Ronan's Report

One small trout is all we landed on Lough Mask last Thursday.. Conditions were ideal. We covered water that should have held fish but it simply felt like they were not there. I think our great lakes are in trouble and i dont know what to do about it besides practicing and preaching catch and release. I believe working on the spawning streams would be a good idea too though. On a brighter note i heard some good catch reports from the lower Corrib on Saturday. Buzzer fishing will soon be in full swing!

Pike fishing on Saturday was great fun. I had 4 and they are much stronger than they were a week ago. I’m yet to meet a really big one but I’m enjoying the search! When john puts his boat in the lower Corrib it will open up many opportunities for big ones i think. Build the dam trailer john!!!

A great win for Ireland in the rugby followed by a few pints in Galway topped of the day beautifully!

Have a great week all.. By the way, I’ll have a sexyloops email address soon so if anyone wants to contact me it will soon be possible. Thanks for reading!

Ronan..

This day last year paul and I were getting ready to leave NZ to head for the Northern Territory in Australia. We arrived in Darwin on Paddy’s Day, Traditionally a fishing day for me but the Guinness got the better of us on that occasion. We were on the water the next morning… afternoon maybe, we don’t wear watches!

Tomorrow is Paddy’s Day once again and also my 20th fly fishing anniversary. I remember that first day very clearly. I was with my Dad and my Grandad on Lough Corrib. I fished hard all day with freezing hands while putting up with some abuse such as “you’ve been watching me casting for fuckin long enough now to know how to do it” and “It looks more like whipping a bull than casting”. It was half in gest… I think! I kept trying and persistence paid off with a 1.5lb brown on a Black Zulu.  All 3 generations were delighted and I never looked back. Dad (Joe Creane) and I fish together in NZ every year. I wish my Grandfather, Paddy, could have been there with us, however I’m thankful for all the great days the 3 of us had on the water together,  Without them I would not be able to think like a trout!

Tomorrow Dad and I are going to take on Lough Mask…

Ronan..

I arrived at Corrib on Saturday morning to find it like a sheet of glass. My plan was to target trout since the season is open again but with bright sunshine and not a breath of wind to push the boat along there was not much point. I set up a rod for trout anyway in case the conditions changed but first i went after pike along the reeds in front of Ardnasillagh Lodge where i rented the boat. I had 3 pike within half an hour all 4-5lbs and then things went quiet. At 2pm I left the bay and ventured out into the lake to inchagill hoping for a breeze to get up by the time I got there. It didn’t! This time of year on Corrib a little wind is essential so I went back to where I started in pursuit of pike and boated one more of about  6 or 7lbs in the evening. It was a great moment, The pike cruised towards the fly from the side with his fins out of the water like a shark, he bumped the fly first so i paused, Then a slow strip away and he nailed it! I enjoy fishing with friends but sometimes it’s great to be on the water alone. I think it gives you a more genuine appreciation of nature and your surroundings. One disadvantage however is trying to photograph fish with the 10 second timer! You have one chance then the fish goes back whether or not you got the fish in the frame. It was great to get a few fish finally. No big fish yet but persistence pays off, or so they say!

I stayed at johns on Saturday night and tied up a few flies for Sunday. We fished out of Maam again and i can safely say there are still dam all pike in this part of the lake. I hoped that in the 3 weeks since we last fished it some fish would have moved in but we haden’t as much as a pull all day. I’ll try it again in a few weeks…

Spring is well and truly in the air and it feels fantastic!

Tight lines All…    Ronan..

Nothing to report from Saturday. The lake was very high and coloured from huge amounts of rainfall all week. Fished hard all day in Oughterard bay but no action. The highlight of the day was a cup of tea!! If anyone has some info they would like to share, or join me for a day, please contact me on facebook.. Cheers!

Ronan Creane

Sunday was the fourth or fifth time out on Corrib from Maam this year.  I put the bad fishing the first few times down to adverse weather conditions but now I believe the pike just aren’t in this part of the lake yet. Corrib is a massive body of water and pike, like trout, probably have movement patterns around the lake throughout the year. I won’t fish out of Maam again for a while. John and I fished hard all day for one small pike. There were 3 polish lads spinning and trolling in the same area and they did not catch any fish at all so this backs up my theory. Next weekend John and Iwill fish out of Oughterard. We’ll crack them yet! Just have to find them first…

I forgot my camera so had to use my phone! My apologies for the slightly dark images.

