Ronan's Report

The trees are about to explode into life right now. Some flowers are already blooming in the garden. In the next few days there’ll be a lot more. It’s an exciting time of year watching the cycle rotate again, I’m imagining the trout in the rivers are piling on condition already. In a month it will be all go again.

I was busy at home all winter with various jobs to improve our house. There was still time for some fishing though. Some days were good but the lakes seemed slow to fire up this year. Usually by August it’s very good locally but this year was a little quiet – at least was for me. September should be great on the lakes though – it always is.

Plenty time to stock up on flies for the coming season. You can check out my patterns over at Fulling Mill. Claret nymphs and hotspot nymphs are hard to beat for early season rivers. No harm to have a few streamers too for the high water days and a few 14 kiwi duns for the October hatches. I’m excited to have 4 great new patterns available in January.

Next season is pretty much full til April – which is a good time to fish here. Feel free to get in touch! ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

Peace. Ronan..

Between late April and now I fished with a few good friends. First up was Dan, it was good to spend time with him on the water hoping for some late season magic. It didn’t really happen on the river unfortunately but thats how it goes. Staying at Peters Farm Lodge in the Maniototo was a bit of a treat. A cozy, homely accommodation with plenty old character. Getting back there after a massive day on the river was just right. We cooked enough for 4 and to our surprise we ate it all. It really was a big day. We burned off whatever food we had and a lot more. A frosty start on day 2, we gave it our all again. I had a small stream in mind but it had virtually no flow. Things didn’t really go our way but it was still a solid couple of days. Fishing is certainly not all about catching! We did manage to scratch a few out over the couple of days though.

Myself and Jeff struggle to line up our fishing schedules these days. However, we managed a trip in May and one in June. Long overdue. We had 3 fishing days in all, one in May and 2 in June. On the May Day we tore up the lake in Jeff’s family boat to a distant river. $100 worth or petrol each way. 100hp 2 stroke engines, holy feck they’re thirsty.. It was worth it though. We got into quite a few gleaming, fighting fit rainbows on a perfect weather day in a spectacularly beautiful, wild environment. Not a person to be seen.

In June we went up to Mackenzie Country for a couple of lake days. Jeff towed his raft to give us more options. We booked into Buscot Station backpackers. A place I’ve been staying at for over 20 years now. Tony owns and runs the place. He can talk at length on any topic with genuine knowledge from both sides. It’s a pleasure to stay there. Having the craic with Tony, warm clean beds, interesting guests; it’s always a great stay. Jeff and I had 2 nights there. A perfect fishing base. Day 1 we fished on foot. We walked a lake edge for the day mostly sight fishing. I also picked up a couple blind fishing murky water. The best fish of the day was a cracking 6.5lber. Sight fished with one of dad’s deadly epoxy buzzers. Even if still water fish are not specifically feeding on midge pupa they nearly always recognise them as food making them one of the most deadly flies to fish on any still water at any time of year. On day 2 Jeff put his raft in. Same lake but today we had the ability to fish the water we couldn’t reach from the shore. We did well. Landed about 7 up to 5 or 6lbs ish. The best thing about the raft day was how it tied the whole section of lake together. We covered a lot of water and left no stone unturned. between the shore day and the day afloat we now have a really good understanding of that part of the lake. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so vast.

Most seasons I catch up with Dougal for a fish. We left it late this year but had a good day on a high country dam in mid may. We met at the Adventure Hub Cafe. A great spot for a coffee and a chat before venturing up to the lake. Dougal wanted to learn the lake so he brought his boat. This suited me. For a change I wasn’t the one towing or operating the boat. I was able to advise Dougal on the safe runs and areas to be careful in and where I found fish over the years. We’d pull up the boat and fish the shore in opposite directions working the rocky edges. Thats where the fish seem to be late season. We had lovely conditions. Light wind and cloud and plenty active fish. Small brown buggers in the light wind worked best. A great day and I took a couple for dinner.

Had a good day out with Conor for the first time in a few years. Guy also came along and Lochlan too. fishing was surprisingly slow but we all had some action. I think we needed some wind. No wind and full sun all day. Thats not always ideal late season. Lochlan lost 3 in about 10 minutes. He wasn’t bothered, thankfully.

