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Posts Tagged ‘Jeff Forsee’

River Keeping!

May 10th, 2018 No comments

River keeping is something I’ve been thinking about lately. How many times have you fished a pool and thought “if only that branch wasn’t there I’d be able to cast to that fish!” Well, I often though that. In recent years I’ve made some effort to remove offending branches and its paid off. I want to take it to the next level though. As of now I’m going to carry a saw instead of the little saw blade on my Victorinox knife. As a guide I’m always searching out new water. Occasionally I find something great that receives little or no attention so a little river keeping goes a long way here. There are a few small streams I know of which have become totally choked with willows over the years. Many beautiful pools have become totally unfishable but it doesn’t need to be that way. Lets say you fish that stream 3 times a season, and each time you fish it you bring your saw and spend half an hour making a pool or a run fly friendly, think how quickly it would become totally open again! Better again if some of your friends do the same! Or, you could just go nuts and round up a posse and spend a day clearing it! Fuck it, bring a chainsaw! Have a think about it. I’m sure a river or a pool on a river will spring to mind. Its something you could do over the off season, just take care that you’re not walking on redds. Time to buy an aggressive saw that will fit in your pack! A machete too, maybe..

With some semi-planned down time around mid March to mid April I got quite a lot of fishing in! Some of the family were over so dad and I fished every day we could (which was most!) This trip was a little different to other trips for dad. Mom and my sister were also here to meet our daughter, Adaline, so it was family time. All the fishing we did was in day trip distance from home. Every evening we relaxed, ate great food, drank some nice wine and just enjoyed being together. I can’t wait til we can do it all again! We fished all sorts of water. Big lakes, dams, tiny streams to big rivers. With regular, heavy rainfall it wasn’t easy to find clear rivers but with local experience and a little luck we were able to find rivers and streams clear enough to fish. Dad had always wanted some dry fly action on a tiny stream. We had one super day which was just that. It’s quite hard to find consistent dry fly water but this wee stream seems to be one. Great fishing!

Robbie and I also had a super couple of days chasing rainbows and browns in his neck of the woods. Better than expected with blistering bows and one very large brown! The worm fly was deadly – either because of the regular high water washing real worms down the river or because it just looks like too much food to pass up. Both are true. It did make me think though after I picked a 4″ dead earthworm out of the river. “These worm flies are way too small!!!” I think I’ll tie some huge worm flies! They have to work..

One of the most interesting things I’ve witnessed this season was on one of the local, high country reservoirs. Dad, Tom and myself went up for a day with no expectations because it rarely gives up its fish easily. The day began as per usual trying to figure out how to catch this elusive quarry. Dad and I saw a fish or two moving and I lost one not long after starting on a bugger. Tom was moving down the shore and we followed. Tom was seeing some and getting one or 2. When we got to the shallow end of the bay things changed. We could see good numbers of trout bow waving in glary, flat calm, shallow water. They were clearly chasing something. Tom was in the right place landed 4 more on a bugger. I landed one and lost a couple. By the time dad arrived it was all over. We kept a trout for dinner and it was stuffed with 1 inch, grey fry. The edges of the lake were alive with them. I never noticed them there before so maybe it has something to do with all the recent rain? I hoped it was going to be a regular, late season event. The lake is know for it’s cicada fishing but nothing else really so it would be really cool to lock in seasonal event and learn it. Dad and I went back up for his last fishing day of the trip. We were expecting great things but absolutely nothing happened. The fry were there, the wind was exactly the same, all conditions the same just no fish at all – only 4 days later!

Jeff, Kota and myself had a magic day exploring a couple of small mountain streams. With snow on the ground and high altitude views it was a magic day to be alive, fish or no fish!

May is when many fish start their migratory run up river to spawn. These running fish can provide some of the most exciting fishing of the season – for me anyway. I think it might be my favourite time of year! Locally, its very hit and miss but I’ve learned many hot spots over the last few years. Fluctuating flows means that the learning never stops but there are consistencies in pretty much all river flows. The larger fish tend to run first! I’ll be getting amongst it as often as possible.

Thats all for now. I have some good guiding stuff coming up from a couple of multi-day late season trips. One with Chuan – always eventful!

Plenty spaces available in May and over winter. There’s still lots of great fishing to be had even though the season is closed on most brown trout rivers! Contact me on ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

Tight Lines,

Ronan..

ps, here’s my latest film on Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/267765023

 

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Raging Bull!

