neck to arrive there so late and then just cut someone off. They were just too far up for me to go marching up there for an argument so we pulled out and went downstream only to get jumped again by another clown fishing downstream from an upstream access point. A really infuriating day. We should all treat other anglers as we’d like to be treated. To cut someone off so blatantly is basically stealing someones experience. I’m pretty sure I know who was in the black ute and they should know better. Sadly, I heard that they make a habit of this. Against the odds we managed a couple of good trout! One on my cicada and the other on my unweighted nymph.

All my flies are working well on their relative days. They’re available from Fulling Mill or in-store at Patagonia Queenstown.

More about January in my next blog! Its been a challenging but great month. A few days off now before KC and Mark arrive.. I’m looking forward to seeing these 2 again!

Tight lines.. Ronan..

Typical of this time of year, it’s hard to make time to write! There’s more photos than I generally add but I hope you can make the time to enjoy them. They tell the story of a busy month of fishing and guiding.

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot more lately is barbless hooks. It seems crazy that it’s taken me this long to really start moving away from barbed hooks. I was never too concerned about the barb. What I always told people was that I don’t have any trouble removing barbed hooks. This is true. The part that has always bothered me is breaking in a trout with a barbed hook left in his mouth, but it never bothered me enough to fish barbless. Now it does bother me enough. There’s a great relief breaking in a fish knowing the hook is barbless. There’ll be minimal stress on the fish since he’ll easily shake it free. I often heard that trout can dissolve a barbed hook quite quickly. I wonder if that is true? I should google it! The silly thing is I always knew that I’d loose feck all fish by going barbless. It only takes a second to crush the barb or better still, tie on barbless hooks to begin with. My range of flies with Fulling Mill are barbed so this is something I may look at changing in the future.

I had a solid month of guiding starting with Brendan and Dave. As usual for these two the rain came and blew out the rivers – it happens every time! We managed the fist day on a local river before they all blew out completely. Luckily, both of them love the lakes and we had some brilliant and varied still-water fishing with epoxy buzzers playing a very important role.

Next up was Tim and his brother Graeme. Great craic as always with the bros! Just about every fish was 5lbs. A very enjoyable few days.

Late in the month I had a new client. A man who knows my father quite well and fishes with him a lot back home. I also met him 25 years ago when I looked after the Inagh fishery for a season. His name is Jack Meredith. A very experienced angler who’s chased salmonids all over the world. I was delighted to show him around my area for a week. We mixed it up with local streams and rivers, backcountry fly-ins and highcountry dams. It was no surprise to me that the dams got under his skin. Anyone who fishes Irish loughs will have a head-start in understanding these special places, which are not for everyone. The fishing was very tough on the dams – but that’s not a bad thing. It just means you have to dig deep, fish to the conditions and persist – then enjoy the beautiful reward if you get one. Jack was not going to come back to the South Island after having a terrible experience a number of years ago. His guide didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing and spooked every fish in the river. I glad he changed his mind. I’m looking forward to next time.

A quick note about buzzer fishing (aka chironomid). This season and last season I’ve noticed a huge increase in buzzer numbers in many of the the lakes I fish and some rivers. On still-water days when fish have been hard, switching to a buzzer, usually epoxied, regularly made all the difference. I didn’t have a huge stock to begin with but my father can tie these in his sleep! One the phone one evening I asked him to send me a few which he did. Now I’m well armed with flies for these increasingly important tactics. Dad’s buzzers are particularly good too.

I’m very happy to say that my Fulling Mill patterns are now available in the new Patagonia shop in Queenstown. If you don’t live near Queenstown you can still order them online. They’re pretty much the only patterns I use. Check them out here.

Next season is just starting to fill up. Feel free to get in touch to make a booking or to chat about options. You can check out my website or email me ronan@sexyloops.com.

That’s all for now. Hopefully Decembers report will have a more user-friendly amount of photos. Tight Lines! Ronan..

October is usually a pretty quiet month for guiding. I like that it is. It allows me to ease into my work after a long winter. Come November I’m pretty much fully booked. It also means I can fish myself during what is arguably the best month of the year. This year myself, Wesley and Brayden went south to explore two new rivers. One was a dud (with potential) and the other was great. I opened my season with a 7.5lber and we encountered other big fish too. One might even have been that elusive 10lbs.

We also took my boat to the highcountry during opening week. It was windy going out. Too windy really, but I just wanted to get to a sheltered island. We had a great hour of fishing as the wind dropped but then it changed direction and roared from the south. Too windy to fish and freezing cold as it blasted horizontal snow across the island. I went for a walk to get phone coverage from a high rock to let the folks back home know that we might have to stay the night. It was too wild to cross. This got some welcome heat back into my feet. While I was out I went for a walk to scope a route back to safety. There was shelter on the north side of the island but all the other water had huge, worrying waves. The wind was completely insane reaching 150kph. luckily we had the shelter of the cabin. With the waves slapping on the side of the boat I thought it would be a good idea to move her farther into the shelter of the bay. As we were moving the boat the wind dropped a bit so we all agreed it was an opportunity to get back. We went for it and made it safely across without any problems.

I was back there again with Mark Adamson for an overnighter. I was hoping for a calm evening and following morning for buzzer fishing, but it didn’t happen. The cold southerly wind blew all through the night.. We had great shelter behind a rock on Camp Island. The fire was essential because it was flippin’ cold. Nice wine, good steak, a warm fire and good company. Life was good! The boat was lovely to sleep in. The wind continued to blow in the morning so still no buzzer fishing! The bugger fishing was good in the wind. I generally don’t bother trying to set up 10 sec timer “grip & grins” anymore. Sometimes I just take a David Lambroughton style trout portrait but they frequently look shite so I don’t use them!

It was a pleasure to meet and guide Joe Libeu and his partner, Cathy. Both great casters and anglers who have contributed lots to fly fishing and casting in the US. For me it was great to spend time with people who’ve invested so much into fly fishing and truly understand the sport. We didn’t have it easy but sometimes fishing is hard!

For a link to my flies available from Fulling Mill please click here. I have availability to guide from late March onward next year. Feel free to get in touch. ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

That’s it for now! Tight Lines.. Ronan..