Ronan's Report

The more I fish the high-country dams the more I love them. Like any good fishery they’re not easy. They can be incredibly dour in fact. Many anglers only go up there during high summer in the hope of being there when the cicadas emerge and get blown onto the water. In my experience this rarely actually happens.

When Dad and I used to travel around the South Island every year or so, we would always include the dams. Dad was always over for the month of November. We never had any dry fly action over that time, but it can happen. I was happy walking shoreline stripping buggers and dad liked moving more slowly fishing two of his PT nymphs or buzzers with the figure of 8 retrieve. Both methods worked. For me these dams are blind fisheries. Only during perfect sighting conditions might you sight a fish. Fishing to rising trout is always on the cards with a plethora of terrestrial insects included in the trouts diet, caddis and chironomid too. Whatever is happening, be prepared to blind fish. I think this is why dad and I both love it. Coming from a lakes background in Ireland we had to blind fish – that’s all we did. But as I’ve said many times blind fishing is not chuck and chance. Every cast is considered, we look for something fishy; weeds, structure, drop-offs, points, bays, rocks, shallows etc.

Once you get into the groove of your chosen method you just have to have faith and persist until something tells you otherwise. The reasons I still use my possum / marabou bugger as my go-to blind fishing method is: 1, The trout feed a lot on fry. 2 They feed on Koura and a bugger is a good representation of this too. 3, I can cover a lot of water quickly. 4, The trout are very opportunist. I occasionally take a fish for the table. When checking the stomach contents there are usually multiple different food items in there. Commonly, for example, loads of caddis with one fry or loads of corixa with one koura. This tells me that they won’t pass up a bugger! These dams offer trout the largest range of food of any fishery I know. Because of this, my guess is that when the dams appear to be dead, they’re not! The fish just out of our reach for whether it be physical or otherwise.

I fish my bugger on a floating line with a long leader so that I can count it down if I need to. Also, so that if fish start taking dries I can quickly change over. Sometimes in shallow bays I’ll blind fish nymphs instead of a bugger or if its calm I’ll sometimes do the same. If you are lucky enough to be there when the trout are looking up then its simply magic. I’ve only really experienced it once. I was with Justin and Dan from Big Sky Anglers in Montana. Day 7 of 7 – the dream finale!

On a personal level, fishing these dams are very similar to fishing Corrib or Mask back home. The dark water, the wind, the rocks, the drift if I’m in a boat, the sounds and smells, the blind fishing aspect, the memories. Without doubt this is a huge part of the reason I love fishing them. The common methods are very similar indeed – nymphing (PTs, caddis or buzzers), dries (sometimes 2 or even 3 dries), Wets – I strip buggers instead of wets but these are fisheries where lough style can and does work. Another thing I love on some of the dams is the quality of the browns. They can be some of the most beautiful on the planet. Every time I hook one I get excited to see what he / she looks like. I guess finally, they’re all just stunning places to spend a day. They’re all quite similar but with their own characteristics. I never go up there expecting to catch lots, they can always kick my arse. I’m happy if I get a fish or 2 and I’ll work hard to get them.

BOB’S BIRTHDAY

Bob has been on here many times over the years, so if you’re a regular reader you’ll know he’s my oldest friend in NZ, not because of his age, he’s the person I’ve known here right from the start. We try to catch up for a fish a few times a season and for the past 4 years we always fish for his birthday. He jokes that he must catch a fish to make it to his next birthday. We got the Birthday fish on day one at the very end of the day. It was tough – fish just not responding but we did it in the end with a lovely 5lb brown. Day 2 we went to the dams. I did well with my P/M bugger. Bob stuck with his dries hoping for that magic take which never came. Guy was with us too. My second oldest friend in NZ. Bob introduced me to Guy, so I love it when the 3 of us catch up. It’s becoming tradition now that Guy joins us for day 2 of Bob’s birthday fishing expedition. Happy Birthday, Bob! Looking forward to the next one.

I’ve been reasonably busy at times with guiding thank feck. Happy clients, plenty trout. There’s a few bookings coming in but please do get in touch if you’d like to set up a trip or if you have any questions. ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

Here is a link to my nymph patterns available at Fulling Mill. They’ve been doing great this season! Also getting some great feedback which is always nice to hear. I have one box of my own patterns from Fulling Mill, and they cover me for pretty much all my river nymphing needs.

Tight lines, Ronan..

The biggest bit of news since my last blog has not been the 11.5lb brown which equals my second biggest to date, it’s been the arrival of our daughter Adaline Betty Creane. She hit the scales at 6.5lbs. Mother and baby are doing great, though I’m a little worse for wear. Nobody ever thinks of the poor father! My paternity leave was timed to perfection. The due date was the 19th of December so I kept the 16th to the 28th free in the hope that she wouldn’t be late. As I was driving out of the driveway after dropping off my client on the 15th, I got the call from Iza. “Get to the hospital”! was the gist of the call. Some complications meant that she went in the chopper from Dunstan Hospital to Dundedin Hospital while I followed in the 3L V6 Maxima keeping to the speed limit the whole way there. After a long labour Iza popped out the most beautiful little thing I’ve ever seen (apart from Iza). We didn’t know the sex, nor did we care. We got just what we wanted in this healthy bundle of joy!

