August! From the Lakes to the Coast…
August has been superb! Not long after arriving back in NZ from Ireland, I joined Robbie, Tom and Jeremy for a couple of days on Lake Benmore. I went and got the Wakatipu Anglers Club boat to give us some options around the lake. After the couple of days with the lads I held on to the boat since nobody was using it. It has been fantastic! Pretty much all the lakes are fishing well, some very well! Catching up with friends has been as good as the fishing. The weather has been very settled, warm and sunny with very little wind. Ideal fishing conditions, although at times a little more wind would have been an advantage to make the boat drift.
There are a few rivers open in this area, but August around here is best on the lakes. Brown trout are well and truly finished spawning and are back in the lakes trying to regain condition. They also haven’t seen an angler for a while so this combination makes them very keen to eat a fly – any fly! Fish on Lake Dunstan have been happy to eat small streamers even in the flat calm on 3x. A few more weeks and this simply wont work unless the wind is blowing. It’s fun out there. I’ve fished it 3 days from the boat averaging 8 per day. Benmore was a little slower but it will be improving daily as fish continue to drop back to the lake. Hawea didn’t really fish for Guy and I. It certainly did 6 years ago but such is fishing.. I’d been dying to get back there ever since 4 super weekends in a row in August 2012. Everything was the same; lake level, wind, conditions, just no fish! This is how it was – Hawea 2012
The West Coast has eluded me since Jeff, Nick and myself filmed our episode for the second series of Pure Fly New Zealand. Mark and I went over for a couple of days recently. The main thing I wanted to do was the river mouths. The last week in August is when you have the most amount of whitebait running with the least amount whitebaiters chasing them! Therefor you have the place to yourself. I have hit some excellent fishing during this week in the past, but it was very quiet for us. The tides worked out well. On day 1 we arrived there in the morning an hour before high tide and fished for 2 hours. I got one small fish. The top and bottom of the tide are usually the best so we left the river mouth and fished the lower reaches of a river for a few hours. On the coast many rivers are open year round from the main highway bridge to the sea. This was good! I met 5 and landed one well conditioned, buttery brown. Then back to a different river mouth for low tide. I got 1 and touched a few more. The river mouths are a pretty gruelling fishery. They require dogged persistence and confidence.
Day 2 we took on a lake. It started slow but the fishing just got better and better. Boat and bank. Sight fishing to cruisers and blind stripping buggers on intermediates got the fish. Shitloads of them!
I’m not sure what fishing is on the cards next! September is here and I’ll be making the most of it. The lakes will only get better…
Tight Lines All!!
Ronan..
For bookings and information on guided fly fishing for the coming season, contact me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website Ronan’s Fly Fishing Missions
- Just back from Ireland and these fellas were going fishing! I wanted in!!
- The seat t the engine was always way too low. Not anymore!
- Jeremy and I used the boat to explore some new water..
- ..it was good!
- Most of our fishing was from the bank but the boat worked too.. for Jeremy anyway!
- Nice!!
- heading in after day 1. 10 fish for 4 anglers..
- Day 2. A cold start!
- It took a while to find fish but once we did the fishing was good.
- Robbie into one..
- A fatty.
- One from the pumphouse..
- 11 trout for day 2. Not bad for early August!
- Tom got himself an 80 series.. Like new! I’m a little envious!
- Dunstan for the day.. Beautiful morning!
- A great start.. and they kept coming..
- Land based for a while.. Sean releases one..
- Into another..
- Back he goes..
- Some super quality trout about!
- This was the bugger of choice..
- ..some bling in this one..
- ..black with hot spot..
- brown with hot spot.. The trout didn’t care which one swam past!
- This is a lovely time of year.. Light wind and settled weather.
- My favourite way to eat trout! ..
- ..crumbed and fried.
- This time 5 years ago I had some amazing fishing on Hawea.. it was time to go back!.. Great comfort on my new seat!
- Myself and Guy took it on..
- A spectacular place to be..
- Fishing the deep..
- One fish for the day!
- Home time..
- Lovely!
- Pull the boat out and heading home..
- Lake Hawea at The Neck..
- It’s been a while!! The West Coast!
- The weekend before whitebaiters turn up can be fantastic.
- Always keeping one eye on the swell..
- ..this was the only action for the morning session.. High tide.
- During the falling tide we hit a river from the bridge to the sea – open year round.
- Mark works some likely structure..
- after hitting 4 others I was happy to stick a fly in this one!
- A different river mouth for low tide.. One lean trout and bent the rod in a few more.
- We fished til dark..
- West Coast.. Day 2. A lake!
- After a slow start we abandoned the boat for the bank..
- ..which worked!
- Mark into a good one..
- Lovely!
- Another for Mark..
- Back in the boat and fishing went bananas!
- Playing to the limits of my gear..
- Fish..
- ..after fish..
- ..after fish. We caught a feckload.
- Heading East after a super 2 days..