Ronan's Report

The photos below take me up to about mid November. A good mix of fishing with a few absolute brutes in the mix. Some great fish around this season. No doubles and nothing mousy (yet) but healthy numbers of really good quality trout up to 8lbs. Some seasons we don’t see many of those. Prospects are good for more and hopefully bigger – especially if this mouse plague comes to fruition!

This season is mostly full now but I have space in April. Next season is filling up too so if you’re thinking about a trip feel free to get in touch for a chat or to book. ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

My range of flies with Fulling Mill can be seen here. Still time to stock up on willow grubs and cicadas!

The state of the world is weighing on me a little right now. I don’t feel like writing but I want to share these pics before the backlog gets too much!

Good luck to the hunger strikers and free Palestine. Ronan..

I had great few days fishing with Graeme down south in early October. The highlight was 2 days on a lake we both wanted to explore. I had a tiny bit of info about it but it was really a blank canvas for both of us. The challenge in exploring a new lake is how to approach it. There were 4 main types of water – stream mouths, shallow reedy bays, native scrub shorelines and beaches. We spent time on each and covered most of the lake over two days. To our surprise, the stream mouths were totally dead. The reedy bays were okay on day 1 but very dead on day 2 – apart from a superb 7lber, the only fish we moved from the reeds that day. The native scrub shorelines were okay but we needed to cover a lot of water to find fish. The beaches were consistently good and really beautiful to fish. Sight fishing would be possible from the beaches although we got them all blind fishing – mostly with my Bruiser pattern from Fulling Mill. The lake was weird though. In a good way. It didn’t feel like fishing for trout for me. I felt like I was chasing black bass in another country! Not a single fish rose in 2 days which compounded my feelings. We had calm conditions at times with chironomid hatching but nothing on top. This made the search more challenging because there were no clues. We had good success all up with 10 fish for the 2 days. We worked for them. We were on the water early each day and fished til almost dark each day. Without fish rising or the sight fishing option we had to continuously cast and cover water each day – mostly from the drifting boat. I grew up with this type of marathon fly fishing and I love it. For many anglers it’s too much, too much like a workout and I get that. It is a work out but sometimes it’s the only way. The lake was too high to wade any of the shorelines apart from the beaches. It would be a very different place in low water. I’m looking forward to another visit.

I’ve included some pics from last winter – Some great days out guiding. Other days with my kids and with friends and sometimes both together. Lochlan and Adaline are both regularly catching a few fish now. Lochlan seems more interested than Adaline at this stage – mainly because we sometimes go for a pint and a game of pool afterwards. Not sure why he’d enjoy the pub?!

January, February and March are full but besides that I have some availability. Feel free to get in touch at ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website . To have a look at my range of flies over at Fulling Mill click here.

Tight lines and Free Palestine, Ronan..

With each trip to Temenggor I get a little wiser, a little more confident and a little better. This was my 3rd trip and I felt like it was time to apply what I had learned from past trips. I remember how I was on my first trip. Paul had advised me on practicing the snakehead cast which I did a little of, but I’m no good at practicing. I need to do my practicing on the water – right or wrong, thats how I am. I remember that a successful cast was landing the fly just in front of the fish between 1 and 2 seconds after he rises to take a gulp of air. This was my biggest failing on my first trip. In my head, this was virtually no time and I continued to rush the shot – time and time again. I wasn’t allowing the backcast to straighten, I was just forcing the shot in under a second and making a balls of it. The first trip was 11 days of fishing. In that time I landed one snakehead and 2 gourami. Gourami fishing is different, less time critical with the shot and a lot like trout fishing with dries. I’ll get back to that later maybe, but one snakehead in 11 days! The truth is I misjudged how much time I had to make that all critical shot. 2 seconds is not nothing. There’s time there to take your time – relatively speaking. I remember in my college days in Letterfrack Furniture College one of my classmates had a note above his workbench reading “Make haste, slowly”. Well, the snakehead cast is sort of like that. In fact, if I gave myself 3 seconds on every opportunity on that first trip I think I’d have done better because now and again a fish stays near the surface for a little longer.