I have had quite a bit of time to fish myself in the last couple of months and most of that effort has been on the lakes. Fraser and I had a weekend away recently in the Central Lakes. We stayed at Buscot Station Backpackers (there is no other place I want to stay near Omarama!). Day 1 we had a look at the canals then went to check out a spot I stumbled upon last winter. We found a few fish but we needed sunshine to get the most from it. We left to try some other spots but returned early the next morning hoping for some midge eaters. We didn’t find any but the cloud broke up quickly for a perfect blue sky day. There was just enough wind to put a gentle ripple on the water opening it up for perfect sight fishing. A soft ripple like this often makes it easier to see fish farther away than with flat calm. The fishing was insane! We landed 12 trout for a morning session, most between 4 and 5.5lbs. I felt a little sorry for another angler on the opposite shore, he hooked none. A small gold bead PT nymph did the trick. I suspended it under a dry at trout cruising depth. Simple! One of Stu’s I think..

Another day worth a mention was on a local dam day with Robbie. The first farm dam we fished was very low but there were a few feeding fish. The exposed weed made it quite hard to fish. I hooked a few but we landed nothing after a few hours fishing it. We moved to the middle dam, I always thought it was the top dam but the farmer told me about another – the top dam! Anyway, the newly named middle dam was super. The water was high and there were a few trout cruising the margins. Short accurate casts did the trick. Any fly – these fish were opportunist feeders. We caught a few fish, all beautiful hard fighting specimens. One of them was certainly in my top 3 stunning fish this season. I really enjoy to fish with Robbie. There is no greed for fish, no ego, just a genuine love for the game and everything that goes with it from the friendships to the flowers on the banks to the fish. We’ve become great friends over the years, ever since he appeared at mine and Kristians camp way up a back country river at 9am. I was bleary eyed as I looked from my sleeping bag after hearing some rocks move. “Who the hell could have made it this far up river by 9am” I thought to myself.. I then answered my own question.. “It could only be Robbie Mcphee”. It was of course. What did we do? We all fished together. That day we landed about 10 fish from 6 to 11lbs with 2 doubles. Here is the blog! https://www.sexyloops.com/blog/2013/03/27/two-10lb-plus-trout/

Speaking about doubles, I managed to land a monster of 11.5lbs last November. Some solo wilderness exploring certainly paid off!

I’ll leave the photos to tell the other stories! Dunstan has been fishing great but I don’t bother taking many photos there anymore. The silt flats are still firing if you’re light enough to wade them and the willow grubbers on the edges will drive you to drink!

Not too much in the guiding gallery today since I had 2 weeks out. The highlights are in there though. January is booked up so all going well the next guiding report should be pretty colourful.

I’ll take this opportunity to wish my great friend Paul and his wife to be, Ashly all the very best in their life together. I wish I could make the wedding but Paul’s spontaneity is hard to plan around. That is going to be quite a day. Miena will never be the same again! All the best, mate! Next time I’m in Malaysia you’ll have the air conditioned houseboat. Bliss!

I still have some availability in Febuary and plenty in March and April. Let me know if you’d like me to guide you on your NZ adventure. ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

Happy New Year everyone.. May it be filled with happiness and fly fishing!

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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A few of days ago while planning a day fishing for myself, I was surprised to see a perfect weather forecast. Blue skies all day, gentle southerly blowing and a high of 15c. “With a forecast like that for a Sunday I better set off early” I thought. The following morning I was away before dawn. It was a long drive to the river. There was rain first off, then it stopped, then it started again and continued. “Weird” I thought, “It’ll pass”. Before I left internet coverage I decided to check the forecast again in case I made a mistake. I did! I got the forecast for a town in the USA with the same name.. Lesson learned!

There was no going back, and I didn’t want to.. I was excited to take on whatever conditions nature would throw at me. I got a mix of sun, rain and wind all day. High, slightly coloured water too. A streamer day I thought but I ended up catching most sight fishing with small nymphs. Any fish I saw was hard out feeding just below the surface and they were keen to eat my offerings. My own size 16 nymph and one of Stu’s Superior Nymphs did the trick.

The best moment of the day was spotting a large fish swing to the right from behind a deep boulder. I though I had spooked it but wasn’t sure.. I took off the nymphs and tied on a Glister. I slung it across the pool slightly upstream so that it would cross the boulder on its way down. Up from the gloom came the large fish and engulfed my streamer. I lifted into solid weight and the fish played to his strengths and stayed deep. Just under 7lbs. He made my day!

I’m playing catch-up a bit with this blog! Some pics go back to last winter, others from a recent trip to the canals where I finally cracked a big one; 18.5lbs of ugly! Fishing with Guy, a mission to the Coast with Iza, Robbie Mcphee’s 43rd birthday.. Enjoy the pics!

I’ve known Stu Tripney for pretty much as long as I’ve been coming to NZ. He, his shop and his flies have become legendary over my 15 years in NZ. This season I’m putting Stu’s flies through their paces and I’m more than happy with the results. Check them out! http://www.stusflyshop.com

I’ve had a couple of days guiding which have been good, and a few more coming up over the month. There are plenty spaces available and October is a great month! So maybe its time to get yourself down here for a day out! ronan@sexyloops.com for bookings and information.