November 9th, 2017 No comments

Recently Jeff and I went out to learn some water neither of us had fished before. We started fishing at the end of the road with the intention of covering as much water as we could squeeze into a day. That we did. We ended up venturing up a tributary to see if it held fish. It did hold some, not many but certainly enough to warrant a trip in October when many post spawning trout have not yet dropped back to the main flows. We pushed a few ks up this tributary. Both of us got a few good chances but even with well placed first casts, these fish melted away into the river.. Not to worry! We pushed on through dense tussock hoping to get another shot, suddenly the ground shook, Jeff took a step back while falling over. I looked up to see the curly white hair on the face of a large bull and Jeff’s rod poking him in the face from the ground. As Jeff rolled out of the way of the rampaging bull, I took a step back while turning to run but instead fell 5 feet over a bank into the river. I immediately jumped up, soaked and dripping, looking to see the bull coming over the bank too. No sign of him as I looked left and right. I called to Jeff, “I’m okay” he said.. I asked where the bull was and he told me he ran off. It was close! It could easily have been a lot worse. I don’t think the bull intended to charge us. He was hunkered down in the tussock and we walked right up on him and spooked him! We all scared the bejesus out of each other. I got a bang on the leg and my whole body hurt the next day, I guess I got a good jarring when I hit the shallow river bed. Jeff was okay. We fished on for another hour or so before calling it a day. We kept our big brown and white friend in sight as we retreated home. That was fun! I do love a good scare to feel alive.

My personal fishing has been great! Lots of new water and of course some old favourites. I managed to get a big fish on the board before the end of October. A real beauty at 9lbs even. I’ve locked in some good new water which I’m looking forward to going back to myself and with clients when weather and water plays ball.. We’ve just had an angry weather system pass through dumping lots of rain and snow all over the place. It looks like things will get back to normal over the next few days. More about my own recent exploits in the top gallery below.

GUIDING UPDATE

I’ve been pretty busy with guiding. Some new clients and some repeats. I’m really enjoying how friendships are forming with the people I guide! Theres a pretty extensive gallery below documenting a great season so far. A couple of recent trips I’ll mention. The first was a heli-trip with Shaun and Mike. We had a super couple of days after flying into the wilderness. We got well and truly away from it all! Fishing was really good each day with plenty browns and rainbows eager to eat dries and nymphs in a most spectacular setting. Shaun brought a nice bottle of red along which accompanied a well earned steak, spuds and beans dinner. There may have been a little whisky too! The craic was good and the fire burned bright until we hit the hay. There was no rush out of bed the next day as we waited for the sun to reach the valley floor. Probably a good thing!!

More recently I took out my regular client, Kevin for 3 days. We hit the road and went south! Day one was freezing and very windy. Kevin had 7 eats with 2 landed including a super rainbow which came blind to a blowfly. Day 2 warmed up a bit and the wind played ball for most of the day. Kevin absolutely nailed it!! Well placed first casts and happy fish combined to produce a day to remember. Kevin landed lots! All but one in the 5 – 7lb class. As good as it gets if you ask me. At the end of day 2 I asked Kevin if there was something specific he’d like to do on day 3. In a very relaxed tone he hinted at a very big fish. Okay, I said! I have a plan.. but we must be prepared to blank (aren’t we always!!). Day 3 included a monster walk. Big fish hunting usually requires lots of walking. We saw only 3 fish for the day but Kevin made the few casts count and landed a personal best at 9.25lbs and another 7lber. These were three intense days of fishing. I was happy to have a cancelation for the following day because I was totally wiped out!

My season is filling up quickly so get in soon if you’d like me to guide you on your NZ adventure! Contact me at ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

Tight Lines!

Ronan..