My second trip was short – just 3 days. It’s really not enough. From the start I was a little on the back foot because I know how hard it is to succeed. However I did pretty well. I didn’t land a fish but I had 10 events which broke down as 1 lost (trout strike!), 8 chases and 1 gourami incident. Paul talks about the red zone and the yellow zone with regards to the shot. Landing the fly in the red zone is like hitting a saucer. The yellow zone is like hitting the 1 foot circle around the saucer. Hitting the red zone will usually get a result. Very often an eat, at least a chase but could also get you nothing. Hitting the yellow zone might get you a chase but usually nothing at all – but sometimes it’s good enough. One of the joys is simply putting the fly exactly where you aim it. If you succeed in that, whether you catch or not, you’ve done your bit – as long as you’ve been fast enough of course. After the cast you must gloop the surface popper right away to get the fishes attention and then keep stripping causing surface disturbance hoping there’s a snakehead behind it about to burst onto the fly.

My 3rd trip. Paul picked me up in Penang and after a couple of hours we were hauling bags, beer and petrol down the dilapidated Belum steps. The steps are long and steep, dark, very degraded and dodgy as feck, but it’s a rite of passage. After a number of trips up and down the steps of doom, Paul took the Rocket C across the pitch dark lake to the Battleship. From there we motored down the lake to make base – two boats in tow. It was so good to be hanging out with my great friend again. Like no time had passed since the last time – which was 7 years ago. Time really is flying by. We caught up with some fine wine, French potato hotpot, beer and a little rum. The craic was great as we chatted about old times and current.

Day 1 was a slow start after all that, but not like old times where we were known to occasionally miss the entire next day! Day 1 was lively on the water. There were free risers in many of the locations we stopped at. I felt pretty composed and ready to make haste, slowly. I had a few yellow zone shots which had some big chases but no eat. Then nailed a red zone shot and glooped away the fly to watch an explosive take from a solid snakehead. No trout strike, I think I got it all pretty bang on – including the fight. Fish in the net on day 1. I was delighted. So was Paul. We continued that day into darkness as we would every day. I got lots of opportunities and many chases, I can’t remember how many. At the end of the day, last light I got another snakehead from a yellow zone cast. The last light can be great. Fish rise less frequently but tend to stay near the surface for a little longer.

Days 2, 3 and 4 were slow. There were opportunities every day though. Sometimes to free risers, sometimes to snakehead with babies. If you know nothing about this fishery there are 2 main ways to catch snakehead. One is by targeting free risers. Snakehead can breathe air into their lungs by taking a gulp of air from the surface. This gives the angler a visual. If you’re lucky, you’ll see the fish in the murky water before they break the surface to breathe. This will give you an extra moment to prepare your shot. However if you hit the water before they breathe you’ll spook them so you must resist the urge to cast too soon. The shot must be delivered after they breathe. The other way to target them is when they’re with babies. The mother and father snakehead protect their brood of up to a couple of hundred (I’m guessing) baby snakehead. The young ones fizzle on the surface very frequently and so we can track them. They tend to travel from stump to stump if they’re in the shallows so we can try our best to predict where they’re heading and where they’ll pop up next. All the while were waiting for either of the parents to come up to breathe. When they do thats our shot. They are also likely to be in totally open water which can make them a little harder to track. Same as for a free riser, the shot must be fast and accurate. When the fish is released they go back to their family. I watched this happen after Paul caught one off babies. The other parent and babies stay close by (the babies continue to regularly fizzle on the surface as they breathe). Shortly after the release we watched both parents emerge together. Paul believes they have a scent unique to the family to help them to stay together.