One more thing, Just in case I don’t get a blog out before October 31st, thats the day mine and Jeff’s episode of “Pure Fly New Zealand” airs on Sky TV in NZ… Good reports from the director so here’s hoping he’s right! http://www.manictackleproject.com/pure-fly-nz-coming-soon/

Tight Lines everyone!

Stuntman Ronan (It’s on my license!)                ronan@sexyloops.com

As of now, 2.00pm on the 12th of October, my website is live! www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

A birthday beer for Robbie (and me) he just turned 43.

Ed Lamont with one of 2 after a 2 hour refresher casting lesson.

Ed with a bow and arrow...

A great day to be guiding!

After a rookie mistake misreading the weather in the morning, I ended up having a great day landing 6. This was the best, just under 7lbs.

This was the probably the nicest. All day I had a tough time finding a good place for the camera with the ten second timer.

Iza and I had a great time on the river yesterday. She landed the best fish of the day! Stunning.. Nice fish too!! :D

These few pics of mark and I from winter! Lunch!!

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Up the Clutha in the Wakatipu Anglers Club boat...

Then the a Clutha braid, no fish but I did rescue Marks hat!

The Lowburn Inlet saved the day.. as it often does!

I found a brazier on the river recently so now I can have campfires at home.. Modern technology!! I think this was my birthday party!

Size 12, Kamasan B175, 3.5mm tungsten bead.

Breakfast for Camo-Guy and I before we hit the Clutha..

Guy and I..

Into a wee one!

Had a couple of these, then off to the lake..

Guy working on a number of rising fish..

And he's in!

Guy hooked 4 of these and landed 2..

Then home for dinner.. Iza cooks up a feast!

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Enjoying my portable campfire!

Iv'e been having heaps of success using Stu's Superior Flies..

This is one of Stu's slender, weighted nymphs. I was able to target trout cruising 10 - 12' down using these on a long fine tippet.

perfection!

If you're passing Stu's Fly Shop, grab a few of these!

Mission to the Coast!

Not a touch all morning but lunch was great! Bacon, beans and eggs! Hard to beat.. (pun not intended!)

The whitebaiters weren't catching any so no surprise there were no trout around..

Fish or no fish, Iza and I both love the coast!

Finally! After about 9 hours fishing a Kahawai for dinner! We forgot the chicken so this fish was very welcome..

The surf rolls in..

A perfect sized Kahawai for 2. Filleted in the last of the sunlight..

A perfect sized Kahawai for 2. Filleted in the last of the sunlight..

The West Coast is a great place to camp and I hope it always will be!

A pan full of Kahawai.. We had it with spuds cooked in chilli and lime.. Dam good!

With full bellies, time to relax!

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It was time to put my name on the Canal Big Fish Board! 18.5lbs on a Dore's Mr Glister. He was a while coming!

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The work truck is all spruced up for my guiding season ahead!

Here's a dozen of my size 16, Kamasan B175, 2mm tungsten bead nymphs..

A couple of Stu's terrestrials..

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One of Stu's cdc mayflies.. It has already proved successful on Oct 1st!

A dozen size 14s, a little sparkle can help in coloured water..

My standard dry.. Basically its always the same. I play around with different bodies and colours but the form remains the same. I design my flies to catch fish and to be very easy and quick to tie. This is also great at holding up tungsten nymphs. Any size, any body, any colour deer hair, any post.

A great selection from myself, Manic Tackle Project and Stu's Superior Flies.

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Tim Proctor into one on opening day.

A good start to the season!

After getting rudely jumped on our chosen river, we went to plan B. A small stream. we saw 5, hooked 3 and landed one.

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My first of the season! High, coloured water but the streamer did the business.

That's Robbie down there. Very few fish out but a beautiful place to be!

Plenty fish about too, although we had to cover a lot of river to find them..

Day 2 with Robbie Mcphee.. Perfect weather!

Fit as fiddles every one!

Robbie into another..

A healthy brown..

We had 13 between us for the day, Fantastic fun! I love October!!

If something is a year late it’s on time again, right?.. well, maybe not, but this kind of is! This is last years Ireland report and a little on fly-fishing in Jordan. It all happened a year ago so its current again! How things have changed. In the past, I lived in Ireland and came to NZ to Holiday / fish (of course it was just fishing – every day!). Now I work in NZ and holiday in Ireland, where I won’t fish every day, but I will certainly fish a lot. Last year I was at home for about 30 days over July and August. I had the best fishing for Atlantic Salmon on Lough Inagh that I ever had. In 3 days on the lake we had 6 grilse up to 7lbs and a few browns and seatrout for good measure. From what I hear this season is going very well. Similar salmon numbers to last year but more seatrout and way more quality browns (up to 9lbs). This is great news for me because Inagh is one of my favourite places in the world to fish. You never know what you might catch during a day on Inagh; a grilse, a spring salmon, an Arctic char, a ferox, a brownie or a seatrout are all on the cards.. and now perch too but efforts are being made to remove this recent invader. At the end of the day on the lake a pint in the lodge always goes down well, especially if Colin is there to tell you why you didn’t catch a few more. You should listen to him, he’s often right (not always though!). Give Colin a call if you fancy getting out on Inagh or any of the river beats. 003539534706 or visit the website http://www.loughinaghlodgehotel.ie