 

 

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“I’m only wishing to go a-fishing; For this the month of May was made”

May 31st, 2017 No comments

What is it that excites me so much about the month of May? I’ve had to think about this! There are a few reasons. One of them is that its relatively new to me. In my ten years (pre 2011) when I came to NZ from Ireland every season, I was always home by the end of April, so May was unknown to me. In October 2011 I moved out here full time taking up a job as a joiner. In May, just like every other month I only had the weekends to fish. I enjoyed the month of May then of course, but it’s only now that I have lots of time on my hands that I can really explore, search and learn; just like I did during my early years exploring NZ. So thats part of it! It’s new, exciting and fun. It’s more than that though. Fishing for migrating fish in May is challenging. To do well you need to be able to cast heavy flies on long leaders or heavily weighted fly-lines (around here at least!). You need to be able to see your fly in you minds eye and know what it’s doing and where it is. Sometimes it’s sight fishing, sometimes it’s blind and it’s frequently into deep water. Migrating fish move around a lot on their lies. Sometimes to take a fly but often jostling for position or to chase out another fish. They do feed, but as the month progresses they gear more towards spawning. However, with accurate casting; putting the fly in just the right place and making it swim / drift correctly you can still induce a take. So, it’s the challenge? Yes, but possibly even more than the challenge and the realisation that it’s still new to me, is that it’s so much about the big, beautiful migrating fish. When these fish run they are in their absolute prime! Full of condition and energy for the months ahead. Who wouldn’t want to catch fish like this?! On certain rivers in May there is a real chance of a big fish. Sometimes well into double figures and these fish only appear in May. I predominantly target browns all season long but in May I turn my attention to rainbows. Last May I realised just what a great species they are. Hooking into a big rainbow and listening to that tail slap before the first run is simply exhilarating! One more thing.. This is my down time after my guiding season. I’m relaxed, I have nothing to do only fish, I’m in holiday mode! So I think I know now. It’s new and exciting, its challenging, it’s about enjoying big, powerful, beautiful rainbows and some browns, I’m on holiday! Why wouldn’t I love it.. Sorry if I just bored the feck out you with that but I wanted to know for myself.

May has been a great month to catch up with friends. I made lots of use of my drift boat taking Fraser, Wesley (see you next season!), Guy, Tom and Jeff out in it.  It’s been such a new lease of life and a great way to explore rivers and lakes. The pics below tell the story as they do!! Tassie Sean will be up for a visit soon too. That should be fun whatever we get up to. I’m hoping for new waves of fish migrating up some of the rivers which are still open through winter. When they’re fresh in they take really well, still piling on the pounds. bring on the next wave because the first run are now stale and not really taking the fly anymore…

Finally, to finish off what was probably the most enjoyable month of the season for me, we returned to The Bay of Pigs. Just like before the fishing was slow, Tom and Jeff saw one fish from the boat. I managed to drag out one brute of 15lbs from the shore. A long leader and a weighted streamer fished about 3 feet down did the trick. The take was a gentle one before I came up tight!

The next thing on my agenda is to practice my shots for my upcoming trip to Malaysia. I need to get good at that before I leave, or as Paul says, I’ll spend the first week not catching any fish.

I’m available to guide until mid July. Contact me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

Tight Lines All!!!

Ronan..

PERSONAL FISHING GALLERY

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The Bay of Pigs!

May 11th, 2017 No comments

Lake Benmore from the boat was the plan. We arrived late because I slept in. The lake was blowing a gale! We drove towards the boat ramp, not too happy about our impending soaking while driving the boat back through the heavy wave to get to the mouth of the Ahuriri. I turned the truck around thinking we could use a different (much closer) access to launch the boat, but a sign clearly stated that no power boats were allowed.. so we turned around again and went back towards the boat ramp.. then we changed our minds altogether in favour of some exploration… I had never fished our chosen lake from a boat and only skimmed the surface from the shore so this was new for both of us. We searched lots of likely water and did quite a bit of drifting with limited success before drifting into one very good weedy bay. We moved about 10 browns to streamers landing a couple. The exploration continued. We checked out all sorts of water; all with potential for different times of year. Then one bay got our attention. We figured there would be a chance of a big trout because fish from the canals could get in. Soon after starting we spotted a monster brown beside the boat. He calmly drifted away and out of sight. Multiple drifts produced nothing and we didn’t see any more. Jeff had a huge streamer on which I was expecting to be eaten at any moment but it wasn’t. I was using a clear intermediate and Jeff was on a floater, both with weighted streamers. I decided to change to the di7 rig. Almost immediately, I was into a solid fish.. I hoped it was a brute but the short head shakes gave his size away. A good fish though and I kept it for dinner. A few drifts later a solid thump from the deep. I had counted the line down so I knew I was well below the surface. Jeff saw the flank and knew it was a big rainbow. I was well armed with my 8wt tcx and 13.5lb tippet. He fought hard and heavily before Jeff put the brute in his net. We chose Jeff’s net for the boat because of its long handle, never thinking it only went to 14lbs! We’ve both seen a few very big fish from the canals and we agreed the fish was not less than 20lbs and not more than 25lbs. Jeff named the bay “The Bay of Pigs”. Apt indeed. Our exploration day certainly paid off! It’s funny how fishing days transpire sometimes..