I had a few good days guiding too. Great to see Brendan over for his late season visit. He landed some brutes of trout. Nice to take Chris out again after so many years. We had a day pre covid with 2 of his friends but this time he was back to get the full one on one fly casting / fishing experience. New to fly he did great over 2 days catching fish both days and really getting to grips with casting.

To check out my range of flies over on Fulling Mill click here. 4 new patterns coning next year. I’m looking forward to seeing them available. Next season is almost fully booked but there’s still a few gaps here and there. If you’d like to get in touch you can do so through my website or email ronan@sexyloops.com

Peace – wouldn’t that be nice. Ronan..

The season is winding down now with only a few more days booked in. I like this time of the season where I can step back and relax a little. Today I’ve spent some time at the tying desk trying to finalise a few more patterns for Fulling Mill. I’m almost there so hopefully I’ll have a few new patterns in next seasons catalog. Thinking about the season thats been; it was an amazing one for big fish. The best yet I’d say – and the cream of the crop are all in this blog. I like to see one elusive double figure fish each season. I usually do but not always. This season there were 3. They all have a great story.

Steve’s 12lber. Chris, Nick and myself were looking after Joe, Will and Steve for a week. We swapped around the guide / angler combo each day. It was an epic week of adventurous, full-on fishing. Lots of fun with a super crew. On the last day Steve and I were together. We arrived at the river at a respectable time but it was very busy with anglers on all the accesses. We killed time for a few hours fishing unproductive water and then went in behind another angler. He was a few hours ahead of us at this stage. We took our time as we moved up river. I just wanted to find one feeding fish. We found 2. The first wasn’t doing much but we persisted for about an hour. Steve made a few great shots to that fish but no joy. We continued slowly until another opportunity arose. A fish was cruising up and down a cut bank. It was generally hard to see him so we took a safe position well back to get a good read on his beat. He was cruising up and down about 50m of bank. On the first approach we went in my green cicada. Once the fish turned at the bottom of his beat we followed. Our approach was ultra cautious because he was hard to see – we were waiting on a rise to give his position away. The rise came – it was well up the beat so we chased, running up the bank with quiet footfalls. The fish was travelling up much faster than we initially thought. He came into view and slowed down at a choke point. This was our chance. Steve made a good shot and the fish came to the fly but rejected. “Reset” I said. We went back to the start, changed to the tussock cicada and tried again. We waited. The fish rose at the bottom of his beat and we could see him briefly as he turned to travel back up. Once again we chased quietly. Once again he slowed at the same choke point and Steve made another good shot. The fish came to the fly – put his nose on it – and rejected. This time he turned and quickly swam down river looking for us (they do that). We both tucked and rolled quietly away from the bank hoping he didn’t see us. We went back to the start again – reset. I was worried that he was spooked – he was certainly onto us. We waited. No sign. Eventually I decided we should move up a little. There he was, still rising on the upper part of his beat. This time we went in armed with Mcphails blowfly. We followed the fish as he approached the choke point. When he slowed down Steve put in another good shot and the fish swung out and confidently ate the blowfly. A well timed strike and it was all on. The fish was heavy and used his weight and power to bulldoze under the high bank. The rod tip was under water keeping the fish under control and away from the undercut. After a pretty stressful fight I got the net under the fish well downstream of where Steve hooked it. Relief, excitement, exhilaration. This was teamwork and we both played our parts. The tactics were right, the casts were good. A pursuit of happiness that neither of us will forget.

Marcus’s 12lber. By 5pm on day 2 we still didn’t have a fish in the net. On day one on this river system the conditions were terrible. Glaring light from white clouds. We could rarely see well and didn’t get any proper shots. Marcus did hook one on the blind but the leader broke somewhere in the middle of a 3x section. We have no idea why. We do know it was a big fish. Day 2 was crazy. So many things happened that I don’t think I can remember them in the correct order. Without going into too much detail I’ll give you a quick rundown of the day..