Like many great fishing locations, sometimes it’s important to look around you. This is an area of wild, dense rainforest and immense beauty. There are elephants, lots of them. We saw fresh sign every day. There are tigers, not many but they are around. A large paw print was found near Belum resort just recently. Birds, frogs, lizards, pigs, monkeys are all present and now and again we see them. Paul’s method of hunting out snakehead involves constantly moving. We’re travelling along shores for kilometres or moving quickly across open water to search new ground. The whole time getting to see many facets of this beautiful wilderness or listening to the occasional crash or trumpet from an elephant or a screech from a monkey. The sounds can be as dramatic and the visuals.

The Battleship is luxurious. When we get back in darkness after a long day there’s a cold beer (or many) in the fridge. Paul has a well equipped galley kitchen where he can whip up some Chinese hotpot or similar. There’s a warm lake which doubles as a bath – just don’t dive in or you may get impaled on a pointed stump! You can sleep in a hammock or a bed – I chose the hammock. Good internet, plenty chargers and battery power. It’s very well set up. There’s a fish tank which doubles as a TV. I spent many hours watching the antics of the little and the large gouramis. They’d eat little chironomid off the surface attracted by the light over the tank. Sometimes they’d get a more substantial fly like a termite. They enjoyed cheese and chocolate too or a bite of one of the plants growing in the tank. Now and again the big one would nudge the little one out of the way but in general they had a peaceful coexistence in the tank. Paul has probably released the large one by now as he was reaching the upper size limit for the tank.

Day 5. I only had a few hours to fish before making the journey to the airport to fly back to NZ. The Battleship was moored on a stump on the outside of a large expanse of stumps. Free risers like this type of water and this spot in particular was a favourite of Paul’s. We checked it out the previous 2 evenings but it was pretty quiet. On this last morning it was very lively. There were 2 sets of babies but we worked mainly on the free risers. There was another variable I learned on this last morning. I had noticed it before but this time in particular. That’s the angle the fish goes back down at after rising. The shallower the angle the better because that means they’re nearer the surface for longer. On this morning most of the fish were going down at very steep angles so even red zone shots were not being noticed. I felt like the culmination of all my experience had come together and I fished well. I made many shots where I put the fly exactly where I wanted to but they did not result in as much as a chase. However I felt good about my shots and thats very important because it’s all about the shot!

Paul rarely fished over the 4.5 days. He very kindly gave me most of the opportunities. We could have fished separately in the 2 boats but Paul decided we’d fish together even though I did most of the fishing!! Aside from the fishing this was a great way for the two of us to catch up and have a laugh. We kept hydrated every day with jungle juice instead of beer which was a first for us! Maybe we’re getting a little sense!? I’m not so sure. But one thing I am sure of is that I loved every minute of it and I hope to get back before Paul sets sail on his round the world adventure – once he learns to sail. I could help him with that but I have a pretty bad track record in yachts.

Paul knows this fishery inside out now. He’s been there 10 years and fished it over 3000 days. He understands the fish and the fishing, boat handling too. Whether it’s manoeuvring the boat around stumps or tracking a snakehead on babies, Paul’s boat handling is second to none. Traveling in pitch black is no trouble either due to his knowledge of the lake. He barely ever hits stumps at speed! I learned a couple of new knots while I was there. Paul fishes the rigs he fishes after thorough testing, so he knows the setups are as strong as they can be – usually factoring in a fuse so the fly line doesn’t break. His snakehead cast is now pretty legendary and is a pleasure to watch him execute it. Fly tying is another aspect. The fly that Paul ties is a popper pattern. It has some lead tied in on the bend of the hook to pull the fly down a bit in the water ensuring the first “gloop” is a good one. The fly itself resembles a frog or a small fish. It’s a pattern that has evolved over time and it works! If you’re thinking about an adventurous, challenging and very different type of fly fishing trip I highly recommend this…

On the Journey home I read Jungle Blues by Stu Tripney. Paul loaned me his copy. I loved it. I have no doubt that part of my enjoyment came from knowing the author, knowing Paul who much of the book was about and knowing the fishery he was talking about. In the book, Stu was tearing around the Jungle in a boat named after myself! It’s only the 5th book I’ve read so you should be happy, Stu (if you see this!)!! Although I haven’t quite finished it yet.. but I will!