In other news, the Clutha is fishing okay. I think it will improve when (if) it rises. Much of the water I did well in last winter is too low now but there are new areas for me to explore. The power companies release huge amounts of water from Lake Hawea on a regular basis but the water is short-lived and not there for long enough for fish to move into certain ares, or so it seems.. I’ve also had a look at some other rivers which are open until the end of May around these parts, but with limited success. The potential is there though. All my personal fishing seems to be exploratory. Guiding is a little different. I had a great wilderness heli mission with Jesse & Kaisa recently. We saw about 15 and had 4 or 5 eat the fly. That day also included one of the most intense fish fights of my guiding so far! It included the fish going through a snag with me following to get it out, me falling in the river and drowning Jesse’s iphone which was safely (oops!) in my top wader pocket, the fish going through my legs mid stream and just madness in general, all in the 200m battle.. by some miracle we got the fish in the net… where the hook fell out! A fantail landed on the rod at the beginning of the fight. They say this is good luck. Maybe it is!

The next 3 days I’ll be out with Tim Kempton. I’m just off the vice after tying 30 flies.. I have a plan – sort of!!

Tight lines..

Ronan..

For bookings and information contact me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

 

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In the Merry Month of May…

May 3rd, 2017 No comments

April has been a fabulous month! I had lots of time to fish myself but was also kept pretty busy guiding. The fishing was excellent! With terrestrial insects still locked into trout brains and magnificent mayfly hatches to boot, most of the activity was on the surface. It’s rare that I’ll fish with a single dry but I did a lot this April, both for myself and my clients. Cicada’s, blowflies and mayflies were the leaders of the pack. April sees the most consistent and reliable mayfly hatches of the year in these parts. For the last 2 – 3 weeks of April, the main hatch kicked of at 2.40 every afternoon on a number of rivers from Omarama to Invercargill. The dry-fly action during the hatch was simply as good as it gets and the best for many years by all accounts. It was most welcome after the constant onslaught of wind and rain brought by the early and middle parts of the season. Summer lasted ten days!

Earlier in April, Nick Reygaert, Jeff Forsee and myself got together again to film another episode for Pure Fly NZ, this time series 2. We went to the West Coast to film a variety of fishing locations. I think we all worked well together to bring something pretty full-on to the screen. I won’t elaborate too much so that I don’t give anything away before the show airs, but watch this space!

Most brown trout rivers are closed now, but many of the rivers flowing into the Southern Lakes (and a few besides) are open until the end of May. A few rivers and most large lakes are open all year, so thankfully, the season never stops. It’s May now and time to stalk migratory fish! I love fishing at this time of year as the leaves change colour and fall from the trees. Fish start to move up river on their spawning run and opportunities arise that are unique to May and the winter months. These fish respond well to streamers, large nymphs and a little later in the season, egg flies. The first part in fishing for migratory fish is finding them. In many cases when you find one you find a few or lots – fishing for migratory fish is like that. The first cast to a pod can get a chaotic response from a lot of fish, then it gets a little quieter. It’s not unusual to catch a few fish from a pod. At times you’ll stumble upon a large fish or two which has spent the last 8 months or so deep in a lake. This is exciting stuff and I will be trying to make it happen this month! I think I know where some will be..

I must change the format for this blog! With the amount of time that passes between reports I struggle to choose what to write about and end up breezing over everything. In the future I need to try (try) to write more often. Maybe less, but more specific content, the way it was before guiding.. I’ll do my best! The pictures below tell the story of full-on month on April!!

Tight Lines and bring on May!!

Ronan..

