The season so far has been pretty flipin’ amazing! It feels like every day is a blue sky day. Rivers are low and clear and the fishing has been top notch. The winds have been light and favourable most days so there are really no excuses not to be out there reaping the rewards. So far the rivers are reasonably full but that will change if this dry weather keeps up. I have noticed a few rivers like wading in bath water of late – sooner or later the fish will shut down considerably if we don’t get an occasional fresh or cold night! Right now it’s all on, so we’ll just deal with the downsides of this hot summer if or when they present.
I have made some time to fish myself since my last blog – indeed I landed my joint second biggest brown ever at 11.5lbs but more about that in the next blog. This report is about guiding! It’s going well. I’ve been busy and really enjoying it. Most of my fishing addiction is satisfied from guiding so that makes it easy to get up in the morning. The pictures below tell the story since my last blog pretty well, but I want to tell one myself. I was on a 4 day road-trip with a 3 day wilderness heli trip straight after it. I really wanted a day off to prepare and organise but couldn’t make it happen. Planning on the road is not easy! I was bouncing a few ideas back and forth in my head, I called a few mates for some opinions, a few emails to the heli companies I like to use.. Finally, the night before the trip, the plan was made. The brief from my client was around something that I would get excited about doing myself. Well, that would have to include some adventure, some unknown. The plan was to fly to the bottom of a gorge, fish hard for 3 days then chopper out from the top. I was familiar with the bottom and the top but the upper middle bit I knew nothing about. There is something about fishing in a gorge that excites me. There is some risk involved, it’s easy to get bluffed making it necessary to climb out and drop back in. You never know what you’re going to get from extreme terrain to monster trout. Proper gorge fishing is not for the faint hearted.
Day 1. The fishing started in an uncanny way. Marks first retrieve of his first cast connected his streamer to a 5lb rainbow. Instant action! Quite unbelievable. The day was pretty easy going but really good. 8 fish landed and the river was getting more exciting as we advanced. We spent the first night in a backcountry hut with steak, spuds, beans and beers. Luxury! Day 2 was different. I knew that to get through the gorge we needed to go hard on day 2. We threw on the packs at 7.30am and didn’t stop fishing till 6pm. As with day 1, the gorge got more and more exciting and interesting as we progressed. Some bush bashing became necessary and an odd climb out, all adding to the sense of adventure – but it was real adventure because neither of us had been there before! The fishing was excellent. The only thing we didn’t find was a large brown or rainbow. I thought we might find one in there somewhere. That said, we did have one follow the streamer of about 6lbs which certainly qualifies as big – just not really big! The gorge was stunning. Lots of pools; many deep and blue, incredible cliffs, rock formations and waterfalls. At the end of the day we pitched the tents and tucked into a simple dehydrated Backcountry meal. Mine was shite. I did carry in a bottle of red in a plastic bottle making it a bit more palatable! The bottle of red was no match for the sandflies however. They were almost as bad as I’ve experienced! By the end of day 2 I reckoned we had gotten through most of the gorge. I didn’t know for sure how far it was to the top flat but I did know we’d make it there easily over day 3. On the morning of day 3 came the tightest part of the gorge. Totally surrounded by beech forrest on both banks. The banks were so steep that little sunlight ever made it through to the river. The fish didn’t mind, they were in there and still happy to eat our presentations. We pushed on, both of us quietly excited about getting out of the gorge and onto the flat back into the sun! Before too long we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It was about lunchtime on day 3 that we made it out of the gorge. The whole thing was a great experience, as much for me as for Mark. For me it was more about the place than fishing (not because I wasn’t fishing!). The thrill of walking up on a pool I had never seen before, seeing whats around the bend, learning the unknown. For Mark I’m guessing it was both in equal parts. With the remaining few hours we clocked up the tally to 33 trout over the 3 days before the helicopter came to take us back to base. After the drive home I was fecked!
Many thanks to everyone I guided since my last blog! It’s been a pleasure.
Tight Lines, Ronan..
There are quite a few days available over the rest of the season. Drop me an email if you’d like to book ronan@sexyloops.com, or visit my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com
ps. I’m taking the latter half of the month off for paternity leave! Hopefully I timed it right. Iza certainly looks like she could pop at any moment! Exciting times, thats for sure!
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Day one with Lindy and AJ.. With lots of high water around after a night of rain, we were happy to find clear water and feeding rainbows.
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Lunch!
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AJ lost made the fish eat but no hook up! A total beginner, he did well to land one. Lindy had a few..
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Nice water..
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Day 2, Just Lindy today. Plenty fish about and perfect weather. Things conspired against us for most of the day but in the end Lindy triumphed with 2 fish!
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Blue top Otago day!
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Into the first one..
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A great battle from a sizeable brown..
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Nice view between fish!