Back in NZ now and the new season is underway. I’ve had a superb start exploring two new waters. More on that later. I still have some availability throughout the season apart from January, February and March.

Plenty time to stock up on my range of flies for New Zealand available from Fulling Mill. The flies are tried and trusted by myself and many others over here. You can see the full range here.

Tight Lines and Free Palestine, Ronan..

As the world descends into chaos, here’s a chance to step into a positive world where fish are feeding and people are friendly. I’m horrified by what’s going on right now. The continuous lies, genocide, hypocrisy and double standards.. but right now here’s a look back at my NZ summer. This blog takes me up to the end of March.

While fishing well out in the backcountry with Marcus we had an unexpected encounter. We had about 2kms left before the fishing ends on this wilderness stream. Upstream I couldn’t make out whether I was looking at was a camouflaged side by side or a rock! As we got closer it was indeed a side by side (4×4, 2 seater vehicle). “Shite”, I thought. “Probably a fisherman?”. When we got to the vehicle we found no evidence of it being an angler but there were no rifle cases either so the jury was out! We decided to continue and hope for the best. Just as we started to make our way upstream a spritely fella came jogging over the hill wearing a fly vest but without a rod. We went over for a chat. It turned out to be Bruce Masson. He’s about 80 I think. Bruce was the man behind the Trophy Trout videos from about 30 years ago. They’re still highly regarded fishing films today and inspired many anglers including myself. Bruce had fished the water above us so that was the end of the day for us. We didn’t mind, it was so good to meet this man. He was fishing with his wife and they had landed a few fish, she was still upstream waiting for him to come back with the vehicle. Bruce has some incredible access to this backcountry area. We had an enjoyable chat about fishing past and present and spoke of some mutual friends. Over the years I have met and gotten to know many people involved with this production, Robbie Mcphee, Bob Wyatt, Chris Jackson and more. I felt quite honoured to meet Bruce. The man behind it all. It was especially great to meet him randomly in this wilderness while he was doing what he loves. Hopefully we’ll meet again!

Next season is filling up fast! January and February are full, March almost full, but there’s still lots of room in the other months. To have a look at my flies which were great for me this season you can check out this link. You can contact me on ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

Tight lines, Ronan..

One of the highlights of this season for me was mid summer dry fly action. Even in summer it’s hard for me not to fish a nymph. This summer though, I had so many days where the single dry rig was the only one to step up for the shots. I’m happy to catch fish on any fly or tactic but there’s no denying how great it is to watch a trout, preferably a big trout, coming up to take a dry. My cicadas were really great and accounted for some very big trout over the summer. No doubles this season (yet!?!) but we saw a few nines in the net and lots of other really top end trout. The photos below take me up to early February so there’s more summer stuff coming later. I’m always a couple of months behind but what harm!!

Myself and Robbie caught up for a few days fishing after a long time of not catching up at all! Life gets away on us sometimes. Robbie caught all the big ones – no surprise there! We had some full on fishing, mostly on dries. One funny day where every time we decided to call it a day, another fish would rise. We were on the river til late that eve. We explored some new water from an excellent new access for me.

We’re now into the last month of the regular season over here. The fishing has been pretty tough locally. Some great days but more tough days than I’d expect for this time of year. The hatches have been pretty minimal so far but there’s a few weeks left. April has the most dependable hatches of the season so I really hope it winds up for the next few weeks.

I have the next few days to fish myself. No plan as yet. I’ll decide in the morning!

For a look at my patterns available over at Fulling Mill you can check out this link. They’re also available in store at Patagonia Queenstown.