I’ll be guiding until mid July for the few that are keen on winter fishing! Let me know if you’d like to plan a mission.. ronan@sexyloops.com or see my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

 

PERSONAL GALLERY

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“I Put on Wet Socks in the Morning”

February 25th, 2017 No comments

I wanted to chat briefly about the Damselfly nymph and how most anglers standard pattern makes no sense to me. I had some great photo’s of a damsel nymph which was still alive inside a trout I took from Lake Dunstan recently, but I deleted them by mistake!! I put the green nymph in a jar of water with a sprig of rosemary (haha) where he lived happily for a week or so. I watched how it moved, how it swam (or wobbles!) etc. The one thing that struck me was how similar it was to mayfly nymph. I thought this before, but I though I was missing something that everyone else seemed to know because most damselfly nymph patterns have a long marabou tail. Why? A mayfly nymph representation generally has no marabou. I see some merit in a short marabou tail matching the length of the 3 strands in the real nymph. I’m not one for perfect representations of what fish are eating, far from it actually. However in my opinion, a damsel nymph with a long marabou tail is a woolly bugger, not a damsel! I use a long shank #12 PT or similar as a damsel nymph.

Guiding has been happily chaotic! I’m out most days at the moment but I did manage a few days for myself recently. Iza and I fished together for a day and a half too. Next season I’ll do things a little differently. I’m going to put blocks of time aside for me to fish each month. I need it!! I get a lot of what I get from a days fishing during a day guiding but not everything. Fly-fishing is my life and I must make this work. I know some guides who don’t fish at all during “silly season”. I must not let this happen!! This is only my second season so I guess I’m still finding my way a bit. Guiding continues to teach me a lot and I believe the most important thing it has taught me is how much I don’t know!! A great lesson. Therefor time must be put aside to explore new water and simply get better and better at this.

Recently I explored some new water to the north and the east. Some of it was re-familiarising myself with old haunts and some was totally new. Fishing new water is such a thrill! Absorbing everything the river has to offer, the excitement of seeing whats around the next bend, piecing it all together. Putting on wet socks in the morning means you’re in the thick of it!

Guiding has been lots of fun! I recently took Tim Kempton out for a few days. Great craic with him and his mate Fergus. Tim has fished with Paul in Malaysia which makes him the second (I think) to have been guided by both Paul and I in our respective countries (the other being Chuan Tay!). I hope more anglers do this! On the topic of Malaysia, I’m going there this July to fish with Paul for 2 weeks. I’ve been practicing a little from Paul’s instructional video on youtube so when the time comes I hope I’m on form. Speed is very important with trout fishing too so if I can make one second shots for snakehead, I’ll do it for here for trout too!!! Back to guiding, what else.. Some great heli stuff lately with Nick Mills and a fantastic West Coast mission with local regulars Bryan and Tim. That was a real adventure! One thing about heli-fishing.. The chopper takes a lot of the hard work out of it but the best results come if you’re willing to go hard while your in there. That we did! I think we had 14 trout in total for 3 days with the best fish of the trip going to Tim just before the chopper came to take us home. Many thanks to Greenstone Helicopters! Also a new personal best for Bryan, Bob and his birthday fish, the list goes on.. The pics tell a better story anyway!!

Time to prepare! I have an afternoon mission in an hour..

Tight lines!

Ronan..      ronan@sexyloops.com

 

For bookings and information see my website www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

For Pure Fly NZ dvd’s go to http://www.flyshop.co.nz/product/DVDPFNZ.html

For stu’s cicada’s go to http://stusflyshop.com/browse-by-fly/dry-flies/cicada/MY GALLERY

 

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Monster Trout New Zealand…

October 24th, 2016 No comments

October has been a difficult enough month! Mainly due to lots of rain and snow-melt keeping many Otago and surrounding rivers high and difficult to fish. I saw this as an opportunity to go well away from home and try to lock in and learn some new water. I had a hunch about an area to try and what I found blew me away. On my first visit to the powerful beast that is mystery river X, I found quite a few really big rainbows.. huge actually. I landed one of 14lbs and lost 7 more (shit happens!). I took my good friend and big fish specialist, Robbie Mcphee for a look recently. He managed an 11lber, a 7lber and a 4. I landed an 11lb salmon, totally unexpected and immensely powerful. I passed the pocket water where he was hanging out having not seen a sign of life. Then something splashed behind me. I thought it was Robbie stumbling on the slippery rocks but when I turned around I saw the remains of a splash on the surface (not Robbie falling in, but a fish!). I went back, changed my fly to Stu’s Sonic Minnow and made a cast.. First cast I had a follow from a big grey ghost. I kept working the water.. 10 casts later I was connected to the biggest New Zealand salmon I’ve hooked. After a great battle Robbie put him in the net. I also had a few normal sized trout. This piece of water is still good but I expect these big fish will get off the shallows and back into the deep, heavy water before too long..

