Ronan's Report

Iza and I are just back in NZ after our multi-country adventure. For the first month we did our own thing before meeting up in Ireland for my sisters wedding. I only did a days fruitless fishing in Vietnam, the rest of the time I was tearing around the country on the back of my brothers motorbike. We also made time to drink the worst beer in the world, eat some of the best food in the world and see the sights. I also only did one days fishing in Jordan with limited success. Don’t get your hopes up about seeing anything amazing but I will have some good information on Jordan’s fly fishing potential.. The rest of the time in Jordan was spent diving and snorkeling in the Red Sea. Fishing was not priority (for a change) for much of the trip but I had a few weeks at home in the west of Ireland where it was. Some of the fishing was excellent, mostly on Lough Inagh for grilse and Kylemore Lough for big sea-trout. I’m not sure when exactly I’ll be able to put a report together but it will include salmon, seat-rout, brown trout, pike, some saltfly and being hospitalized in a military hospital in the south of Jordan, actually, that’s enough said about the latter. It was hell.

The photo’s below are from before we left NZ about 9 weeks ago. My intention was to get a report out before we left but better late than never! Some good stuff to come but I’m waiting on a memory card in the post from Ireland so a NZ report may come first. Needless to say I’ll be on the water all weekend!

It’s good to be back!

Ronan..

Just over a month to October 1st!         Groovy…

I've been working on a possum streamer for a while. The longest fibres are in the possums tail which I tie in as the tail of the fly giving it the required length. The fuzzy body hair bulks up the body of the fly.

Heading to the river!

Some more Clutha exploration.

Clutha panorama..

Lovely water. Nymphing worked best. We also had a few on egg patterns.

Kevin and I took it on again on Sunday. A change of tactics from the day before made the world of difference!

Iza and I didn't do so well on Saturday but the tea was good!

A wee brown goes back..

A superb rainbow!!

Back she goes.

Clutha, June 2015 part 2 032_1024x768

We hooked about a dozen, landed 7, this was the best !

Kevin into a heavy fish..

The one that got away!

Cool and crisp, Great to be out in it!

Clutha, June 2015 part 3 022_edited-1_934x768

More exploration and another braid. This one I'm looking forward to trying in summer.

The sun broke through eventually.

I fished alone on Saturday, Kevin joined me on Sunday. Fishing was tough!

Winter fishing has a lot to offer in NZ.

The fish in the braids are looking closer to spawning than a week ago. Time to leave them be and hit the main river.

A week later. A flood during the week changed the fishes locations and habits.

The west coast river mouths are not an easy location to catch a fish. Time of tide is critical but it can be any time during the rise or fall. A weekend over there is simply never enough. Just when I start to get an idea of the right time of the tide to fish and where, it’s time to go home again.. Every time I go there I have to start the learning curve again. Time of year, tide, trout food and weather will be very different and most importantly, the mouths themselves change after every flood. All these variables keep it interesting, that’s for sure.

Iza and I hit the coast recently. On day 1 of our weekend we fished the hour to high tide, the entire fall of the tide and the turn. I had one little sea-trout and a decent Yellow Eyed Mullet. Iza had a little trout too. I was hoping for that magic hour but it never came. I assured Iza that her soft plastic would be even more lethal than my di7 if we could just find a few fish. She heard my trying to keep her enthusiastic many times before and I think it was wearing a little thin. She fished hard all day none the less!

On day 2 we went to a different river mouth. It was completely different to every other time I’d been there. The sand had shifted to the far side of the lagoon and all the current and depth was on the near side. I looked at it and my first thought was that its not worth fishing. The flowing tide was raging in and it was very coloured. After a coffee I had a better look and started noticing some holding water, the best of which was off the rocks right in front of the truck. I advised Iza to fish into an eye that had formed as the flowing tide passed by a rip-rap groyne. As she made her way down I had a quick cast with her spinning rod (I could not help myself) and immediately hooked a 1lber. I felt guilty for taking Iza’s fish but not for too long. Iza got one almost right away, a 4lber, then another, 5.5lbs; then another 4lber; then a 1lber. That was the magic hour! I did not get a single touch for the day and neither did Iza after landing the fourth one..

That’s how it goes. On the next visit we’ll learn it all again!

By the way, you have 4 weekends to get over there before the place is mobbed with whitebaiters for 6 weeks!

Ronan..

West coast with Iza, July 2014 210_1024x768

West coast with Iza, July 2014 207_1024x230

West coast with Iza, July 2014 216_1024x768

...which I cooked in bacon fat...

...washed down with a "Rogue hop".. NZ's best beer in my opinion.

Back on the coast..

A little sea-trout for Iza!

The fishing was slow on day one but the weather was amazing!!

My new wheels!

It's usually a good spot where the surf meets the river mouth..

sun and surf..

Some lumpy swells. One always needs to be aware of the water. Never turn your back to it!

Ive said it before and I'll say it again.. This place is good for the soul!

Fishing is now a part of Iza's life.. Inevitable I guess!

The sun sets on day 1.. and Iza gets her feet wet!

Day 2. The perfect start!

We kept one of Iza's sea-trout..

