There’s something very special about getting into some of New Zealand’s most wild and beautiful places. In late March myself and Chuan did just that. We had a couple of days. Day 1 was very sunny but with a brutal downstream wind which certainly cost us a few fish. The late season sun cast contrasting shadows across the river making sighting challenging in many places. Fish were touchy but we had 6 for the day. A good day apart from Chuans hat blowing off and disappearing down a rapid. Shortly after he got in a fight with a sandfly which gave him a fat lip! Day 2 was cloudy with a little less wind. The cloud was better for sighting than the sun. The diffuse light caused by the cloud and having a good backdrop to sight against was an ideal combination for sighting. That was a good lesson for this river in March. Fish were even more spooky on day 2. Sometimes we’d quietly arrive at a pool and sight a fish. As quickly as we’d see him he’d just melt away into the pool. It was one of those days where they seemed to have an extra sense. We only managed a couple. No regrets though. Places like this are as much about the location as the fishing. There were hunters and other anglers in the hut too. A mix of Kiwis, Singaporean, Scotsmen and Irish. Some craic! I might have had a few beers and a whisky too many. I felt sorry for the hunters wanting an early night before their hunt.. that just didn’t happen!
After our wilderness adventure Kim arrived and the 3 of us got stuck in to a variety of fishing. Rivers and lakes both in the mix. I’ve been guiding Chuan and Kim for about 8 years now and still try to show them something new on every trip. This was no exception and we had some good fishing on a river and a lake they saw for the first time. This is why exploring new water is so important to me. I want to keep it fresh and interesting for myself and my clients.
June now and my streamers are doing the business! For a look at all my flies check out this link. For bookings and info about next season please check out my website or contact me ronan@sexyloops.com
Tight lines and Free Palestine.. Ronan..
On the way into Southland wilderness..first fish of the trip on my Brown Nymph.Solid..Just beautiful..One for Chuan..Wilderness beauty..Fishing was surprisingly tough, but what a place.Great weather on day 1.Into a good one after his hat blew of and disappeared down the river.Glorious..Chuan and the end of day 1..Day 2Cloudy weather was better for sighting this late in the season (late March). The sun cast some terrible contrasting shadows.Then Chuan got in a fight with a sandfly and lost his hat. The sandfly clearly won!Chuan and the 3 brothers as I like to call them.Time to go! Great trip.. Fantastic service from Fjordland Outdoors.A new location for Chuan and Kim..A good start on the Tussock Cicada..And then one for Kim. My 16 claret this time.Sexyloops 4wt is a beauty..Big strong rainbow..Good job Kim..BeautifulVery strong fish! Almost to the backing running upstream.Very fit fish..Kim and Chuan..FishyThe end of a good day.Worst drought in 35 years. There’s usually a dam here.Need rain..Walking down the new river channel.Kim into one.. I expected lots but we didn’t meet many.Nice to fish this! Usually Kim would be underwater!The dam was toxic looking..KimGreat water..5lb seatroutand a 5lb brown trout..A magnificent riverKim into one from a very productive run..One for Chuan too, one of the best from the trip..Out of the gorge at the end of a good day.Another day and a lovely morning.A great start for Kim in the first pool..My trusty hotspot. Wild water..A good fish for me on my 16 claret.And then to the lakes..Amazing clouds.Like a snake.. the clouds I mean!The birds take off as we fish the backwater.A well placed cast took this cruiser from the far bank.Butter!A very tough afternoon here..One for Chuan.The start of 2 good days with Geoff in early April..Day one we had a number of these.I never noticed this on the river before..Very much like a tomato plant.Day 2 and a great start.Cloudy.2 for the day with this one on the last cast. A super trout we worked for a long time.
The week with Chris, Steve and Joe was a great one. Not just for the superb mix of rivers and fishing but also for the chance to catch up with my good friend Chris Dore. One of the biggest cons about being a guide is that it’s so feckin hard to hang out with my fishing friends. We’re lucky to fish together once a year – usually in winter – so spending the week roughing it in Southland with Chris was great. We made time for a few beers in the evenings which always went down well. Chat, banter, fishing talk, the usual. The steak night in the caravan when Shellen joined us was a blast. She tied up a few flies and the craic was good. It was really good to meet her and I wish her the best with her future as a guide.