Kylemore Lough is another favourite haunt of mine. It’s different to inagh in my experience in that its less lively in general but when it turns on it really turns on. I remember fishing it a number of years ago with my good friend Fuzz. It was dead quiet all day and then in the space of 20 minutes we landed a grilse, lost a salmon and rose a few more and saw many grilse rolling. Then all went quiet again. You need to make hay when the sun shines on Kylemore Lough. Dad and I fished it a couple of times last season. On our first day on it dad hooked into a big fish at the end of a drift, both of us assumed salmon, then it jumped. “Its a seatrout” I said.. Even in the good old days of seatrout fishing in the west of Ireland a fish of over 4lbs was considered a really outstanding catch. This fish was 5lbs at least. It was a real pleasure to see such a fish. We landed a few more over the 2 days, with browns up to a pound and other seatrout up to 3lbs. I hope this is a sign of thing to come. I’ll be out there again in a few weeks to find out.(https://www.sexyloops.com/blog/2011/07/17/kylemore-lough-in-a-howling-gale/)For bookings contact Nancy on 003539541143 or http://www.kylemorehouse.net

I also spent some time fishing the Renvile lakes for salmon. Namely loughs Muc and Fee. Both stunning lakes where the angler has a chance at a really big salmon, although the run is predominantly 3-5lb grilse. Over the few days out there dad landed a couple while I lost a some. One of the days on Muc & Fee was for a local fishing competition. Dad and I did no good but the weigh in was pretty funny. One competitor left his first salmon behind him on the bank while he continued fishing. Later on he got another and when he went to leave it beside the first one he noticed it had been half eaten by a cat. He had to weigh in half a salmon. He still won!! Only in Ireland I hear you say? Quite possibly!

After Ireland, Iza and I went to Jordan for 2 really incredible weeks. What a country to visit! Jordan has 24ks of coastline on the Red Sea. We spent 5 nights in Aqaba to make the most of it. Fishing from the shore is not allowed so every day was spent diving and snorkelling. However, I managed to get out on the water for a few hours on our last day there. We hired a glass bottomed boat to take us out. With the majority of the boat covered over this was far from a fly-fishing boat but it was the best I could find! It’s worth mentioning that nobody uses fishing rods in the Red Sea in Jordan, It’s all about the hand line. Apparently I just missed a bumper sailfish season. Everyone catching 5 per day they said. It should be firing right now if this season is like the last. Our 2 boatmen took us to some water they knew well. They were dragging hand-lines while I attempted to stand up on the bow and cast as they trolled along. This was extremely hard to do in the big rolling wave!! Imagine River Dance on top of a bucking bronco, well that was me.. Iza caught a few on the hand-line as did the boatmen but I struggled with the fly rod, I struggled just to stand. Of course I could have trolled the flies but thats not fly-fishing. In the end I asked to be taken to the sheltered water close to shore where I had seen fish break the surface from the dive boat a few days prior. Here, for about the last 1.5hours, I had a chance. I had 3 chances to be precise. I cast in the vicinity of two mahi-mahi and had a follow right to the boat but no eat. Then a follow from a skipjack tuna, then my best chance, all I had to do was cast 70 feet to a breaking shoal of skipjack. The line wrapped around the anchor and the fly fell short. That was my last chance. I was pretty gutted not to catch a fish in Jordan. There are no fly guides operating out of Aqaba so if you find yourself there you’ll have to do what I did. Hopefully you’ll do better. The place has potential! Feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions.

Tomorrow morning I’m off to india for 12 days then on to Ireland for a month. I’ll carry a fly-rod in India but I don’t think there is anything to catch between Delhi and Mumbai at this time of year (but there must be!!). If you know something please let me know! I have a one week window at the end of the trip where I could possibly squeeze in a fly-fishing destination other than Ireland. India is all about hanging out with and travelling with my brother..

Well thats it for now.. I might get a blog out over the next 6 weeks but there are no guarantees! Right, time to pack!

Tight Lines!   Ronan..    ronan@sexyloops.com

John takes us to the top of Lough Inagh...

Nice conditions, wind and wave is good for an Irish grilse..

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Fishing the hot spot.. We had 2 here and another not far away..

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Into my first of 2, There is something uniquely special about catching Atlantic Salmon.

Only have a pic of one fish. John's phone / camera ended up in the lake and my battery ran out!

Only have a pic of one fish. John's phone / camera ended up in the lake and my battery ran out!

Lunch! I bring the flask of tea and John brings the sandwiches!

More cloud! We fish from the drifting boat covering known salmon water..

Putting us on the drift..

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A dark and dreary morning on Kylemore Lough..

The day cleared up quickly. A great place to be!

Dad's into one.. big enough to be a grilse but it's not..

..its a huge seatrout!