If you’d like to get in touch about guided fly-fishing in the lower South Island then drop me an email ronan@sexyloops.com or check out my website, http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

If Stu’s flies have piqued your attention, look here! http://www.stusflyshop.com/select-your-species/

 

 

GUIDING HIGHLIGHTS

If not for local anglers and regular clients, Bryan Wrighton and Tim Proctor, October would have been a lean month! We recently had a 2 day mission on two very different rivers down south. With a narrow weather window between one front and another, I made the call to take it on. Thankfully it worked! Day one had us fishing on a river which was high and a little coloured. I chose this river for day one because these conditions suit it, it would also give day two’s river a chance to settle and clear a bit. The common denominator over the 2 days was high, slightly coloured water. Perfect for streamer fishing.. well, usually. The streamer barely got a chase over the 2 days. I don’t think I’ve ever seen these conditions not suit the streamer down to the ground! Fishing is always able to throw you a curve ball! Thankfully there were good numbers of fish out feeding and reasonably easy to spot. They were not easy to catch however, (they rarely are!) but Bryan and Tim did well to land 9 quality trout over two days all between 3.5 and 5lbs. Most fish were beautifully marked, in great condition and very strong. We’re out again soon so hopefully we’ll produce the goods again..

 

Tight Lines all!

Ronan..

Ps. Dont forget to check out Sky TV this October 31st. Jeff Forsee and myself will be doing what we do best on episode 6 of “Pure Fly New Zealand”…

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Early Season Extravaganza!

October 11th, 2016 No comments

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

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20lb Rainbow Trout!

September 24th, 2016 No comments

It’s fair to say that I’ve never really cracked the canals! I’ve had a reasonable number of attempts over the years but the really big fish always seem to get the better of me. I’ve hooked them once or twice but just briefly. This time was different, this time I hooked 3! Two of which were sighted which made me question my spending 2 full days scouring the depths with a di7 and a Dore’s Mr Glister. The 3rd I hooked was right on the bank, close to the surface as I was lifting to recast. Again, not backing up my di7 tactic. I lost them all anyway; one was in the 15-20lb class. Jeff decided on pretty much just sight-fishing for them and luckily for us there were a few to be seen when we fished it in July. He persisted until he got one! A monster cruised through a few 10 to 15lb fish and bullied them out of his path before inhaling Jeff’s fly with his permanently open jaws! The battle was on.. Jeff tamed him pretty quickly and I put him in my weigh-net which luckily goes up to 30lbs. 20lbs on the button!

Most people know the canals for being a place where salmon are farmed and wild trout get huge feeding on pellets. A recent survey shows evidence to support that trout feed on a huge natural stock of food such as snails and cockabullies, kilometres away from the cages. This makes it a much more interesting fishery indeed. I have often walked the edges for kilometres while casting a fast sinking line without success. Much of the canals are 6m deep so I might not have been deep enough. I guess I need to keep experimenting! I might make it back up there pretty soon, Nico is dying to fish it so that’s a good enough reason for me!

Loads of stuff coming up in my next blogs, I’ll be talking about 11 days fishing in Ireland for 7 species, Stu’s Superior Flies (I just received a box of his flies they’ve landed plenty fish already), Guiding and whatever else comes to mind! This blog is a little rushed because I have a tonne of stuff to sort out before the season opens on Saturday.

Tight Lines all

Ronan..

For guiding bookings and information you can contact me at ronan@sexyloops.com You can also check out my facebook page which is updated regularly with what’s happening right now!  www.facebook.com/ronansflyfishingmissions/

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Big Bad Bows…

May 30th, 2016 3 comments

RAMBUNCTIOUS RAINBOWS!

