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Posts Tagged ‘Kevin P Hehir’

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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Shallow Water Tactics & Guiding Highlights…

April 5th, 2016 No comments

I went exploring some still waters recently, 3 in total, none of which I had fished before. I found fish in each one though some were so spooky they were damn near impossible to get a shot to. Even when I managed what I thought to be a perfect presentation they fecked off! When the clouds rolled in on that one I fecked off too. I’ll be back for another round when the conditions permit. As luck would have it I was on a dirt track that I had never been on before to fish that lake. As I followed my nose back to tar seal I stumbled upon a multiple acre, quite deep looking lake I had never seen or heard of before. I hopped the fence and went for a look. Iza was with me which was a good thing because she spotted a trout that I missed! I took a quick shot which landed a bit too heavily and the fish went away. Annoyed at myself for my bad cast Iza and I walked the shore. I spotted a rainbow which had many looks at my dry and nymph but he never took the fly. It was getting late so we ventured back down the shore towards the truck. I was keeping an eye where the first fish was sighted and luckily it was back. This time my cast was right. The fish cruised at pace to the dry but went straight passed it and picked up my large nymph hanging under it. The dry was ripped through the surface film and the aerial battle was on! Everything about that fish was extremely satisfying, from getting a second chance to the fantastic take to the golden prize in the net.

The last of the 3 still waters held very few trout but I managed to hook and land one of the better ones I saw. This one took a little pheasant tail suspended just above the silt about 2 foot down. Another very satisfying fish! With some simple tactics these flat calm still waters are not as tough as you may think. A nymph suspended under a dry is the best general approach. You can leave it out there and wait for the fish to find it. A single nymph or spider is another great method but requires quite a bit more skill and experience to fish it properly. Accurate casting and timing is essential here because your casting to a cruising trout. You must place the fly far enough in front of the fish so that by the time he gets to it, the fly is not on the bottom (though this works for another method, letting the fly sink to the bottom and moving it when the fish comes into range). Landing the fly close enough to the fish so that he hears the plop is a good thing, he’ll often come to investigate the plop and eat the fly. Too close to the fish the plop will spook him, too far away and it’s ineffective. You need to know the sink rate of your fly, I generally add a turn of lead or two to break through the surface film but not sink like a stone. The advantage of the single nymph or spider above a dry-dropper is that you can move the fly into the trout’s path should he change direction. You cant generally do this with the dry-dropper because the skating dry will usually spook the approaching trout.  A single dry can also be useful. I’m not holding back information by not naming flies, the flies don’t matter. Small and sparse is best! Trout Hunter 4.5x nylon has been useful for calm water this season, both river and lake. It’s a great compromise between sturdy 4x and dangerously fine 5x. It has incredible strength with a wind knot in the cast! Check it out..

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