Over 5lbs of power from the sea. What a fish!! Even in the good old days this would have been considered a trophy trout.

A little browny for me!

Evening light and we call it a day.. a great day!

A stunning fresh grilse for me!

Then we pulled up the boat and fished the shore. Worth while in high water.

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One for me from the bank! This was great fishing..

I got this sandeel on the sheltered side of the point while Dad was catching 2 grilse on Lough Muc.. I should've joined him!!!

Justin take his rod out of a 2 year sabbatical, 5 minutes later he broke it then a wave crashed onto him so he went golfing.

Gurteen Point for a pollack, but it was too wild to fish with any comfort..

We fished the top of the lake. Here we're passing the Inagh Lodge on the way to the top..

Dad and I on the water again.. this time, Lough Inagh..

Dad works the shore down..

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Lough Muc the next day, but no joy!

Back to Kylemore for another round! Dad into another big seatrout out from Nancy's house..

A 3lber!

Back she goes..

A healthy pounder!

The day brightens up..

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Peat stained water, common in Connemara.

We leave the boat and fish the shore for a while. We had a few wee brownies.

Lough Muc..

The Wild Atlantic Way...

Fishing the shore down on Lough Fee, I had heaps of little browns and lost a grilse at the end of the day..

Sheep!

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Natures concrete!

Unusual rocks beside Lough Fee.

The crew plus attachments!

At the end of the day, a pint with the whole crew! It doesn't happen very often but I'm happy to say we'll all be together again this August!

My only chance to fly-fish in Jordan after a week of snorkelling and diving..

My only chance to fly-fish in Jordan after a week of snorkelling and diving..

Didn't take long for Iza to catch with the hand-line!

Didn't take long for Iza to catch with the hand-line!

Our boatmen also dragged hand-lines...

Illegal to fish this close to the ships, no joy anyway!

This water was pretty manageable and I had a few chances!

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Far from a fly-fishing boat, but a good experience none the less. The potential is there!

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..and then to Inchagoill..

Lots of history here, the limestones is showing its age!

One of many stones surrounding the church.

This is the most interesting one, 1 m tall.. Sorry, not well versed on the history!

A great addition to a day on the water! Such a beautiful island..

Iza on Corrib fishing dries..

A little corrib brown for our 2 hour session..

Lough Corrib limestone

Fuzz pulls in his boat on the running mooring for a day after mackerel.

The bite radius and tooth size matches Tope. We tried to catch one but no luck.

Iza hits the motherload!

A great day to be out! Too rough to go to Inis Shark as planned..

Dinner!!

Shane and Irene.. We all went to school together, that's where it began!

Renvile on the Wild Atlantic Way..

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A private island just off the coast. Mayo territory I believe..

..we went ashore anyway!

Puca, has since gone to heaven! We were always great friends ever since Rory Gallagher Festival many years ago where Fuzz, me and Puca all shared the back of a little (very little) van!

At least 4 were hit by sharks.. Tope we think but not sure.

Shane cleaning the mackerel..

I've never had this happen before!!

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Chillin after a tough day!

Mackerel for dinner, simply seasoned.

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Good friends and good food, hard to beat!

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The blue boat in the foreground was mine.. The Chopper, she saw more wind and waves than most lakeboats.

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Roundstone. Home..

The wall outside O'Dowds with a pint and this view.. one of my favourite things!

Our boatmen..

In Jordan! About to go Diving!

Ready to roll.. Note the arm keeping Iza upright!!

After the first dive.. Very happy!

Shadi, the diveboat captain and I, spy a shoal of skipjack (visible breaking the surface) at the end of a day. I did 3 fantastic dives.

About to go out fly fishing on the Red Sea.. Beautiful day before the wind!

Lion fish..

You’d think after 5 years writing this blog that I’d be somewhat computer literate. Well, far from it. I just wasted 3 hours of my life trying to make photos smaller on Iza’s Mac (2mp or less to fit in wordpress blog). With Windows you just select the pics, click “make smaller” and its done. On the Mac you have to select the photos, export them (fuck knows where they go) then make them smaller after you’ve found them, then import them, then export them back to iphoto but they wont make it there, they’ll get lost on the way,  then do some other shit to them, then you loose them, then you try to do it all again a few times before giving up and without pulling out whats left of my hair. I did well not to make bits of this computer while the steam was leaving my ears and curses hurtling from my mouth.

Firstly, to all of you who enjoy my ramblings on NZ fly-fishing, sorry its taken me so long to put this together. Life got away on me a bit leaving me little time to write. Which is a good complaint I guess!

I had a great 2 day mission with Bob Wyatt and Robbie Mcphee a good while ago now. It was weather for waders, freezing cold mornings and lots of rain but the sun eventually made an appearance. We all caught fish on a range of tactics. We spent the night in a farm cabin, no better place to catch up. A glowing fire, good food and few beers with good friends is hard to beat, to be honest I think the fishing came second.

