Ronan's Report

I’m just back from a great trip to Ireland and the US with the family. We also visited Sardinia. I squeezed in a couple of days fishing while we were there, but more on all that later. I had most of the work on this blog done before we left about 7 weeks ago but never found the time to finish it. That’s proof of a great holiday. I’ve certainly been chasing my tail a bit in the last year trying to keep the blog as current as I can – I think it’s always like that though. This takes a lot of time and effort and it really get away from me at times. The photos below are from April, May and into June and this brings me up to date with my NZ fishing photos which almost never happens! Next up will be Ireland and Sardinia – possibly in the same blog or maybe broken in 2.

Late in the season I finally got over to Dunedin to fish with Robbie on some of his local water. A very interesting estuary it is. It was very windy when we were there which limited how much of the lagoon we could fish. It’s certainly not for everyone with electric fences right to the water making fishing risky and tricky. Much of it gets very weeded up and it’s certainly “cow shit country” with this area very intensively farmed. Lots of muddy, shitty drains leading straight into the lagoon. It’s amazing to me the level of pollution that goes unchecked in so much of this country. “Clean and green” it’s not but in the face of all this, there is still great fishing to be had both in general and at this lagoon. Some fisheries have died though and the future of fishing here is not certain – but enough about the negative, I just felt the need to mention that! The fishing was hard that day. Between the 2 of us we moved about 5 trout landing just 1. A lovely trout about 4.5lbs on a red and grey fry imitation of mine. We could see in pretty well at times but we sighted very few trout – those we did see had no interest in a bugger. A little nymph would have been better. The best action we had came from blind fishing. We also took a wander down to the rivermouth but didn’t see anything fishy. It was great to see the place and I’m looking forward to going back.

Since I’ve been home there’s been a mixed bag of weather from snowstorms to lovely warm days. We’re slowly getting over the jet lag. It’s harder with kids because we’re awake when they are. I should get a few opportunities to go fishing pretty soon which I’m looking forward to. This time of year can be fantastic! Be sure to get in touch if you’d like to lock in some late winter fishing – many fish have long finished spawning by now and are piling on condition.

If you’d like to check out my flies available on Fulling Mill you can see them here. They accounted for some lovely browns on Lough Corrib in Ireland recently and most of the fish in the pictures below. Here’s a little clip from August a couple of years ago with my Bruiser streamer doing the business..

I’d like to mention that I recently bought some Primal Bold rods for my clients who come without gear. I don’t get too excited about expensive fly rods in general and these rods are testament to why that is. For the money these are excellent. Great rods regardless of price. The 5 is a gem. It does exactly what a 5wt should do. The 6 is also a very capable rod. I have no issues with it at all. The 7 is a powerful weapon – great for launching heavy streamers, windy days, big rivers etc. I highly recommend these as a back-up or as your primary rod. When they’re previously rigged for clients I don’t bother rigging my own rods because these rods are sound.

Next season is filling up fast! January and February are full but there’s still limited spaces in the other months. Contact me on ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

Tight Lines! Ronan..

Once again, It’s been hard to find the time to write! I’ve been busy guiding, but this is also a very social time of year. Friends pass through on a regular basis, mostly fishing friends so we fish if I’m not working, and we drink a beer or two in the evenings. Today is a rare day in that I have the day off with the house to myself! Where do I start?!

Dad arrived on November 17th. A little later than usual but I thought this would be a good thing in the hope that the terrible weather we were having would pass. It didn’t! The conditions locally made many rivers unfishable much of the time due to rain, rain and more rain. Rivers ideally suited to 10 cumecs reached 200! It made guiding difficult too because most clients want to experience river fishing. Dad, on the other hand, is in his element on the lakes! We spent the first 3 days fishing together out of the Wakatipu Anglers Club boat. We had excellent fishing with a multitude of tactics from dries to buggers to nymphs, to di5’s to floaters to blind to sight. “Adapt when you need to” was the name of the game! We had 4 days in total from the club boat landing 55 trout up 5.5lbs. There is always great lake fishing to be had when the rivers are in flood!

When time off from guiding permitted, we hit the road for multi-day blocks. Usually 3 days. Conditions remained tough with lots of windy, dark days but you just have take what you get and make the most of it. Almost regardless of conditions you’ll get your chances if you put yourself amongst it. Walk, search, blind fish, spook a few, spot a few, catch a few! We had an occasional blue sky day, these were blissful and we made hay!

One of the highlights of dads time here was a trip to a small still water. Robbie Mcphee, Iza, Myself and Dad all went there for a day. I enjoyed it because I wanted Dad to figure it out for himself. I just suggested he hit the far bank and he’d know what to do. I knew I could advise him on some tactics I use but there was no need, he’s an instinctive lake angler with 60 years experience! He put a deadly method together over the course of the day landing 4 in the 6lb class. He fished 3 small spiders and nymphs, slowly working them over weed beds and casting to sighted fish when the opportunity presented itself. I landed a few crackers too. Iza had the fish of the day with a magnificent 7.25lb specimen. Robbie lost a monster and landed a few. Aside from the fishing it was just great being there with some of the best people on the planet.

I kept a good bit of time to myself over the Christmas period to fish. I recently bought a second hand 2 man pontoon boat and I was dying to take it for a test drive! Robbie and I took her on Dunstan for her maiden voyage and what a craft she is! Brilliant to fish off and easy to manoeuvre!! It’s total team work, the man on the oars manoeuvres the angler into the perfect position to cover fish. We landed plenty for the day! Some craic out there with the sun shining (Christmas day I think it was!) and a few beers in the cooler. It was mostly sight fishing with small nymphs and damsels. Since then we brought it to the coast. We checked out a lake for the day really getting to grips with how the boat handles. We landed 5 each on Day 1 Exploratory Mission.. that evening we went to camp at a nearby river mouth where we caught 2 kahawai and 2 seatrout from the beach and lagoon. The next morning the weather took a major turn for the worse with gales and rain. We got out of there as the rivers started to rise… very quickly!

On a recent trip to a favourite river of mine I got dive-bombed by a Karearea! He (or she) swooped down narrowly missing my head.. She (I’ve decided this angry bird is a she!) swooped again and again each time getting a little closer. I was watching her all the time, well aware of her whereabouts by her shrill cry. I decided to take out my camera and film her attacks. For some reason she had no interest in Robbie, only me. I filmed a few swoops, one of which came very close. We were walking all the time, not intentionally pissing off the old bird. Then all seemed quiet. I was walking in front of Robbie as we marched down river to fish back. Then WHACK. Like being hit hard in the head with an open hand slap, knocking my head to one side and my hat off my head. Robbie saw it all. The same bird has since knocked a a good friend of mine, Fraser Hocks, to the ground! Tough bird I’ll tell ya.. those are two hard heads!

In case you didn’t know, it’s willow grub time! You’ll be needing some of these.. http://stusflyshop.com/browse-by-gear/stus-superior-flies/mixed-packs/banana-fly-mix-x12/

For information and bookings see my website www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com or email me, ronan@sexyloops.com (More reading below!)

MY GALLERY

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