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Posts Tagged ‘NZ winter fishing’

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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The Possum and Marabou Streamer…

September 16th, 2017 No comments

A quick pre-prepared blog while on the road / wing! This winter I didn’t use any streamers but this one. It’s been excellent so I thought you might like to know the tying. It’s simple to tie as the pictures below show. I always try to design my flies to be as easy to tie as possible. I try to limit components and try not to add any complex procedures which take time. Parachutes in dry flies for example – waste of time. I’ve been tying this pattern with one or two 5mm tungsten beads depending on desired weight and more recently with the sculpin head. Initially I used the sculpin heads because I ran out of beads but after tying a few I wanted to tie more! They’re fun to tie and very effective. Have a play with this pattern. Try a multitude of possum / marabou colour combinations. Add sparkle or whatever takes your fancy. I just ordered lots more marabou colours and helmets to try more combinations.. The black and blue was deadly!

For guiding bookings and information see my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com or email me ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight Lines,

Ronan..

(ps, sorry the slide show is not in order! When I export the pics they get mixed up.. nothing I can do about it..)

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Come Hail, Rain or Snow…

May 28th, 2014 No comments

After a very wet week the river options for the weekend were virtually non-existent. It had to be a lake. There are lots to choose from but Mark and I decided on the Frankton arm on Lake Wakatipu. The forecast was for wind, rain (lots of rain) and snow. The Frankton arm is sheltered and even if it does blow up you’re never far from the shore, so with the forecast, it seemed like a safe bet. We picked up the Wakatipu Anglers Club boat and set off for a weekend afloat..

There are 3 main types of water to fish on Lake Wakatipu near Frankton.

1. Shallows, 3 to 6 foot of water.

2. Deeper water, about 6 to 10 foot.

3. Holes, gutters and drop-offs. 10foot plus..

For the first, I set up a rod with a clear intermediate line with a small possum streamer on it. For the 2nd and 3rd I set up the di7 with 11lb flouro and a Glister. The reason for the heavy tippet is the big fly (The Dore’s Mr Glister is quite big, I used a slender size 6), The reason for the big fly is simply to be noticed! A big fly will be seen by more fish in deep water. It may be the case that we got lots of refusals we don’t even know about using this method but I believe the law of averages will prevail and a good number of fish will attack / eat the fly.

As it turned out on day 1, the intermediate line was not used. I started catching fish on the first drift way out on the drop-off and reasonable action continued with the di7. Mark chose the di5 but didn’t get much action. It’s valuable to know that fast sinking lines are not just for fishing deep water. They fish shallower water very efficiently. There is no need to waste any time counting it down, just start stripping. This makes it an extremely versatile line, in that you can effectively fish 5 to 25 foot down without changing lines.

Mark had no luck on day 1 with the di5. He only had a few touches. Partly because he was not comfortable with his chosen rod but mainly because he was not getting down quick enough. I boated 7 with the di7. On day 2 Mark put on the di7 and changed to rod that suited him. We had 4 each. This proves the value of the right rod and line!

The next time I’m out there I have a method in mind to try out. I noticed lots of small smelt / fry in some of the fish. I’d like to tie a few weighted imitations and fish them on a floater or intermediate line. Figure of eight them very slowly over the weeds and wait for the takes. It has to work! I tried a similar method briefly on Sunday afternoon and I got one or 2. Also, there were lots of light brown caddis on the water over the weekend. There were a few fish moving on them on Sunday afternoon but not many. I know my father would have picked up a few with his double nymph rig!

Mark and myself had 2 excellent days afloat. The weather only made it better. The spray from the waves while motoring, the gusts, the cold, the rain, the snow, whatever! It did not matter because we had the clothing for it. It’s that simple!

I was hoping to fish some rivers during this month of May, but for one reason or another it didn’t happen, besides a fruitless few hours on the Clutha. This Saturday is my last chance to fish a river before the river season ends. We’ll see what happens! Wakatipu is calling me back too..

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Later folks..   Ronan..

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