Ronan's Report

I’ve know Bob since my first visit to NZ in 2002, I actually met him a year or two before at his home in the US. He cooked dinner for us. A New York Strip I recall. A very memorable steak! Bob is now 82. My annual brief is to help him catch a trout on his birthday or he jokingly (I hope) reckons he wont be around for his next birthday. No pressure or anything!! To relieve some of the pressure we have 2 days to catch the fish because it’s still his birthday in the US the following day. To add a little pressure the trout must be caught on a dry. We’ve succeeded in our quest for the last 3 years and I hope we can keep it going for another 23! This year we had one heli day into a beautiful wilderness river and a day with our mutual friend Camo Guy in his boat. Both days we were successful on dries and the weather was great – unlike last year. Cheers Bob! Bring on the next one..

I remember fishing with Alun earlier in the season. We were having a good day. Fish were out and Alun was doing well. We got to a spot where we could see a fish on station. He wasn’t doing much but he was moving to eat now and again. Alun covered him a few times. He looked at the dry once but surprisingly never moved to the nymph. After a number of casts Alun gave me the rod to have a go. I sent in a cast and the trout moved right up to take the dry but refused last moment.. my dry / nymph continued to drift. As I was about to take it out to recast, 2 fish cruised up from a dark, deep pool below. I left my flies drifting.. they perfectly intercepted one of them which ate my nymph and I landed a lovely 5lb seatrout. A bonus, lucky fish. I was not complaining. After this I gave Alun back his rod and he had another cast to the original fish. Up he came and nailed the dry! A nice scenario from a great season.

The weather for this entire level 4 lockdown period has been flippin unbelievable. Blue skies and light wind just about every day. There is a chance we’ll drop back to level 3 in a week, in which case fishing will be allowed again. Personally I don’t think we should rush to level 3 but if we do drop back I’ll certainly be making the most of the last few days of the brown trout season. If not, there’s plenty fishing in winter whenever we do get to level 3, some of the best of the year actually. I’m missing the water, thats for sure, but I’m happy to wait for the greater good – not that I can harm myself or anybody else by fishing alone but that’s not the point..

Some nice images below from the season pre-lockdown. I hope you all enjoy them.. Also a link to a short film by a mutual client of myself and Jeff Forsee. It’s from a recent trip with his friend Matt. Thanks Pat! Here it is..

Let me know if you’d like to book a trip next season. No deposit necessary until the travel ban is lifted. Visit my website or email me ronan@sexyloops.com

Tight Lines, Ronan..

I had fished the river once on a southbound mission on the West Coast with Paul. We had just finished fishing and filming an epic journey to one of the most remote rivers in NZ (http://globalflyfisher.com/video/revolution) and the 8 days that followed were fishless.. including the day on this river. So, I knew about it. I knew it could be good but in my limited experience on it it wasn’t. I had no idea where I fished it all those years ago. I looked on the map and picked a random access. Down the road Iza and I went, through a gate, crossed a creek and to the river. I took a stroll 100m up river and saw 3 trout which I didn’t catch. This reminded me of the difficult fishing I had that day while Paul was writing a front page for Sexyloops.. I though that was what we were in for the following day. I prepared myself for difficult fish but it turned out that they were not that tough at all. We had a ball!

Here are the best pics from our northbound trip up the coast in early Jan.. I’m way behind on my blog! I might just have to omit the last month to catch up.. but some great things happened up to 9lbs… well, 8.75!

Ronan..

Ship Creek, Just north of Haast. No doubt it holds a fish or two!

The fish were as pretty as the river..

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Kayaking on the Okarito lagoon, we explored some little creeks.

..this river will do!

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This was one of the prettiest of the trip!

On up the coast and time to cast a fly..

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These release shots highlight the clarity of the water..

Some of the monster browns feeding on salmon pellets at the Paringa salmon farm..

Fox Glacier..

Lunch..

I had some time to snap a few shots of these little fella's. NZ natives. Whitebait or inanga I think.

They were not too bothered by our presence..

West Coast trip with Iza, Jan 2015 160_1024x768

I took lots to get a few decent pictures..

West Coast trip with Iza, Jan 2015 154_1024x768

West Coast trip with Iza, Jan 2015 163_1024x768

Hello!

West Coast trip with Iza, Jan 2015 164_1024x768

This was the heaviest of the trip at 5.5lbs..

Iza is improving all the time, getting a fish or 2 on most outings..

And another river.. This one was simply stunning with water as clear as I've seen!

Some really perfect, fit, fat fish about.. This one has an unusual elongated spot..

This one a little darker.. Nymphs and dries both working but most taking the nymph..

The truck doubled as a drying rack at the end of the day!

Back she goes..

The river was alive with nymphs and trout!

The fattest!!

Not too far up, Iza hooked 3 from this ideal riffle!

Strong little beauties they were..

West Coast trip with Iza, Jan 2015 297_1024x768

This lovely river flowed along the edge of farm and forest.

This huge dragonfly was about 90mm long!

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In again!

A neat cast followed by this reward!

Freedom!

Iza has taken a liking to the SLP-HT! Here another well aimed cast pays off.

Superb!

And back she goes. The last fish from a spectacular day!

This big bug from Haast beach on the way home..

A superb 5.5lber..

This fish is submerged, though it may be hard to tell!

A solid trout for Iza..

I tried to warn Jeff about a deep hole in the ground. I had just spotted it and managed to avoid it. I turned my head and called back to him. The message just made it to Jeff’s ears as he fell down the hole. It was pretty deep and a very funny moment. Watching someone fall over is usually funny. As the day progressed we both took a few more tumbles down holes hidden in the long grass. At the end of the day while rushing back meet Guy who was waiting for us, Jeff fell pretty deep into a hole. He got out, then fell into another. I had time to take a picture. I laughed loudly as he struggled, cursing out of the hole. Once he was out we continued our trek out. Our conversation turned to falling down holes. I was telling a story of how I just missed out on a 7′ drop earlier that day and then on to a story from the Tasmanian highlands. Just as I got to the good bit of the story (the fall!) I vanished from Jeff’s sight. My right leg went down a hole and did not reach the bottom. I was left bent sideways in the hole from my left leg to my chest, which took all of the impact. I was a bit winded and shocked but unhurt. All I could hear after some all too  brief concern was Jeff’s Laughter, shortly followed by my own. I dragged myself out of the hole and continued. Within a few steps my bent hip was straight again.

The story of our 3 days on the coast is told in the photo’s below.

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Happy Christmas everyone! Guy and Jeff, Thanks for an eventful few days!

Ronan..