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Posts Tagged ‘Lake Hawea’

August! From the Lakes to the Coast…

September 2nd, 2018 No comments

August has been superb! Not long after arriving back in NZ from Ireland, I joined Robbie, Tom and Jeremy for a couple of days on Lake Benmore. I went and got the Wakatipu Anglers Club boat to give us some options around the lake. After the couple of days with the lads I held on to the boat since nobody was using it. It has been fantastic! Pretty much all the lakes are fishing well, some very well! Catching up with friends has been as good as the fishing. The weather has been very settled, warm and sunny with very little wind. Ideal fishing conditions, although at times a little more wind would have been an advantage to make the boat drift.

There are a few rivers open in this area, but August around here is best on the lakes. Brown trout are well and truly finished spawning and are back in the lakes trying to regain condition. They also haven’t seen an angler for a while so this combination makes them very keen to eat a fly – any fly! Fish on Lake Dunstan have been happy to eat small streamers even in the flat calm on 3x. A few more weeks and this simply wont work unless the wind is blowing. It’s fun out there. I’ve fished it 3 days from the boat averaging 8 per day. Benmore was a little slower but it will be improving daily as fish continue to drop back to the lake. Hawea didn’t really fish for Guy and I. It certainly did 6 years ago but such is fishing.. I’d been dying to get back there ever since 4 super weekends in a row in August 2012. Everything was the same; lake level, wind, conditions,  just no fish! This is how it was – Hawea 2012

The West Coast has eluded me since Jeff, Nick and myself filmed our episode for the second series of Pure Fly New Zealand. Mark and I went over for a couple of days recently. The main thing I wanted to do was the river mouths. The last week in August is when you have the most amount of whitebait running with the least amount whitebaiters chasing them! Therefor you have the place to yourself. I have hit some excellent fishing during this week in the past, but it was very quiet for us. The tides worked out well. On day 1 we arrived there in the morning an hour before high tide and fished for 2 hours. I got one small fish. The top and bottom of the tide are usually the best so we left the river mouth and fished the lower reaches of a river for a few hours. On the coast many rivers are open year round from the main highway bridge to the sea. This was good! I met 5 and landed one well conditioned, buttery brown. Then back to a different river mouth for low tide. I got 1 and touched a few more. The river mouths are a pretty gruelling fishery. They require dogged persistence and confidence.

Day 2 we took on a lake. It started slow but the fishing just got better and better. Boat and bank. Sight fishing to cruisers and blind stripping buggers on intermediates got the fish. Shitloads of them!

I’m not sure what fishing is on the cards next! September is here and I’ll be making the most of it. The lakes will only get better…

Tight Lines All!!

Ronan..

For bookings and information on guided fly fishing for the coming season, contact me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website Ronan’s Fly Fishing Missions

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You Should Winter Fish!

July 11th, 2016 No comments

I was chatting with a friend recently about the spawning season in NZ. After giving it a little thought we realised that taking both browns and rainbows into account the spawning season is at least 6 months long. I have certainly witnessed brown trout making redds in April and I have seen rainbows still in spawning mode when their season opens in November. This is good for us winter anglers! All fish don’t spawn at the same time so throughout the winter months we can target fish which are not in spawning mode. I have heard the question posed about the ethics of winter fishing. The answer is, as long as you’re an ethical angler it’s no problem. Personally, I avoid fish which are showing the signs of imminent spawning. To clarify; fish tightly paired up, fish on redds or fish making redds.

Winter is an exciting time to indulge in your sport. Fish congregate around river mouths providing some great opportunities for the winter angler. Sinking lines and streamers are usually the best bet here. Some rivers are open year round, on these rivers you can intercept fish on their spawning run. It’s possible to have summer quality sight fishing with nymphs in the dead of winter. Most lakes are open year round and because all fish don’t spawn together there are always fish to be caught. Benmore is a prime example of this, Dunstan too; both blind and sight fishing. Winter will test you and push you as a fisherman. To be very successful, you need to be able to cast a lot of weight from time to time. Fish are often sitting in deep runs and the only way to get down to them is with weighted flies, sometimes as much weight as you can manage! I have recently added Loon soft weight to my fly-vest on Chris Dore’s advise. This stuff is great! Even if you don’t have bombs in your fly box you can add some soft weight to virtually any fly and make it go down. It has often been the difference between catching and not catching for me this winter. Casting fast sinking fly-lines is another skill that winter fishing will teach you. Sometimes the only way to effectively fish a large river like the Clutha or a deep river mouth is with a di5 or even a di7. A stripping basket is important. I like to use 7 or 8 weight fly-rods for a lot of my winter fishing which keeps my finger on the pulse for when I need to fish with heavier gear abroad. Generally speaking, there is little need for sinking likes during the warmer 6 months of the year so winter provides a great training ground. Winter fishing in NZ, as long as you push yourself a bit, will make you a well rounded, better angler.

It’s been a great few weeks fishing with friends! I’ve had plenty days on the water; river and lake from boat and bank. The photo’s and their captions tell the stories. I hope you enjoy them..

I have plenty days available for guiding this July, please feel free to enquire about winter rates or if you have any questions about bookings for next season.

Tight Lines!

Ronan..    ronan@sexyloops.com

 

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A Great Season Ends With Exciting Prospects..

May 18th, 2015 No comments

Another river season has come to an end. Many rivers are still open in May but I find myself looking toward other options –  lakes, river mouths, the canals or possibly the West Coast. Prior to a recent mission to the canals I did a little research on surrounding lakes, tarns and rivers to see if any remained open in May. As it turned out, all were closed since April 30th but it gave me lots of new ideas for next season. I’m actually pretty excited about it. There are some spring creeks, tarns and rivers that I’ve never fished, new territory to explore and some of it is not too far away. That’s one of the amazing things about this country; waterways in abundance and always something new to check out if you make the time to explore. Try something new instead of the tried and trusted.

Mark Adamson, Robbie Mcphee and myself finished off the brown trout season with a 3 day mission on a river we all enjoy. The fish were difficult, not really looking at our offerings at all but we all managed a few fish. We had a fantastic hut to stay in and the craic between the 3 of us in the evenings was as good as the fishing. I had a bad cold to deal with and deal with it I did with a few hot whiskeys. Mark had a couple too just because they’re a great drink to warm up the bones after a cold day on the river. The story of our trip is told in the photos below.

The lakes in central are fishing well! Iza and I had a great trip there 2 weeks ago. We had plenty cruising rainbows to fish for in certain spots and browns in others. I got my fathers buzzers working on Benmore too which is always a pleasure. It’s a very underrated, or more to the point, unknown way to catch trout here in NZ. When they work, they really work!

Finally, Trevor Bourne, a long time sexylooper has just moved to Wanaka from the UK to build Epic fly rods for Carl Mcneil. you’ll be seeing more of him up here. An all round good bugger and great angler. Welcome Trevor! And Happy Birthday..

Tight lines.. Winter is not closed season, its just the winter season!

Ronan..

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