Ronan's Report

Mark and I went to Te Anau as planned but chose the wrong river to fish for 3 reasons.

1. We fished Saturday and Sunday, The busiest days on any river. On Saturday we were too late to the river to get the best water even though Mark left Dunedin at 5am! On Sunday we were too late to the river because we drank too many pints in the Redcliff on Saturday night.. I think I had some whisky too… Bad idea!

2. The fish in the part of the river we fished hadn’t settled back into their normal routine after a flood a week or so ago. They seemed non existent but I’m pretty sure they were there. To compound it, sighting conditions were terrible on Sunday.

3. The Norwester.

We still managed a few fish but it was a frustrating weekend fishing.

More soon!

Ronan..

The weather has been shithouse as they say over here for the passed while. Some serious gales (blowing the roof off our neighbours house, over ours and landing on another neighbours house!) and torrential rain blowing out all the rivers. Perfect blue sky days were regular enough but most rivers were too high and coloured to fish. I had some great fishing  before the weather broke with Chris Dore (NZ’s #1 guide!!) and Fraser Hocks. We had many fish in the 2-4lb bracket on small nymphs not too far from Queenstown. It’s important not to give away exact locations. There’s plenty water for everyone so there’s no point putting undue pressure on the specific rivers. Explore. It’s more fun anyway!

I had some very enjoyable lake edge fishing near Glenorchy targeting cruising browns with woolly buggers in shallow water. Spot the fish, leave the fly lifeless on the bottom and strip it away when the fish is in attacking range. The result is a manic chase usually ending in a strike. Fun.

Tomorrow Mark Adamson and I are heading towards Te Anau where any amount of water awaits. The Redcliff also awaits… My joint number one bar in the world!

Happy Halloween!

Ronan..