Later! Ronan..  (stuntman ci)

I didn’t make it out on the water last weekend, no great excuse, just too much partying! Next weekend will see me (and John) back out on Corrib.. and preparation has started.  Here are a few flies John and I tied up.. The weather is getting a little milder here so hopefully that will improve our chances. Time will tell!

I’ll report back on Monday… Stuntman Ronan..

Not much news on the pike front this week.. My boat is moored on the Bealnabrack River in Maam in North Connemara, about a mile upstream of Lough Corrib. It was -7c on Friday night and on Saturday the river was frozen all the way to the lake. The ice was up to an inch thick in places! I drove my old lake boat through the ice all the way to the lake causing only minimal damage to the hull. The lake was ice free but the cold seemed to turn the pike off completely. Am i right in thinking extreme cold will put pike off feeding? I realise people ice fish for them so maybe its a localised occurrence. Such low temperatures are new to Ireland but i have a feeling these cold winters are here to stay! I never came into contact with a pike all day. Its entirely possible that there were very few pike where I was fishing! I’ll be out again next weekend. I hope its warmer and the fish are on!

In the mean time, here is what I prepared for NZ last season. If anyone is planning a trip out there this will give you some idea as to what sort of flies to tie. They worked well in Tasmania too with the addition of some beetle patterns.

Take tomorrow off work and go fishing!

Stuntman Ronan..

Today I did a days work, then came home to wash the motherload of dishes. After putting down a fire and having dinner I decided it’s time for a blog… Its been nearly a year since my last one!

This year my plan is work hard to fund my next fly fishing mission abroad and to fish hard for whatever is available locally. At the moment its Pike. Lough Corrib is only 40 mins away so thats where I put my boat in. I’ve been out 3 times in conditions varying from howling gales to flat calm and sunny. Its all fairly new to me, tying huge flies, wondering what colour use, what depth to fish them at and where, etc… The best way to learn is to get out there, explore and experiment…

John and I are heading out again this Saturday. The next blog will be about either Pike handling, Big pike (hopefully big pike) or flies.. or all three! Until then, Tight Lines…

Stuntman Ronan..

Matt, Andy, Edo, Jackie, Paul and I all hit for Corroboree Billabong for the weekend.. A long weekend for Matt, Paul and me. Fishing was good in general but there was lots of time the fish did not seem to be feeding. This was generally in the heat of the day which made it even tougher.. The heat and humidity here in the Northern Territory means you need to drink just about all the time to avoid dehydration and headaches. For me the worst thing about the heat and humidity while camping was trying to sleep at night! I only slept the first night because i had sufficient alcohol in my system to make sure of it!! The next 2 nights i just lay there, sweating, being bitten by the odd mozzie and trying to count sheep… Even Paul had trouble sleeping one night. He could usually sleep on a roller coaster! Anyway.. enough of the hardship!

The target species for the mission were Barramundi and Saratoga.The first day we had some Barra’s but nothing great. Paul finished the day with a big toga  from deep in the lilly pads. Tarpon were everywhere and gave us entertainment when nothing else would. The second day I went out while Paul caught up on some sleep. I had 6 species. Tarpon, Long Tom, Sooty Grunter, Power Tail (cat fish!), Barramundi and Saratoga. I lost a Barra that would have made 80cms but it was a fantastic session anyway.

Paul and i fished about 4 hours into darkness one night, Paul added an Archer fish to his species count. We moved alot of fish but they all missed the fly including one giant which attacked my fly 3 times. Listening to the crocs exploding into a feeding frenzy put a shiver down my spine a few times! Magnificent animals they are..

Jacky had her first Barra on Fly! 61cms, a fantastic fat fish. Andy and Edo had some great fishing on the first day with Barra to 85cm and a few good ‘toga’s.

It was a great trip…

Ronan.. Stuntman ci

Amazing fishing here in Darwin! There about 35 species here which can be targeted on fly and we have had about 15 so far. Some big fish too, my first (and only so far) Barramundi was 75cms long and we have had Queenfish up to 87cm. I hooked a Giant Trevally today which ran an entire flyline and a heap of backing into the mangroves, the drag was near locked up. Simply unbelievable strength! I lost the fish but I was lucky to get the fly line back!! Paul was hooked up at the same time.. His got off too so were both looking forward to our next battle with a GT. Thanks to Graeme P. Williams for keeping us on the fish!

This morning (very early, my brain was not in gear) i wiped Paul’s memory card thinking it was mine so a lot of this footage (for SLTV) got lost!! I guess its always a risk when 2 camera’s are identical.. Annoying?  no.. Heart breaking! It’s impossible to repeat a moment in fishing. We’ll just have to catch more, so thats not a bad thing!