Next season is filling up fast. Feel free to get in touch with any enquiries or to make a booking. You can find me on my website or email – ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight Lines, Ronan..

Fishing continues, both work and pleasure. It’s been one of the most challenging seasons to date with extreme wind being the hardest factor. Some days I tried to hide from it, other days I went into the teeth of it. I got the desired results most days but they didn’t come easy. With the challenge came greater satisfaction with a good result. I had a day in early November fishing on my own in a blizzard with 100kph gusts. I was on a high country lake. 1 degree celsius. I loved it for myself but I’m glad I wasn’t guiding in it!

Things are getting warm here now and with that the terrestrials are about. My cicadas are working well whether I’m seeing them on the water or not. They’re also available in a size 6 this year which will work well for the larger West Coast and beach forest cicadas. I’m currently working on a few new patterns for the 2026 Fulling Mill catalog. You can check out my current range of flies here.

It was great to fish with Mark Regan over here. I know Mark from fishing Corrib back home and we have many mutual friends. We had a couple of great days on the water together. A sunny still water day with lots of fish on buzzers – Mark is no stranger to fishing buzzers! – and then a river day in the rain with a steady stream of mayflies trickling down all day. We had some great dry fly action with trout to 6lbs.

Still some availability from later in March, a lovely time of year! Let me know if you’d like to book or if you have any questions, just ask. More info here or email me at ronan@sexyloops.com. Photos below tell the story up to about mid December. More to come as soon as I get a chance.

It would be nice to see an end to the genocide in Gaza but it looks like rubble isn’t good enough for the Israelis. I think they’re aiming to turn the place to dust. What will be left for the remaining Palestinians? There’s basically nothing left already. This atrocity has left me with a constant sadness since the start. Not just because of the genocide but because of the complicity of our governments, the lies from mainstream media, the silence from celebrities and influential people. It looks like Israel has occupied them all.

Tight Lines, Ronan..

Sometimes things happen in fishing to put your resolve to the test. How much do you want to go fishing? Well, I answered that question one day in May when myself and a Wesley tried to get to a high country lake. There had been rain overnight so I expected snow on the higher portion of the track. I figured we’d have a crack regardless. I’ve towed the boat up there is various levels of wet and snow without any major trouble. Having said that, in the past, most of the seriously wet conditions I’ve experienced happened to be on the way down the hill, so I had gravity on my side. This was to be the wettest I’ve experienced getting up the hill..

My boat is pretty heavy – not sure how heavy exactly but it’s no dingy. Onwards up the track without issue. It was raining but the track was okay. We hoped the snow would be above the lake elevation but no such luck. Driving through the snow and everything still seemed good – no problem with traction. There were very fresh tracks through the snow in front of me so I assumed another angler had the same idea. This was comforting! We were almost at the lake when we had a steep decline before a steep incline. The decline was fine. Half way up the incline I lost traction. I reversed and tried again without success. Getting out to assess the situation I realised how bad the track was. A mix of mud, ice and snow. No chance. I put the waders on because it was such a mess! After a good few more attempts the truck was well stuck in the ditch with the trailer at an angle. I tried to take the trailer off but the weight on it due to the unusual angle made it impossible to remove. At this stage I couldn’t go forwards at all and the angle of the trailer meant I couldn’t go backwards either. What now? Reduce air pressure maybe.. Then the fella who was ahead of us came back down. He was from the North Island and just down for a tour. I was very happy to se him. His 4×4 was well kitted out and he gave me a tow out. Even with him towing me we couldn’t get to the top of the hill with my boat on the back. We did manage to straighten my truck and trailer. We had no choice but to abandon the boat and fish the bank. It was now easy to remove the trailer but turning it around wasn’t possible. Just too steep, slippery and generally shite so we rolled her back into the ditch where it was safe and secure. I hoped we’d sort that out at the end of the day when the track had (hopefully) dried a bit. Without a trailer and with the help of my new friend we made it to the top of the hill. It was to be an easy drive to the lake from there. I jumped out and thanked our saviour. Peter I think he said his name was. We said farewell. As his Pajero passed my boat, he started sliding towards it on the greasy track. I tried to push his truck away from the boat, for all the good I did and also called at him to floor it.. It was that or he’d hit the boat. He just about scraped by without contact and went about his day.

