Ronan's Report

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

A birthday beer for Robbie (and me) he just turned 43.

Ed Lamont with one of 2 after a 2 hour refresher casting lesson.

Ed with a bow and arrow...

A great day to be guiding!

After a rookie mistake misreading the weather in the morning, I ended up having a great day landing 6. This was the best, just under 7lbs.

This was the probably the nicest. All day I had a tough time finding a good place for the camera with the ten second timer.

Iza and I had a great time on the river yesterday. She landed the best fish of the day! Stunning.. Nice fish too!! :D

These few pics of mark and I from winter! Lunch!!

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Up the Clutha in the Wakatipu Anglers Club boat...

Then the a Clutha braid, no fish but I did rescue Marks hat!

The Lowburn Inlet saved the day.. as it often does!

I found a brazier on the river recently so now I can have campfires at home.. Modern technology!! I think this was my birthday party!

Size 12, Kamasan B175, 3.5mm tungsten bead.

Breakfast for Camo-Guy and I before we hit the Clutha..

Guy and I..

Into a wee one!

Had a couple of these, then off to the lake..

Guy working on a number of rising fish..

And he's in!

Guy hooked 4 of these and landed 2..

Then home for dinner.. Iza cooks up a feast!

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Enjoying my portable campfire!

Iv'e been having heaps of success using Stu's Superior Flies..

This is one of Stu's slender, weighted nymphs. I was able to target trout cruising 10 - 12' down using these on a long fine tippet.

perfection!

If you're passing Stu's Fly Shop, grab a few of these!

Mission to the Coast!

Not a touch all morning but lunch was great! Bacon, beans and eggs! Hard to beat.. (pun not intended!)

The whitebaiters weren't catching any so no surprise there were no trout around..

Fish or no fish, Iza and I both love the coast!

Finally! After about 9 hours fishing a Kahawai for dinner! We forgot the chicken so this fish was very welcome..

The surf rolls in..

A perfect sized Kahawai for 2. Filleted in the last of the sunlight..

A perfect sized Kahawai for 2. Filleted in the last of the sunlight..

The West Coast is a great place to camp and I hope it always will be!

A pan full of Kahawai.. We had it with spuds cooked in chilli and lime.. Dam good!

With full bellies, time to relax!

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It was time to put my name on the Canal Big Fish Board! 18.5lbs on a Dore's Mr Glister. He was a while coming!

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The work truck is all spruced up for my guiding season ahead!

Here's a dozen of my size 16, Kamasan B175, 2mm tungsten bead nymphs..

A couple of Stu's terrestrials..

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One of Stu's cdc mayflies.. It has already proved successful on Oct 1st!

A dozen size 14s, a little sparkle can help in coloured water..

My standard dry.. Basically its always the same. I play around with different bodies and colours but the form remains the same. I design my flies to catch fish and to be very easy and quick to tie. This is also great at holding up tungsten nymphs. Any size, any body, any colour deer hair, any post.

A great selection from myself, Manic Tackle Project and Stu's Superior Flies.

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Tim Proctor into one on opening day.

A good start to the season!

After getting rudely jumped on our chosen river, we went to plan B. A small stream. we saw 5, hooked 3 and landed one.

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My first of the season! High, coloured water but the streamer did the business.

That's Robbie down there. Very few fish out but a beautiful place to be!

Plenty fish about too, although we had to cover a lot of river to find them..

Day 2 with Robbie Mcphee.. Perfect weather!

Fit as fiddles every one!

Robbie into another..

A healthy brown..

We had 13 between us for the day, Fantastic fun! I love October!!

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/

Myself, Nico and Oisin.. Oisin just bought himself a fly rod so you'll be seeing him from time to time! I Like how his beard matches his hat! Nico is armed with a fly rod now too.. Team Ireland!

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When I tell a non angler that I’m a fly-fisherman their reply is often “oh, I wouldn’t have the patience for that”. I tell them that patience is not necessary and I use myself as an example. I’m impatient and always have been. If I’m not catching then I move, I change tactics, I look, I think, I will persist until I get it right and if I get bored in the mean time then I go home (this has barely ever happened). If I was patient then I might stay in the same place doing the same thing all day. This might work at some stage but by changing and adapting based on what I can see in front of me and feel instinctively I believe I will do better. This ability, if you want to call it that, is driven by a hunger to catch and coached by impatience. I’d rather not wait for it to happen!

On Saturday I planned to fish one of the canals in Central for a monster trout. My friend Kevin Alexander had a 25lber the week before so I loosely planned to spend the day chasing one. The canal was pretty high and coloured, The wind was very strong and getting stronger, I saw no fish, I fished blind for a while but never felt like I had a chance so I changed tactics. I went somewhere else entirely, somewhere I had never fished before and knew absolutely nothing about. So much for my day on the canals!! It was worth moving however. Impatience is a virtue.

Ronan..

ps. Thanks to all my new subscribers! I hope you all enjoy the season ahead through my eyes as well as your own. If you haven’t signed up yet the link is on the top right hand side of your screen. The more the merrier!