Baked sea-trout with crispy skin and spuds!

This time a really big 5.5lber from the salt water on the flowing tide. One of 4 for Iza that morning!

Lunch after a slow start, but I had a Yellow Eye Mullet...

Iza patiently persists...

And again before I get a chance to cast!

Back it goes..

Armed with a di7 and a di5 each on a tcx.

It didn’t take long to convince myself to head straight to the river after work on Friday. Plan was to target some of those big fish from last week at night. After a long drive/hike/climb I made it in just before darkness fell. While the light was failing I took a few shots but everything spooked! This was totally unexpected. A week ago they were hard to spook during the day. I went up into the forest and made camp while giving the pool time to rest until true nightfall. I got a small fire going and set my sleeping bag on the forest floor. Once that was sorted I kicked back for a while and enjoyed the absolute peace with only the sound of the river. Then it was time to launch my night time attack! Unfortunately the night was so dark I simply had to shine my headlamp to get down from the steep sided forest to the bouldery river. This would not have helped my quest even though I kept it brief. The total pitch black night made it tough but I managed ample casts into the zone with no joy at all. I was happy to return to camp, drink some wine and eat some chicken from the BP, then a little more wine.  I slept soundly after that.

The next morning I thought things might be different. I fished from almost pitch black into daylight. When I could see into the pool I realised they were not in their usual spot. They were spooked. Right, time to move on.

I walked for a long time before eventually finding a pool with fish in it. Not one or 2 fish either, shitloads, and they were big! I had a dry dropper combo rigged so I started with that. I kept missing fish. Brief hookups then nothing. Finally I landed a silver hen of about 6lbs. Then more misses. After checking my rig I realised a hook was broken. Ok, start again. Forget that bad start. Re rig the way I know I should. But I was not 100% sure! I just ran out of 8lb tippet so I used 6 because I thought they were finicky.. I landed a fish on that but then broke in one. Changed again to 8lb scraps. Landed some more then lost all in a bush. Right. Straight 10lb tippet. The fish didn’t care and by now I had figured out the retrieve, depth and casting position.

Once I finally had everything right, I nailed it for a while. Eventually they got wise to everything I showed them however. This is normal. Then I launched a Mr Glister at them. The last of the big fish took it on the drop. For the day I had at least 20 fish events, probably 25. I landed 8. Five were between 4 and 6lbs and three were 9lbs plus. The best one was over 9.5lbs. No double but what an unbelievable day. If I started with the correct rig and method it’s not know the sort of day I’d have had. The thing is, I should have known exactly what to do from last weekend. Sometimes instinct is wrong! But that’s ok, that’s fishing and I’m learning. Some of the break off’s made no sense though. I even had 10lb tippet smashed! Maybe I’m not realising fully the sheer power of these fish. Now that I’m writing this I realise it! After almost every fish I had to change my fly because it was bent out. It takes lots of pressure to bend a Kamasan B175. Also the tippet had to be changed almost every time because it was scratched and frayed. These fish run with insane power, they bore under rocks, and whatever else they can, To land these fish you need to be almost as quick as they are to keep the strain on them, and keep the strain from the right direction. I realise fully that It was an amazing day, the best big fish day I’ve ever had but I cant help feeling that I should have done a bit better. I guess I always feel that way!

That day on the water was last Saturday. Sunday was my 22 year fly-fishing anniversary and St Patricks day. My first day was with Dad and Granddad all those years ago. Maybe my grandfather, Paddy, gave my some help on Saturday! Who knows… Here’s to him anyway! And Dad of course who is well and truly alive!! He’s planning his next trip to NZ.

Ronan..

Below the pics is this weeks episode from SLTV, “Camo Guy and the 9lb trout”  How apt!

ps. WordPress changed a bit, now you have to click a picture 4 times to view it full size as opposed to once before. What a dumb change.

In this episode Paul’s slightly competitive nature shines through, Hence the title of this blog! :DAlso you’ll meet Camo Guy. Guy has been a great friend to Paul and I over the years!

Fraser, Sean and Myself headed off on Friday evening with big fish in mind. The plan was for an early start on Saturday morning to put in a big day through a gorge on a river known for its large sea run browns, or sea trout as we call them in Ireland. We forgot the map so Fraser’s i phone had to suffice but it didn’t! We got a bit lost so made camp near the river and then made our way to the gorge in the morning. We were lucky to get there first but the forecast was bad and the wind was howling down the valley so that probably deterred most! Sean had a fish first off and that was all we landed that day. We had no shot at a big fish.

On Saturday evening we stopped of at a friend of Fraser’s house for a few beers and food. Jimmy cooked up some fresh cockles followed by “sensational” pizza’s as Sean put it. They were sensational. Jimmy’s Grandfather started up Jimmy’s Pies so I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree… even on the second drop!

On Sunday we considered fishing some dams near and around Alexandra but ended up fishing a local river. It was coloured but not too coloured. We had about 8 or 10 small fish. On the way home we had a crack on Lake Dunstan at the southern end. We landed a few there in very cold and windy conditions. Autumn is well and truly here although the forecast for the next few days is good.

Have a great week!    Ronan..