Chris and I go hard with our guiding and work at about the same intensity. We don’t look for easy options and we’ll do whatever it takes to give our clients what they hope for, and usually a lot more. This made us a good team to look after Steve and Joe. According to Steve and Joe, we guide in a different way but we compliment each other and both of the fellas enjoyed alternating between Chris and I each day. This is something we may do more of in the future. Chris and I enjoyed it too. It’s a great way for 2 anglers to really get the most from a trip to NZ. No sharing shots and you can hang out with your friend and compare stories each evening.
The week was very varied. It started with two completely different Heli days out of Wanaka. Both produced great results but they didn’t always come easy. Heli fishing doesn’t guarantee anything other than a remote and beautiful location so it’s always a relief when the fishing is good. It usually is good, but like I say, no guarantees. Then to Southland for another 5 days where we mixed it up with some of our favourite rivers. We had some really great days and some tough ones but we always came up trumps. Joe and Steve are both great anglers which really helps!
This takes me up to the end of January so I’m still way behind but that’s okay! There’s been some great highlights since, including 10lb brown with an epic story. The fishing gods really looked after us! More on that later..
Check out my flies featured below and a few more at Fulling Mill. They’ve all been great for me and quite a few others this season.
Next season is filling up quickly. Feel free to get in touch to make a booking or talk about options.
Tight lines.. Ronan..
Back to the trip with Chuan! The day we got jumped.. I decided not to share the pic of the truck.A fat 5lber!nice water..One on the Highcountry Green Cicada..A very tough day up here.. no fish!A solid physical day in this gorge..Fishing was decent!Back up here for another go after getting jumped a few days prior. Too cold for cicadas to move so the trout didn’t move either!The last day was really excellent!Dryfly action at its best.. Kiwi dun mostly.Great fish in tiny water.Fat and healthy.One on my indicator dry.Happy Chuan!The beginning of a great week with Chris, Steve and Joe.Steve into the first of 3 from this magic pool!Lovely markings..lovely.This magnificent 6lb brown was up front in the pool..A stunning 6lb brown displaying a striking blue spot.Small water with some nice big pools..Steve enjoying the day..We ran out of fish at about 2pm but what a day up to that. Lots of action.And then a very different wilderness.I’m with Joe today while Chris looks after Steve.The best of 5. Not easy but rewarding fishing.Clear water but blind fishing is essential.Thistle flower..Such beautiful water.I see faces..Stunning place to catch a trout!Possibly a seatrout.Time to go..Landing to pick up Chris and Steve..Scoping some water on the way home..Chris from Wanaka Heli took us for a stunning glacier flight on the way home. best flight yet!Photos don’t really do it justice..Such a wild country..Then a sedate frontcountry river with Steve..Fishing was okay.Joe again. This time we had to deal with insane wind.Not many anglers would have a chance in this wind. Joe can cast!the shot....successThen upriver after lunch as the weather further deteriorated..It was worth it! A great day in shocking conditions.A very diverse week of rivers..Lovely water but lots of bad luck! So many eats didn’t stick.This one made the day. Happily rising. A well presented kiwi dun got the desired result.Sticky things.Back south with Joe.A perfect weather day with superb fishing! My 16 claret here..Brilliant fish.Gorgeous river..Stunning..Final day.. .. and it was a good one! Thanks fellas.. Looking forward to next time.
December and into January… December is a great month to fish. Trout start looking up and responding well to terrestrials. Everyone seems to love dry fly action! There were some nice mayfly hatches too. Usually short and fickle but we made the best of it when it happened. As January arrived many of my local fisheries got too warm for good (or ethical) fishing. With this I venture away to find cooler water. I like to mix it up anyway.
One day I went to a high country river in the hope of some cicada action. We got to the river at 9am and got the piece of water I hoped for. At 11am, perched high on a rock I could see a vehicle (large black ute) pull up 1 kilometre above us. They could see us I’m sure and I’m pretty sure they saw my vehicle earlier too. It’s totally unethical to do this. It takes quite a brass neck to arrive there so late and then just cut someone off. They were just too far up for me to go marching up there for an argument so we pulled out and went downstream only to get jumped again by another clown fishing downstream from an upstream access point. A really infuriating day. We should all treat other anglers as we’d like to be treated. To cut someone off so blatantly is basically stealing someones experience. I’m pretty sure I know who was in the black ute and they should know better. Sadly, I heard that they make a habit of this. Against the odds we managed a couple of good trout! One on my cicada and the other on my unweighted nymph.
All my flies are working well on their relative days. They’re available from Fulling Mill or in-store at Patagonia Queenstown.