Now there’s a new problem. In the unlikely event of another vehicle coming up he would also be likely to slide into the boat, especially with the track in such a mess after our antics.. so I can’t leave it there. The lake is in sight but I have to rethink this. On the side of the the steep, muddy track there was a strip of grassy verge just wide enough to drive on. Traction seemed good and the ground firm, but there was no room for error with a steep hill on the side. The only chance was to reverse back down the hill on the grassy verge, hitch on the boat, pull it out of the ditch and then floor it up the hill on the grass and then get back onto the track on the top of the hill before the big rock.. Jeepers.

Aside from the safety issue of abandoning the boat in a dodgy place, I really wanted to use the boat on the lake that day so the decision was made. Let’s do it. I reversed down with a few test forward movements to make sure I could go forward. Everything seemed good. I got near the boat and we were able to pivot her in the ditch and hitch it on. Rear locker in, low range too. I popped the boat out of the ditch and gave it the beans up the hill. The left turn before the rock to get back onto the track proved tricky, probably due to the rear locker engaged and snow on the grass. I couldn’t stop, thankfully the front wheels got some grip and got me back on track. Fuckin hell. Relief. That took hours. It might seem crazy with the steep hill on the right to have attempted this but I had to get the boat out of there. We looked at other options too like rolling the boat down the road without the truck attached but we were already half way up hill when the shit hit the fan. This was likely to end in disaster. With the state of the track reversing back down was not an option.. Whether I should have done it or not, I did.. and was it worth it?? Yes. The question is, If I still had my old 80 would I have gotten stuck???

May was also a good month of guiding. Not always easy in a some crazy conditions. 3 blizzards, rain wind, you name it, May had it. Certainly an adventurous month where nothing got in the way of the fishing.

To see my flies over at Fulling Mill check this out. They’re also available in store at Patagonia Queenstown. To enquire about this seasons guiding availability you can get in touch here or at ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight Lines and Free Palestine, Ronan..

By now in Central Otago things are usually warming up a little, but they’re not! It’s been a very cold winter here. Hard frosts most mornings making it hard to get motivated to go out. Some days it warms up a bit for a couple of hours. There’s been very little rain but I see no impediment to fish running the rivers to spawn. I think with the settled and consistent river flows this will be a very successful spawning season. I haven’t fished very much this winter. Certainly the least I’ve ever fished through June / July. I’ve been putting all my attention into our old house keeping on top of an ever increasing job list. It’s a labour of love. Over the next couple of months the lakes will fire up. I think the first glimmer of spring will bring some brilliant lake fishing and I’ll be there to cash in.

On August 17th I’ll be in Patagonia Queenstown for an informal event. I’m not one for giving speeches but I’ll be there to chat about my fly patterns with Fulling Mill and how they came to be. I expect I’ll tie a few flies too and generally talk fishing! If you’re around pop in and say hello. It’s free but can register your interest here. I’ll be donating all of my payment to Doctors Without Borders working in Palestine.

Below are some photos from April and into May. They tell the story of a good month! The highlight was taking Will out with his dad Brendan who is a regular client. Will is 12, The same age I was when my grandad gave me my first fly rod. We started with a lesson for about 2 hours and then put it into practice. I could see the ability was there but he just lacked a little confidence. After a few near misses Will connected with his first on a fly and landed a super trout. On the dry too. With more confidence he got another fish later in the day. He managed 2 for the day which is a solid day for any angler in NZ. He’s coming back for more in September!