We broke in a very big fish early on through some really awful luck. We saw him. An incredibly fat lump of copper. That one hurt. Marcus was almost in tears. He tried to explain to me what he was feeling, “it’s called emotion, Marcus” I said. We laughed. We had multiple eats which just didn’t connect, then a loss – not all big but some were certainly top end. It got to the point that it felt like there was a higher power just saying “no, not today fellas”. We had landed a fish over 10lbs on the first day of the trip so we figured the fishing gods had decided that was enough for us – which we understood. We continued regardless. Then we had a fella fly his drone over to us and chase the trout we were fishing for around the pool. A karearea made a half attempt of attacking it. I wish he succeeded! The drone pilots camp was about a kilometre away. I roared politely to ask him to take his drone off the river. Thankfully he did although the damage was done. We got to the end of the beat by about 4pm. No fish. We walked back to the pool where we had most action. Fish were rising again, although cautiously. They were occasionally refusing real cicadas. We worked our way through the opportunities and hooked and landed 3 from 3. Truely incredible fish. 8.5, 9.5 and 12. All in about 45 minutes and all on my Highcountry Green Cicada. The condition of the first two fish was absolutely magnificent. I totally lost my shit with my Mcleans weigh net trying to weigh the second fish because all the increments wore off. Each time I’d try to count the increments the fish would jiggle as I got near the end – its was extra frustrating because it was so near the 10lb mark and I couldn’t tell if it was over it or under it. The quality of those nets is pretty crap these days. Must get a digital scale. Anyway, back to the fishing – had we landed even one fish during the day we would not have gone back to that pool. I think the fishing gods admired our persistence and paid us off in style. We were absolutely blown away. Especially to catch a 12lber. Fish this size are so rare in NZ, it’s hard for me to grasp that there’s 2 in this blog. Such a rollercoaster of emotions over the 2 days with Marcus. The highs of hooking a large brown on a dry followed by the devastation of a break or a loss. These are no ordinary fish, many would be considered a fish of a lifetime for most anglers, hence the heartbreak when we lose these beauties and the thrilling highs when we succeed.

Lots more to come from this season in my next blog – more big fish too. The pics below take me up to mid March. I limit each blog to about 60 images so that it’s easy to see them all without getting too bored! Still some gaps next season if the USI don’t bring us to WW3. You can contact me on ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

To see my flies over on Fulling Mill click here.

To quote Kurt Cobain, “Peace, Love, Empathy”.. Ronan..

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tight Lines, Ronan..

What a month October was. After a dry winter, the rain came with a vengeance in September. By October most rivers were too full and dirty to fish. My policy is to never cancel because there’s always somewhere to fish regardless of past or present weather – and there is! But I can tell you, I was stretched at times in the last month. It became a game of watching online river flows like a hawk. Waiting for gaps between rain events and snowmelt. The latter is so hard to gauge. I’d check the flow late in the evening and it’s looking positive, check again in the morning and it’s jumped 2 cumecs but there’s been no rain.. feckin snowmelt. Sometimes I could successfully get in and fish a section of river before it was blown again the next day – these were the wins!

Another challenge was the state of the 4×4 tracks to get to some of the locations I fish when the shit hits the fan. Holes, ruts, washouts, river crossings etc.. “thanks for the four wheel driving extravaganza” one client said. 4x4ing is usually a relatively small a part of this game but in the last month it was almost a daily occurrence. I had to use my rear locker and low range on multiple occasions during October. The vehicle took some abuse but thankfully I was never stuck for too long. I think only one flat tire for the month was pretty good going. Having had a triple locked 80 series Land Cruiser for 9 years I was a bit spoiled with off road capability but so far I’m loving the Hilux. I’d like some more clearance but besides that I’m very happy with it..

With all the challenges came a few blank days but also some incredible fishing. Most notable was the number of very big trout. I’ve always liked October for big trout and the one just gone has been one of the best I’ve had. Big fish for clients and a few for me too. No doubles though, but there’s plenty time to search out one of those!

I do like when the weather doesn’t cooperate if I’m being honest – although, not as much as the month just gone! I like being pushed onto still waters with clients who’d normally prefer rivers. It gives me an opportunity to show them just how good still waters can be. It also adds locations to my repertoire which helps keep it interesting for me and my clients. Most of my regular clients are now more than happy with either river or still-water, whichever makes most sense on the day, regardless of the weather. The lakes really shouldn’t be a back-up plan, for me they’re a legit option on any day.

With all the flood water around for the last month I have barely seen my local rivers, so I’m looking forward to that. Hopefully the flood damage is minimal. With floods increasing in regularity and vigour some local water can become unrecognisable after a big flood. This one seems like a prolonged flood more than a big one so hopefully no damage will be done. Time will tell.