I’ve made no secret of being a brown trout fisherman first and foremost. However, some recent fishing has given rainbows the limelight. By the time May comes around most browns are getting close to spawning so I usually leave them alone. It’s rainbow time! Luckily, in this southern part of NZ there are plenty rivers open throughout May and even the winter months. I went out on May 1st to check out some of my favourite water for the time of year. I quickly found some fish and landed a few between 4 and 5lbs. These fish were in great nick and above the average size I’ve been used to. Then I saw one which I thought must have been big! I lost sight of it but cast the streamer in its vicinity. Then I saw it again, I quickly cast the streamer well above it and steered it into its path. The Glister, which I beefed up with soft weight, passed it by. She turned and nailed it downstream. I saw the gills flare like a bass! The fish was on, a mighty battle in deep water running up and down at the bottom of the pool. She turned out to be 8lbs, much bigger than I was expecting even though I knew it was big. I was blown away! She equalled my second biggest rainbow ever. I heard from the lads at the Hunting & Fishing shop that there were a few big boys and girls about. I went out again a few days later to a different part of the river. Once again it didn’t take long to bank a fish or two around 5lbs. Stunning bars of silver! I only had my phone as a camera and I was fishing alone so no photos. I could not be bothered trying to balance a skinny phone on a rock while waiting for it’s 10 second timer to fire! Then I saw another big one at the bottom of a very deep and fast run, 2 meters down I’d say. I put on a heavy bomb with a worm-fly attached. I made a number of casts upstream, well upstream, to get to depth. I was pretty sure I was getting into the zone. I made a number of casts using left and right mends to steer the fly. Then the magic moment, that little swing right. I lifted against a heavy weight then fury was unleashed.. He tore up and down the river as deep as he could stay. I kept big pressure on him with 9lb fluoro to keep him out of snags. The SL Hot Torpedo was under the gun but it performed as expected. Not quite as big as the rainbow from a few days prior but a much nicer fish and certainly in my top 3 rainbows. Since then it’s been raining almost every day and the river has been pretty much unfishable. Still, The fishing I had in that first week of May was off the charts and I’m thankful for that.

TWO DAYS IN THE WILDERNESS..

Jeff and I recently took on the back-county to explore some water. Our motives were:

1, To learn about what happens on this predominantly rainbow river in May.

2, Hopefully lock in some potential guiding water for next season.

3, To do what we live for –  Fly-Fish!

What we learned was interesting. There were feck all rainbows about. We saw 3 and hooked all of them. Clearly feeding fish not even thinking about spawning. There was a huge run of brown trout in the river on their spawning run. The browns were mostly on the move, any paired up fish received no attention from us. It was pretty exciting fishing! Fast, accurate, short casts with streamers in fast water did the business followed in close second by a weighted san juan worm. We put in two big days on a river which kept getting better the farther we went (which made it hard to make the “last pool” call. Indeed, there were many!!).

FISHING WITH CHRIS DORE..

Chris Dore and myself also went into the back-country but just for a day trip. Our mission was to find a big trout and hopefully catch it. We found one very big fish which saw us first. He was lying in a most unexpected position, but we should have seen it. Our bad!! We saw another big fish (not as big at the first which was 12lbs ish I reckon) in a similar position. We were forewarned on this weird position in the dead water inside the bend, and so made no mistake with spotting this one. No joy though! We landed 7 average sized fish for the day. Great to fish with Chris again. Its getting harder and harder to find the time. Man, he can cast! Since we did our FFF CI together years ago, Chris has pushed forward in a big way. MCI material without a doubt.

A FANTASTIC FINALE & FILMING WITH NICK REYGAERT

A fantastic finale to the brown trout season is documented in photo’s below. Jeff and I had 11 for the day from 3.5 to 8lbs. It was some of the best still water fishing I’ve had. Mostly blind, meticulously working the water.

Jeff and I also finished off our episode of “Pure Fly NZ” I think its called. As with the previous days on the water it was not easy but all up, I reckon you’ll be pleased with the result. I think a pretty decent story line evolved over the few days. It’s all down to the editor now!

THE LATEST FROM MY GUIDING

I had a couple of guide days recently which were successful, both brought difficult water heights but we managed a few fish each day and had a great time on the water. Thanks for getting in touch Frank and Fritz..

I recently became a member of the New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides Association or NZPFGA. I had an interview with the executive committee recently and went to the AGM the following day. It was really good to meet other members and I’m happy to be a part of this club. Onwards and upwards!

Bring on June! If you fancy getting out for some winter fishing let me know. June and July are open for business. Email me with any questions. ronan@sexyloops.com

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Cheers All, Ronan..

 

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