The house in Cromwell has been a hive of activity for the passed couple of months with friends coming and going, mostly flyfishers but not all. My old friend Sean stayed for a few days. The fishing was tough then but we managed a few good fish. Then Nico arrived, Nico’s first fish on fly was an artic char on Lough Inagh in the west of Ireland a few years ago. What are the odds? They are a rare wee fish indeed in Ireland. We had a couple of days on Dunstan and he managed a couple of good fish on fly. That was Christmas day, we kept one to eat raw as a christmas dinner starter, it was fantastic! Mark Adamson was next, we had a feckin tough day on a west coast river where we managed one decent trout. The surroundings were spectacular and the sun was shining which made a tough day a little better!

Since then we’ve had Fergal Cormican, another friend from Ireland come and stay for a few days as he learned how to take on NZ rivers and lakes, we fished Lake Dunstan around Ranfurly for a couple of days where we found a few good stretches of the Taieri and its backwaters.. A great training ground for both river and still water angling.

I recently had a day on the water with Dean Whaanga up the country a bit. We checked out a truly spectacular valley to see how a recent flood might have reshaped the river and surrounding creeks. We found a few fish but they were difficult. At that time fish seemed to be difficult everywhere, possibly due to falling barometric pressure, I’m not sure.. I don’t pay too much attention to that kind of thing because I’ll be going fishing regardless! We landed a couple of fish and had a great day on the water. I met Dean when I first came to NZ in 2002 at my good friend Bob Tofflers house, we all enjoyed a feed of mutton birds! I’m delighted to have fished with him finally. It was a pleasure to see a fella with 30 plus years of guiding under his belt has not lost any enthusiasm for fishing during his time off..

The most recent visitor was Con O Flynn, also a friend from Ireland. We had 2 big days on the river together, I took him into one of the toughest gorges I know of. I asked him was he fit! He said yes and he looked like he could handle it so off we went.. Theres a point in the gorge where you need to get out and drop back in farther up. We got to that point and climbed out, then climbed back in. No problem. I looked for my usual crossing point to continue up river and I could see it, I just couldn’t get to it. I could see another crossing a little farther down river which looked easy so I decided on that one rather than going up river to climb down to my usual crossing. This turned out to be a mistake, Con took a dip in the river as he crossed and then going up on the other side of the gorge proved quite difficult because of a crevice keeping us from my usual way, we had to keep going up! We got there in the end and then we could continue up river with only a couple of minor climb-outs to get around bluffs. We found a few fish but not as many as I was expecting, saw a couple of brutes. Con landed a solid brown and hooked a much larger fish which straightened the hook. It was really great to bring a fella like Con into a special place like that. Win, loose or draw its a great place to be alive as long as your the type of person who can appreciate it for what it is. We left it all on the river. See you next time, Con! We have some unfinished business with NZ trout.. Thanks for everything!

I’m expecting a visit from Ken Whelan any time now, he’ll be passing through with his Brother, Brendan on their way south. I expect we’ll fit in a mission at some stage, David Lambroughton will also join us hopefully.

Between friends coming and going, Fly-fishing and trying to set up my guiding career things have been very busy indeed.. Long may it last!

Tight Lines Eeryone.. A little tip for you all, 18 is the new 16!

Ronan..

ronan@sexyloops.com

They don't come much nicer than this!

No fish but plenty fish talk!!

Into the gorge..

Fishing with Bob Wyatt and Robbie Mcphee..

Back he goes..

Gisle with 7.5lb brown..

Dinner in the comfort and warmth of a farm cabin..

Day 2, A cold start.. Robbie off the mark.

A quick pose for Bob's camera before releasing this big trout..

Solid.. Nailed a Glister!

A perfect specimen for Bob..

She has taken a serious liking to the Hot Torpedo, and why wouldn't she?!

Iza into one..

Robbie and Bob down below while I spot from the top..

And then one for me... All from the same 100m.

And then one for Robbie..

A fabulous fish..

And one for me a while later..

You can target big trout in still waters.. here's the proof!

..and more proof.. 6.5lbs

..and more proof.. 6.5lbs

And here it is.. Not bad!

Sean into one..

Another one goes back.. Dries and size 18 nymphs did the trick..

I landed lots of these cracking trout on my day on a small lake..

A stunning golden trout, took a small dry held on the water 2 feet below my rod tip. The explosive aftermath to the strike from such close quarters needed to be seen to be believed!

Dean Whaanga in his element..

Searching all likely water..

A superb trout from a spring creek goes back..

Dunstan on my way home from a great day on the water with Dean..

Nico "Arctic Char" Foyle and myself on Christmas day.. fishing for dinner!

Iza caught this fish from sighting it to bank.. I was upstream doing my own thing!

Iza's first of the year, Beautiful..

Emergency tying! We were out of 18's..

My first of 2016.. A great start!

Nico's best of 2 on the fly..

No monster but who cares!

Fishing with Mark Adamson on the West Coast..

The only fish we saw!

Mark on a likely edge..

Jeff and his best friend!

Con into one..

Page 2..

Dad's fly box.. I need more time to tie!! He gave Con the loan of it.. I borrowed one or two... or three!

Day one with Con O Flynn.. Sheep on the hills!!

A healthy brown..

A solid trout of 4.5lbs, He evaded the grip and grin by jumping from Con's hold, but I just managed to get this pic!