For the flies that did the damage all month you can check them out here.. For bookings or enquiries you can contact me on ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

No end to the list of war crimes and atrocities from Israel. The plight of the Palestinians is never far from my thoughts… but the world just watches a live holocaust unfolding…

Tight Lines, Ronan..

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

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

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

Tight lines and Free Palestine.. Ronan..

Typical of this time of year, it’s hard to make time to write! There’s more photos than I generally add but I hope you can make the time to enjoy them. They tell the story of a busy month of fishing and guiding.

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot more lately is barbless hooks. It seems crazy that it’s taken me this long to really start moving away from barbed hooks. I was never too concerned about the barb. What I always told people was that I don’t have any trouble removing barbed hooks. This is true. The part that has always bothered me is breaking in a trout with a barbed hook left in his mouth, but it never bothered me enough to fish barbless. Now it does bother me enough. There’s a great relief breaking in a fish knowing the hook is barbless. There’ll be minimal stress on the fish since he’ll easily shake it free. I often heard that trout can dissolve a barbed hook quite quickly. I wonder if that is true? I should google it! The silly thing is I always knew that I’d loose feck all fish by going barbless. It only takes a second to crush the barb or better still, tie on barbless hooks to begin with. My range of flies with Fulling Mill are barbed so this is something I may look at changing in the future.

I had a solid month of guiding starting with Brendan and Dave. As usual for these two the rain came and blew out the rivers – it happens every time! We managed the fist day on a local river before they all blew out completely. Luckily, both of them love the lakes and we had some brilliant and varied still-water fishing with epoxy buzzers playing a very important role.

Next up was Tim and his brother Graeme. Great craic as always with the bros! Just about every fish was 5lbs. A very enjoyable few days.

Late in the month I had a new client. A man who knows my father quite well and fishes with him a lot back home. I also met him 25 years ago when I looked after the Inagh fishery for a season. His name is Jack Meredith. A very experienced angler who’s chased salmonids all over the world. I was delighted to show him around my area for a week. We mixed it up with local streams and rivers, backcountry fly-ins and highcountry dams. It was no surprise to me that the dams got under his skin. Anyone who fishes Irish loughs will have a head-start in understanding these special places, which are not for everyone. The fishing was very tough on the dams – but that’s not a bad thing. It just means you have to dig deep, fish to the conditions and persist – then enjoy the beautiful reward if you get one. Jack was not going to come back to the South Island after having a terrible experience a number of years ago. His guide didn’t know where he was going or what he was doing and spooked every fish in the river. I glad he changed his mind. I’m looking forward to next time.

A quick note about buzzer fishing (aka chironomid). This season and last season I’ve noticed a huge increase in buzzer numbers in many of the the lakes I fish and some rivers. On still-water days when fish have been hard, switching to a buzzer, usually epoxied, regularly made all the difference. I didn’t have a huge stock to begin with but my father can tie these in his sleep! One the phone one evening I asked him to send me a few which he did. Now I’m well armed with flies for these increasingly important tactics. Dad’s buzzers are particularly good too.

I’m very happy to say that my Fulling Mill patterns are now available in the new Patagonia shop in Queenstown. If you don’t live near Queenstown you can still order them online. They’re pretty much the only patterns I use. Check them out here.

Next season is just starting to fill up. Feel free to get in touch to make a booking or to chat about options. You can check out my website or email me ronan@sexyloops.com.

That’s all for now. Hopefully Decembers report will have a more user-friendly amount of photos. Tight Lines! Ronan..

This has been a real winter. One of the harshest I’ve been here for. Lots of wind, rain, frost and snow – so different to the mild winter last year. Usually by July the fishing on the lakes starts to improve, but this year it took a lot longer. Locally, the lake fishing only picked up earlier this month. Mackenzie Country a little earlier in August. There were always a few fish to be caught but they took more persistence and some were on the lean side. I really don’t mind not catching many fish in a day – or any for that matter. I enjoy the search, trying to figure it out, working hard to put it together. It is a bit a kick in the balls when I can’t figure it out but this is part of continuing to learn – or adjusting what I already know – or think I know! Afterwards, I’ll consider what I might have missed and think about what I’ll try next time. There were days this winter when the fish really seemed “off”… like there was little or nothing I could do to drag out a result.