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And the second..
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Out with Neville for a day trip!
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He landed 3 or 4, this was the best!
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blind fishing was the order of the day with low light..
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This from the drop-off in previous pic..
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A wee fallow in the trees!
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The backcountry with Matt.
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A personal best! A top end NZ brown..
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Just beautiful..
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We saw quite a few but they were very finicky indeed!
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Fish number 3..
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Stunning!
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Danita into the best fish over two days!
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A super fish.. A total beginner, she did very well to land this on 5x!
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Ken into another..
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Ken did well over two days..
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On a very tough day Nick did well!
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Father and sons!
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Making the lunches!
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The beginning of 4 days with Brendan and David..
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Here David demonstrates how not to hold a trout! Part of my daily tasks often include teaching people how to hold fish properly for a photo. It’s time sensitive so sometimes you simply can’t get the shot!
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Fishing to a fish on the edge.. which David got after many casts.
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The grip and grin! Okay, its used to death but its the quickest way to capture the moment and get the fish back with minimal stress.
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A possible seatrout for David..
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Day 2. Rock scissors paper for the first shot!
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Brendan lines one up..
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David with a cracker..
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The fish of the trip..
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..utter perfection!
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Quite an amazing day! Lady luck was against us til about 2 pm, after that the lads landed 6 crackers!
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David’s “grip and grin” is improving! 😀
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Back he goes..
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The end of the day! We were back in the truck as the rain came..
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Day 3. Mostly blind fishing for a mix of browns and bows..
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Another great day!
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Not as big as days 1 and 2 but superb fighters and plenty to the net..
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Great condition..
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Day 4. Heli day!
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Off to the wilderness..
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In transit..
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Ready to rock!
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Stunning place!
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It didn’t take long for some super fishing to begin!
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Plenty fish including some super conditioned bows..
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Heli fishing was great on this day, but jumping in a chopper offers no guarantees!
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Happy angler!
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This November has been simply amazing!
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Fish of the day for Brendan! Tank!!
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Keep pushing up river!
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At the end of the day we get to high ground to chat to some friends who had walked in. We met on the river and after a quick discussion we formulated a plan for everyone to have a great day. We all did! Good ethics on the river are essential with rising pressure, even in the wilderness.
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Time to go home.. 30 trout to over 7lbs in 4 days! Neither of these fella’s fish lots but they practice their casting. Time well spent because thats the reason they nailed it!
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Scouting out some water from the air..
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Loving the view from the R44..
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Almost back to earth.. 4 great days in top company! 30 trout to the net.
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The beginning of 3 days in the backcountry with Mark..
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Hope we didn’t forget anything!
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Literally the first pull of the first cast of the trip and into a 5lb rainbow!
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Off down the run..
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Landed! off the mark..
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I expected day one to be a little slow but it wasn’t! We landed lots..
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The river got more and more interesting as we got father and farther up..
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The last pool of day 1. Super day!
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Steak, spuds, beans and beer for dinner!
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Mark enjoying my cooking.. well he said he did!!
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Time for a large beer!
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Clean, clear water..
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3 days on one river means you can push hard and really learn it and explore it.
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Fishing with packs on! Here were following a fish down the run..
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Likely water..
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It pays to stop and take it all in on a regular basis!
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Mostly sight fishing but the some pools screamed out for a streamer!
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Flowers.
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Lots and lots of pools..
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The river is getting more gorgy as we advance upstream.
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This fish heading to a log jam.. We stopped him before he got there!
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A super pool. One fish checked out a streamer but no eat..
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Well in the gorge at the end of day 2.
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More scrambling and some bush bashing required!
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A fish at camp!
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Living in the forests!
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The fire is a must!
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Boots off..
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we wont have to put on wet socks in the morning..
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The sandflies were brutal!
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Day 3. Good morning!
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Waterfall!
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One must be fit and agile to succeed in places like this..
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One for the streamer..
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Deep in the gorge..
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A long straight with trees on both banks..
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We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.. we must be nearing the end of the gorge!
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Looking back into the gorge..
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..and up onto the flat.
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Plenty of these on day 3. This one was netted as the chopper came for us!
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3 amazing days in true wilderness. Much of it I had never seen before! 33 fish landed in total. Fair to say we nailed it!
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Day 1 with Julian and Bryan..
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Total beginner to fly casting, Julian, with his first trout!
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Bryan did well as usual landing 5.
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Number 2 for Julian. He took to casting very well!
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Day 2. We found a good number of big trout but unfortunately we blanked! Opportunities were given but in this game one must be prepared to blank!
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Stunning water.. There were 2 fish moving around here..
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Last pool! After walking back to the truck there was a fish feeding there. Bryan made the perfect cast, the fish ate, rod came up slack. You’ll have days like that!