Deep in the gorge..

Day 2, Tough day! But lunch was good!!

This lovely brown from a high country tarn to save the day..

Fabulous markings and colour..

Number 2 for Bob..

Bob and Robbie in the forest..

Chuan, A good angler and great craic to fish with!

A nice fish for Chuan Tay swims away..

Con fishes a likely shore with a little dry..

Sean into one..

Con into a good fish..

Con drying out on the top of the gorge after his tumble into the river.. A good time for lunch!

New years eve in a Southland rainforest..

New years eve in a Southland rainforest..

I’m adjusting well in to my new lifestyle. Not working as a woodworker for 44 hours a week means I have time to think, time to consider my new job as a fly-fishing guide and do whatever it takes to make it work. My guiding season has been slow to start as I expected, but I have a busy period coming up which I’m really looking forward to. My website is not off the ground yet but its happening. I’m at the beginning of something great and I’m enjoying it. I’m excited about where it will lead. Exploring new water is now more important than ever before and I’m lapping it up.

I’ve been enjoying quite a range of fly-fishing lately. I’ve targeted a few big fish, mostly average sized fish, some salt-fly and quite a bit of exploration. Tomorrow I’ll be checking out a river that I have fished before but not for a long time. I’m looking forward to it. More on that on my facebook page tomorrow evening. (https://www.facebook.com/ronans.flyfishing)

One thing I’d like to share from a recent trip to the coast is the story of a challenging brown trout Iza caught. We were walking along a high bank together and I spotted a big fish down below happily feeding in a deepish riffle. The wind was blowing hard up river. The only place to take the shot from was on top of the high bank about 10 foot above the river. Because of our elevation we had to stay well behind the fish so as not to spook it. The cast was a difficult one. Quite long and from a hight, so leaving it very open to being whipped away by the wind. I suggested that she compensate for the wind and cast well left of and to the back the fish and let the wind carry it up. She said that I should take the shot but I convinced her to take it. She did, the first cast fell short but the second one was a pleasure to watch. The cast went left, the wind caught it and carried it up in a curve to the fish. The dry and nymph landed about a meter in front and the trout started to rise to the dry immediately; sailed up and confidently ate it. The strike was bang on and battle was not an easy one. Between scrambling down the high bank to the river, and being connected to an extremely strong fish she did well to land it. A fish like that makes any day a really great one.

I’m at a transition of sorts with my blog. For the last 5 years my blog has been about my own experiences, trips with my friends, my observations in and around the sport of fly fishing. To a certain extent I want to keep it like that but I also want to share my guiding experiences. I guess for the moment I’ll use what ever content and photo’s I feel like and in time a healthy balance of my guiding and my fishing will evolve.

If you’re planning a trip to NZ and need a guide why not get in touch! You’ll be in good hands.. ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight lines everyone.

Ronan..

PS.. If you like this, please subscribe!

Another swims away..

NZ is not all about big trout, far from it. Some of the best fishing you can have is for trout in the 2 to 4lb range.

This sighted from a shallow riffle..

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Rosy red cheeks!

The man and his best friend..

A bright fish for Jeff Forsee..

On the way home after a day on the lake..

To be a good guide means I need a huge bank of water to choose from, this was some exploration..

..on a pretty little stream..

What a fish! Simply stunning..

The fish put up some scrap!

A great cast from Iza where she had to compensate for the wind got her attached to this great fish.

A few flies for a mission to the coast..

..which paid off! Wind, rain and cold didn't put the fish off but it might deter many anglers from venturing out.

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It took me all day but I finally Got one too!

Not as pretty but not bad at all!

I love the coast!

No visit to the coast would be complete without a visit to a river mouth. I hoped for a big sea-trout but I was very happy with 5 of these!

Some exploration paid off. I landed 2 and saw one more on a 1 hour scout.

Dinner for two.

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Ready to settle in for the night, spuds on the boil and steak and mushrooms ready for the pan!

There's feck all a "MR Glister" wont catch!

A mighty west coast river..

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A recent exploratory chopper flight, what a great way to view a river!

A happy client! 4 fighting fit trout for his morning on the river..

Bryan Wrighton enjoying his red letter day. He nailed it. Lots of fish all between 4 and 5.5lbs.

I explained a lot about fly choice and how to approach a pool with Bryan, all of which he put into practice successfully.

Fat and strong!

Doing battle!

Very striking..

All in perfect order..

Fat and strong..

Perfect..

Bryan's best fish of the day.. He had one heavier but the condition of this fish is outstanding.

A classic jump shot!

Back he goes..