I have my parents here at the moment so dad and I are fishing most days. This is exactly what I need after a tough few months of colds, flus and covid in the family – and a bad injury to recover from after a dog bit my face. The fishing has been excellent so far – mainly because we have my boat to make the most of the lakes. More about this in my next blog as I haven’t downloaded any photos yet! We’re heading north tomorrow for a few days and then the rivers will open again on October 1. So, I have a very full on 5 weeks of fishing ahead with dad and then guiding kicks off full bore in November. Happy times! The rivers are looking good now after being high and dirty for much of the last few months..

This is a good time to stock up on nymphs, dries and streamers for the coming season. Some of my most successful patterns are available on Fulling Mill. They’re all designed for the NZ fishery and well tested!! I’m very happy to say that I’ll have 7 more patterns available next year.

Still a gap or 2 in the coming season if you’d like to book some guided fly fishing. Contact me – ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

Tight lines all and enjoy the new season! Ronan..

I never seem to have enough buggers. They’ve always been a fly which I tie the night before a trip, so at best, I’ll have 6 nice ones in my box – but I’ve often been reduced thrashed old shite. They’re such a useful fly and can be fished anywhere, so finally, I bit the bullet and set out to tie a box of them. Although, initially that wasn’t my intention – I started by tying a few for a friend, then a few for me – then, when a bad cold went through the house, I found myself with time to tie and a new fly-box to fill. What I ended up with was a box of about 120 buggers from size 12 with 2.4mm beads up to size 6 with 4.6mm beads – all on Fulling Mill Competition Heavyweight hooks. I generally like to avoid starkly contrasting colours but since I was tying a comprehensive collection I tied a bit of everything. They’re all tied with possum bodies and marabou tails. I’ve been using this combination for many years now and I find it to be excellent. Rabbit is also very good in the body, but years ago I lucked onto a load of possum in lots of colours and that’s really what set this combination in stone – I had lots of it, and it worked. I don’t add much bling or rubber legs, just one or two strands of flashy stuff on each side or none at all. Of course they’re far from the original pattern. No chenille, no palmered hackle but if a fly has a marabou tail then it’s in the bugger family.

Last weekend I put them to the test. Myself and Brayden went to Mackenzie Country for a couple of days on the lakes – both of us trying to shake off a cold. Day one would have been good but there were 5 other anglers on the lake which made it harder to find good water. We got a few fish none the less, we just had to work a bit harder to get them. The scenery was really spectacular though. In winter, the snow really shows you just how big and dramatic these mountainous valleys are. My eyes were regularly taken off the water to enjoy the scenes. At the end of the day a couple of hot whiskeys were most welcome!

Day 2 – Fog! The fog never left the water all day. This was a bit frustrating because the skies were clear above it and sun was trying unsuccessfully to break through all day. There were a few fish cruising the edges in the morning but they were just hard enough to see to make them very difficult to approach. We worked hard to land a couple for the day and we covered lots of lake edge to get them. June on the lakes is generally hard because the majority of fish are up the rivers spawning. I don’t mind that it’s tough. There are still enough fish about to make for a good days fishing and I can’t wait to get back up there.. The new buggers did their thing anyway! I lost a couple but replaced them yesterday..

I still have a heap of photos from local fishing over the winter to date but they’ll have to wait for the next blog. It’s just too many photos otherwise!

If you’d like to get in touch about guided fishing over winter or next season please get in touch! ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website. Tight Lines, Ronan..

Link to my fly patterns on Fulling Mill here – and a link to my latest article for the fulling mill blog here -Winter in New Zealand.

From about mid July, trout start repopulating the lakes in large numbers. Spawning for most browns and many rainbows has finished. This is a great time to fish the lakes. The trout are keen to pile on condition, so the fishing can be superb. You’ll pick up some skinny fish but it’s quite amazing just how good the condition is on the vast majority of these winter fish. I’ve been out quite a bit making the most of it. When conditions permit, I’ve had some great sight fishing along the edges. When the wind has been up, my possum & marabou buggers have been doing really well. I’ve been fishing another method too. Something new for me.