I also had a great session with my own 2 kids. We popped out locally just in time for a great little hatch. Adaline and Lochlan learned more about wet wading than anything and Lochlan managed to fall in (again). They were great with the net and helped me land a big brown! I think they’re starting to understand what it’s all about.

For a look at my flies check out this link. and if you’d like to book some dates for next season check out my website or email ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight lines. Ronan..

There’s something very special about getting into some of New Zealand’s most wild and beautiful places. In late March myself and Chuan did just that. We had a couple of days. Day 1 was very sunny but with a brutal downstream wind which certainly cost us a few fish. The late season sun cast contrasting shadows across the river making sighting challenging in many places. Fish were touchy but we had 6 for the day. A good day apart from Chuans hat blowing off and disappearing down a rapid. Shortly after he got in a fight with a sandfly which gave him a fat lip! Day 2 was cloudy with a little less wind. The cloud was better for sighting than the sun. The diffuse light caused by the cloud and having a good backdrop to sight against was an ideal combination for sighting. That was a good lesson for this river in March. Fish were even more spooky on day 2. Sometimes we’d quietly arrive at a pool and sight a fish. As quickly as we’d see him he’d just melt away into the pool. It was one of those days where they seemed to have an extra sense. We only managed a couple. No regrets though. Places like this are as much about the location as the fishing. There were hunters and other anglers in the hut too. A mix of Kiwis, Singaporean, Scotsmen and Irish. Some craic! I might have had a few beers and a whisky too many. I felt sorry for the hunters wanting an early night before their hunt.. that just didn’t happen!

After our wilderness adventure Kim arrived and the 3 of us got stuck in to a variety of fishing. Rivers and lakes both in the mix. I’ve been guiding Chuan and Kim for about 8 years now and still try to show them something new on every trip. This was no exception and we had some good fishing on a river and a lake they saw for the first time. This is why exploring new water is so important to me. I want to keep it fresh and interesting for myself and my clients.

June now and my streamers are doing the business! For a look at all my flies check out this link. For bookings and info about next season please check out my website or contact me ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight lines and Free Palestine.. Ronan..

The week with Chris, Steve and Joe was a great one. Not just for the superb mix of rivers and fishing but also for the chance to catch up with my good friend Chris Dore. One of the biggest cons about being a guide is that it’s so feckin hard to hang out with my fishing friends. We’re lucky to fish together once a year – usually in winter – so spending the week roughing it in Southland with Chris was great. We made time for a few beers in the evenings which always went down well. Chat, banter, fishing talk, the usual. The steak night in the caravan when Shellen joined us was a blast. She tied up a few flies and the craic was good. It was really good to meet her and I wish her the best with her future as a guide.

Chris and I go hard with our guiding and work at about the same intensity. We don’t look for easy options and we’ll do whatever it takes to give our clients what they hope for, and usually a lot more. This made us a good team to look after Steve and Joe. According to Steve and Joe, we guide in a different way but we compliment each other and both of the fellas enjoyed alternating between Chris and I each day. This is something we may do more of in the future. Chris and I enjoyed it too. It’s a great way for 2 anglers to really get the most from a trip to NZ. No sharing shots and you can hang out with your friend and compare stories each evening.

The week was very varied. It started with two completely different Heli days out of Wanaka. Both produced great results but they didn’t always come easy. Heli fishing doesn’t guarantee anything other than a remote and beautiful location so it’s always a relief when the fishing is good. It usually is good, but like I say, no guarantees. Then to Southland for another 5 days where we mixed it up with some of our favourite rivers. We had some really great days and some tough ones but we always came up trumps. Joe and Steve are both great anglers which really helps!

This takes me up to the end of January so I’m still way behind but that’s okay! There’s been some great highlights since, including 10lb brown with an epic story. The fishing gods really looked after us! More on that later..

Check out my flies featured below and a few more at Fulling Mill. They’ve all been great for me and quite a few others this season.

Next season is filling up quickly. Feel free to get in touch to make a booking or talk about options.

Tight lines.. Ronan..