As the rain got heavier the steep track from the hut was looking increasingly foreboding. I was trying to politely rush Robbie along, “Oh, your waiting on me are you?” he said, relaxed, as always. “We better move or we wont get up the hill” I said. We left the hut, wipers on full, low range gear box engaged. With only a couple of minor slips we were up the hill and onto the plateau. Relieved to be over that hurdle, we continued. The farm track had turned to mud and was as slippery as all fuck. The only option was to drive out at a snails pace. This I did. To err on the side of caution I stayed on the side of the track that didn’t have a 300m drop on it. This lead me to slipping off into a ditch. We got out of the truck into the pissing rain and gathered what rocks we could find to wedge under the wheels. After about 30 miserable minutes getting soaked and straining my back lifting big rocks, we got the truck out of the ditch and continued. Sitting in the truck, soaked, back hurting, I just wanted to get out of the place. Robbie briefly had the same idea but shortly after he said “Well, were here to fish, aren’t we?”. That we were! The words hardly left his mouth when we slipped off the track again, a sudden jolt into the ditch. I turned to Robbie to see if he was okay, he looked a bit shook with a mark on his forehead and the rear view mirror had turned around. He was getting a little whiter and his head hurt a bit but he was fine. Due to the decline in the track the truck popped out of this one no worries at all. Another kilometre or 2 down the track we were at a good point to drop into the river to fish a favourite pool of ours. We gathered some motivation, put on some dry clothes and started the long and steep decent through terraced hillside, beech forest and into a gorge. On arrival, the river was clear but the rain kept coming. We knew our time was limited, the river was bound to blow out. We saw 2 trout, Robbie got one and I got the other. Then at the head of the pool I saw another. As I fished to him he became harder and harder to see as the river got dirtier. He made four pretty full on but failed attacks at my streamer and then fecked off. It was time we did too, we did not want to get stuck on the wrong side of the rapidly rising river! I took a few quick blind shots up into the head of the pool with a heavily weighted streamer, got a cracking 7lber and then we left the gorge. We climbed back up the mountainside to the truck. On the drive out we had no more slips and managed to fish for another couple of hours when we got to the safety of the non-gorge.

The Hilux has been through the mill lately. 4x4ing is certainly something one gets better at. Like anything, when you have nobody to teach you the learning curve is not very steep! I think I need full on mud tires instead of my All Terrain ones. Also dif-lock, a winch, a snorkel, some proper tow ropes and as Robbie advised, a lesson! I’ll keep trying and hopefully I wont kill the truck doing it.

Ronan..

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A large Late season fish can be absolutly stunning! This one ate a blind fished streamer in very coloured water. A great end to the day!

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Robbie reminiscing over the day gone by and contemplating the one to come!

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What a great place to kick back and tell a few stories..

Home for the night. A tram car converted into a back-country farm cabin. Luxury!

Fishing was hopeless but we did find a large stag with his two broads.

Fabulous water, unfortunately there were anglers in front of us all day. We jumped the first lot by about 4ks only to find more fresh prints later in the day.

A quick visit to the long drop before getting out. Heavy rain in the morning meant we had to move quickly or the truck may not make it up the steep hill from the hut. Same thing happened the last time Robbie and I stayed here!

The truck slipped off the road a couple of times. This took about half an hour to get out of. We had to build rocks up under the wheels. We got soaked to the skin!

Wet and cold or not, we were there to fish. We climbed down the steep incline to the river. Thankfully it had not yet coloured much.

Robbie wanted a good fish..

On a size 8 chartreuse rubber legged nymph.

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..and he got it. 8.5lbs.

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A nicely marked brownie for me!

And then this beauty on a streamer!

The sun came out as the river rose and coloured. Time to leave the gorge.

Riverdance

No wind to drift, no sun to see.. Beautiful place to be. They call it Paradise!

We managed a couple of hours on the water but conditions deteriorated.

Once the wheels lost traction there was no hope! When there was water around the peddles it was time to get help..

A good friend said of me once that I'd "never let common sense stand in the way of a good idea"

The trench from my front wheel!

We tried a local river the next day but saw no fish.

A truly spectacular river it is..

Stuck again. This I managed to get out of without any help..

The little stream leaving Lake Sylvan.

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The Homer burr!!

The beech forest on the way to Lake Sylvan.

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The Dart River valley..

Lake Sylvan. Worth a mission with a float tube!

Iza and I at the beginning of an eventful mission to Glenorchy.

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..

Another weekend has landed and I have no blog up! This will be a quick one.. Last weekend was intended to be a West Coast mission but the weather did not comply. Instead Iza and I went to the Waitaki Valley to fish Benmore and Aviemore. The sight fishing was excellent on Saturday. Plenty fish about and in great condition. Sunday the weather closed in quickly but I had a few good moments in the morning. Iza is not having much joy with her spinning rod. It’s as if the fish Gods are against her but they’ll come round. I know they will, I have a direct line and they’re just playin’ silly buggers at the moment (as they say in NZ).

Almost at the end of the fishing day on Saturday, I handed Iza my fly-rod (an SL Pro Hot torpedo, aka”The Ronan”). I took her spinning rod to whack out a cast. Somehow my fly-rod sneaked in front of the spinning rod while in mid cast. I beheaded “The Ronan”… That’s the second time I’ve learned to keep fly-rods away from spinning rods. My good friend back home once ploughed his spinning rod through my Sage XP. Thanks Eamonn!! “Lesson to be repeated until learned”, as Graeme Williams would say.

I’m meeting Robbie Mcphee tomorrow for a weekend on the water.

Later all! Let me know what you think of the slideshow feature. I think it needs to be bigger? Below the pics? I’ll work on it.

Ronan..