This method is simple. I have fished it before but never quite like my current approach to it. It’s a dry / dropper rig fished blind – okay, so nothing new there – but for me there is. Normally when the wind gets up and I can’t sight the edges I turn to a bugger or small streamer. I love this method so it was hard for me to change. I always thought that nymphs fished blind under a dry in the wind would work. In fact, I knew it would work, but would it be better than buggers or streamers? Probably not – but maybe. Recently – finally – I put it to the test, both shore based and drifting. Like any blind fishing, it’s not just chuck and chance. I’m always looking for structure, contrast, weed beds, sand patches etc. The trick is to cover as much likely water as possible, as efficiently as possible. so, while drifting for example, I fish a relatively short line. Long enough so that fish near the fly won’t see the boat. Keeping it short gives me the great advantage of being able to pick it up and lay it down with just one false cast. Speed can be key here. 3 or 4 false casts and you might drift past a good weed patch, or spook fish by carrying too much line for too long. I don’t leave the fly sitting for long. About 10 to 20 seconds, then pick it up an place it somewhere else. I’m always aware of the speed of the drift versus the water I want to cover. A drogue is on the cards. It’s a very involved way to fish. It requires focus because you must have your fly in likely water all the time to stack the odds in your favour. Thats what blind fishing is come to think of it. I’ve mainly been fishing 2 to 4 feet of water with this method. At this depth I know I can get my fly to “likely trout cruising depth” quickly. I’ve been using my size 14 dark nymphs with a 2mm bead to suit this depth, but there’s loads of scope to take it further. Bigger, more buoyant dries holding heavier mymphs on longer droppers for deeper water. maybe more than one nymph? This method really suits boat fishing because you can find large expances of ideal water and work it. Thats not generally as easy from the bank but it’s a good tactic on the shore too. The advantage of the dry fly indicator over direct nymphing is the static or sinking presentation and the indication to strike. Typical to most methods, I’ve had days where everything sticks and days where I lost a lot of fish.

To weigh it up against bugger fishing – you’ll cover more fish with buggers but they won’t all eat. You’ll cover fewer fish with this dry / dropper method but more will eat (in my opinion!) I think the only way to test it is to fish against Jeff Forsee on buggers while I use the dry dropper. That said it, the dry / dropper method suits both anglers fishing it because bugger fishing is quite dispuptive even to the water outside the anglers focus. There would have to be some rules to give both methods equal footing. I’m sure Jeff will be keen! (We would have been out there doing it yesterday only for this feckin lockdown – which I fully agree with!)

Guiding through winter has been quiet which is pretty normal. However, my now regular client, Bill was down a few times. We had good fishing, mixing it up with sight and blind fishing on a number of lakes and working on casting. While up in Mackenzie country we had an encounter with an absolute monster. Sighted on a lake edge. I’d say 12lbs plus. I don’t think canal fish can get in to this lake, so that was a genuine monster. He was hovering with his dorsal just poking out. One good cast from Bill and the trout violently spooked, shifting a lot of water. I’m itching to get back! That was certainly a fish of a lifetime and I want to catch it.

In other news, I’ve been using my green boat a bit lately. She still has no name! I totally misjudged it as a boat. I thought it was too heavy for fishing shallows and only good for cruising with the family. To my delight, It’s great to fish from and drifts like a dream. Ideal for one but fine for two too. Wesley was out with me recently and he found it really easy and comfortable to fish from the hatch opening. It works like a lean bar whichever way we drift, so I don’t need to mount a casting deck on the bow – though I might anyway! It’s a very versatile boat. Easy to tow and launch, very economical with a 15hp 4 stroke Evinrude – clips along nicely with that, drifts well and easy to cast from with nothing for flyline to wrap around (well, almost nothing). The other big advantage is the cabin. It will keep any amount of gear dry and out of the weather and there room for me to sleep in it. I’m really looking forward to the future with this boat. Some of you may remember Daltona. She’s still in the workshop and the renovation is moving forward very slowly. I will get there!

I wrote a piece for Fulling Mill lately about my top 10 trout for the 20 – 21 season. Here is a link to it. Some great trout in there and a brief recap on each one.

If you’d like to get in touch about guided fishing this season or next please do. Strange times but it costs nothing to have a chat! Email me at ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

Tight Lines, Ronan..