For the last 3 weeks we’ve had had 4 or 5 serious rain events. For the first few it was still possible to find rivers clear enough to fish. Sight fishing was tough at times but certain rivers are best sight fished on cloudy days. Willow lined rivers for example and there are plenty of those. Any river with steep banks, whether the steepness be cliffs, willows, gorge, beach forrest, cityscape or whatever. The steep bank casts a shadow of sorts across the river to remove the glare which makes sighting difficult. This simple observation influences my choice of river every day I go out and helps me see fish in most conditions. Sometimes though, during times of flood you just have to be happy with fishable water, whether you can sight it or not. I think this separates the trout fishermen from the fair weather fishermen! A true trout fisherman wants to catch trout regardless of conditions. If you can’t see them then blind fish for them, if the rivers are blown then fish lakes, if sighting is impossible on the lakes then blind fish! Not all trout anglers are this dedicated though. Some only fish with dries, some only want to sight fish, some wont fish in the rain. Luckily, all my recent clients were happy to do whatever it takes to catch a trout. These are the anglers I love to guide – the hardcore!
As it turned out the fishing was really great throughout all the floods, snow, rain, gales and a few perfect blue sky days! Sometimes we got a little cold but a hot cup of tea was a great remedy. I had to wear 2 Simms raincoats to stay dry on a number of days (an Irish joke comes to mind). We appreciated the good weather days. Adapting to suit the conditions with good, keen trout anglers meant we came up with the goods.
Here is a short film by Pat! I shot a few clips on my Lumix and he did the rest.. I made the pool a bit more user friendly afterwards.. Thanks, Pat! Click here to see it.
For bookings and info for this season contact me, ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website! Also, if you enjoy what you see and read here then please subscribe!
Tight Lines!
Ronan..
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Day one of two with Pat. He hooked into one as Rob Vaz, Jeff Forsee and Kristina Royter showed up to say hello!
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We had a magic time fishing to rising fish for most of the day.
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The rain rarely stopped and neither did the action. Plenty to the net!
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Day 2, Something very different!
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Clear water and sight fishing to big browns. Last nights rain put a little colour in the river.
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A little river keeping!
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fourth of the day! All super fish..
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Stunning creatures!
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Fishing with Mike and Chris. Plan A was too high and dirty after more rain but Plan B was great! A super fish for Chris!
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And another!! Neat, accurate casting is key.
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2 for Mike also..
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Heading home after a great day.. in the rain.. again!
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Kevin and I have had a super record on the river! Terrible conditions forecast but we had a nice window in the morning.. apart from having to cast into strong wind!
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Kevin got 2 of these..
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..then the weather turned..
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..the rain kept coming..
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..and the river rose. We bailed out at 3pm when the river became unfishable.
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Day 2. The hunt for clear water! We found some.. Icy cold start!
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Kevin playing one of the best for the season on the SLHT#6..
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A great start!
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Then this 7.25lb brute blind-fishing a backwater.
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Back he goes..
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Sighting from high banks where possible..
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All likely water had to be blind fished.
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Back he goes..
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At #3. With many mutual friends and waters back in the motherland, it’s always great to take Kevin out. He had the 2nd best of last season. This superb 8.5lber took a small dry. We totally misjudged the size of this fish until he slid into the net..
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A little sun late in the day!
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Day 3. We hooked 6 and landed 2 here. We bailed out when a jet boat beat us to our next spot.
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A little river keeping at Plan B!
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Discard thoughtfully..
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Nothing to impede the backcast.
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We sighted this 4lber from the head of the pool..
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This fat 5lber on a streamer.. 5 for the day!
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Day 4. The wind was brutal so this was plan B. The Mataura.
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High and coloured..
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..but we got 9 of these!
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48 hours of non stop rain to greet Brendan and David. The rivers were out! It was lake time!
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Raincoats failed but the fishing was great.
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10 on day 1.
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Blind fishing buggers was the best method.
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Day 2. Driving through a blizzard to get to the next lake.
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Freezing cold but once again the fishing was great.
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Working the water.
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Super fish!
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Some hot tea and a chocolate bar to keep us all alive!!
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There had to be one here!
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Fat strong rainbow!
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Wave action churned up the edges. Fishing the colour change resulted in a fish.
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A number of years ago I found browns surfing (almost!) in the breaking waves. I hoped we’d see it again! We did. We had a manic 30 minutes with about a dozen sighted fish and 3 landed. Excellent sight fishing in the most unlikely of conditions! 9 for the day.
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Day 3. Sunshine and total sight fishing!!
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A stunning lake..
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..with stunning fish!
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True top quality trout! All fat and healthy with beautiful markings and colouration.
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Another tank!
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Brendan and David landed 5 for the day.
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Day 4. Plan A had 8 anglers on it so I moved to here. We had it to ourselves and landed some super trout!
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6lbs for Brendan..
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Utter perfection for David..
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..then this 6.25 for David! Such striking markings!
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We bounced around a few other small lakes and found fish everywhere though no more were landed. We lost one in this ditch!!
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Lots of fish cruising at high speed sporadically changing direction. Very hard to intercept.
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Small still waters can be great fun! 4 for the day.
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Day 5. The lake was extremely high and coloured but the edges were clear. Blind fishing again!
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Great start! One of the 5lb rainbows we came here to catch!
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Blind fishing is all about maximising odds of covering fish. Always look for colour change, structure or anything fishy!
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This was the bugger of choice..
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The lake was at least 1m higher than usual. Probably more!
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Superbly conditioned bows.
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Magic!
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Backwaters often stay clear even if the main lake is dirty.
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This tank from a small spring creek to end the trip!
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What a fish! 7 landed for the last day. A great trip for the lads because they were willing to do whatever it takes!
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