Ronan's Report

I had fished the river once on a southbound mission on the West Coast with Paul. We had just finished fishing and filming an epic journey to one of the most remote rivers in NZ (http://globalflyfisher.com/video/revolution) and the 8 days that followed were fishless.. including the day on this river. So, I knew about it. I knew it could be good but in my limited experience on it it wasn’t. I had no idea where I fished it all those years ago. I looked on the map and picked a random access. Down the road Iza and I went, through a gate, crossed a creek and to the river. I took a stroll 100m up river and saw 3 trout which I didn’t catch. This reminded me of the difficult fishing I had that day while Paul was writing a front page for Sexyloops.. I though that was what we were in for the following day. I prepared myself for difficult fish but it turned out that they were not that tough at all. We had a ball!

Here are the best pics from our northbound trip up the coast in early Jan.. I’m way behind on my blog! I might just have to omit the last month to catch up.. but some great things happened up to 9lbs… well, 8.75!

Ronan..

Ship Creek, Just north of Haast. No doubt it holds a fish or two!

The fish were as pretty as the river..

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Kayaking on the Okarito lagoon, we explored some little creeks.

..this river will do!

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This was one of the prettiest of the trip!

On up the coast and time to cast a fly..

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These release shots highlight the clarity of the water..

Some of the monster browns feeding on salmon pellets at the Paringa salmon farm..

Fox Glacier..

Lunch..

I had some time to snap a few shots of these little fella's. NZ natives. Whitebait or inanga I think.

They were not too bothered by our presence..

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I took lots to get a few decent pictures..

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Hello!

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This was the heaviest of the trip at 5.5lbs..

Iza is improving all the time, getting a fish or 2 on most outings..

And another river.. This one was simply stunning with water as clear as I've seen!

Some really perfect, fit, fat fish about.. This one has an unusual elongated spot..

This one a little darker.. Nymphs and dries both working but most taking the nymph..

The truck doubled as a drying rack at the end of the day!

Back she goes..

The river was alive with nymphs and trout!

The fattest!!

Not too far up, Iza hooked 3 from this ideal riffle!

Strong little beauties they were..

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This lovely river flowed along the edge of farm and forest.

This huge dragonfly was about 90mm long!

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In again!

A neat cast followed by this reward!

Freedom!

Iza has taken a liking to the SLP-HT! Here another well aimed cast pays off.

Superb!

And back she goes. The last fish from a spectacular day!

This big bug from Haast beach on the way home..

A superb 5.5lber..

This fish is submerged, though it may be hard to tell!

A solid trout for Iza..