More about January in my next blog! Its been a challenging but great month. A few days off now before KC and Mark arrive.. I’m looking forward to seeing these 2 again!
Tight lines.. Ronan..
Glenorchy – Tough fishing but beautiful..Michael. Good conditions in the morning and we maximised on it.Super fish..Not long til the rod was bent again, This time blind fishing.Fat and lovely.A quick grip and grin!OtagoAlways worth checking out a backwater..Nice..Out for a day with Bryan in the boat. Perfect start!One for me on the shore. One each for the day.Nice water.Bryan finds a fish..In to one..Magnificent big brown..One for me with 2 eel bites on him..I’ve seen this battle-axe before..A couple of big reds.Windy as feck. Note the willow branches flying around!A good start for me..Then Bryan not long later.Lovely condition..One of my happy places.My 16 claret. A really deadly fly.One on my sights.... got him! Different colouration to hide on the dark rocks.Great action.Not bad..Expertly handled from tight water.Solid!Kiwi dun #14Great fish for Shawn.Shawn and Chris..Wild flowers.Chris with a brilliant fish after some bad luck during the day!They don’t come much nicer than this!Rocks and wind.. a great combo up here.Not sure what this fella was eating.One on the deadly Bruiser in the wind.And another.Eric and Jeff with their new friend.All his friends ran away but this stayed for a bit of attention.Back to the important stuff..Grubbing bows are tougher than browns?!?!Just Jeff today and he did well.Good action..My cicada doing very well.Testing the knots!Good fun..Usually these are white.Day 3..After some hard luck on day 1, this was an important fish for Eric.In the bag! A goody for Jeff.And another. 3 each for the day.Chuan.The first fish of the trip and its a goody!Then a grubbing rainbow from a riffle. No other fly would do! This is available at Fulling Mill.Another day! Into a very solid seatrout. Sadly he got away.. A bar of fresh silver.Great action all day.Prime condition. Chuan down a hole.Last cast with a little leggy, black terrestrial.
There was a nice mix of fishing to be had in April. At times the rivers were in great shape between rain events and I made the most of those opportunities for myself and my clients. There were a few days where the rain pushed me away from the rivers to take on some lakes – this worked out very well. As anyone who reads this knows by now, I love any opportunity to fish the lakes. Generally my clients prefer rivers but for one reason or another, most of my regular clients have fished lakes with me by now. Some are a little bit on the fence with some aspects of still waters but the majority now love it and usually request at least one lake day on a multi day trip.
Later in the month my streamers really came into their own. As some chunky browns congregated around some high country stream mouths, it was time to get stuck in. I had some great fishing for myself and for my clients landing trout with a few over the 7lb mark.
After 7 months looking after Adaline and Lochlan, our Au pair, Ilana wanted to catch a trout. We got out for a day on Dunstan where I figured trolling sinking lines would easily do the business. It didn’t! She lost one right away, then got a few hits before finally (after many hours!) getting stuck in a 1lb rainbow. She was delighted and relieved, we all were! I prepared it for dinner, crudo style with lemon, salt, olive oil and capers. A lovely way to eat fresh, wild trout.
It was great to see many of my regulars over the month and a few new recruits too. Seeing people coming back for more certainly makes it all worth while.
If you’d like to check out my range of flies for NZ you can do so on the Fulling Mill website. It’s winter now so I recommend my hotspot nymphs for the larger rivers which remain open and my range of streamers for the rivers and lakes. You can see them all here.
Next season is filling up fast but feel free to get in touch to lock in a trip. You can contact me at ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.
Tight lines. Ronan..
The start of a few days with Craig and Peter.It didn’t take long to get a few on the board.Back he goes..A solid bow! My trusty hotspot visible hanging there!A tough day here with high water and limited opportunities.A healthy trout on my Tussock Cicada size 8.Lovely little trout..A deadly pool!Peter with a perfect browny.Take it!He did take it in the end. A super trout..The end of a very good few days.A day trip with a couple of nice Aussie fellas..A few nice browns to the net.Perfect blue sky day.Happy anglers!Not a bad spot..The start of a great day with Luke and Harvey..Harvey into one..Luke had some weird bad luck.. The fish just kept getting off!!Always a great spot..Lovely water..Luke with a good cast..A great bow for Harvey..Off to the highcountry!Late season stream mouths are always worth a look.I had a great day with my streamers.. This one on the Midnight.Then this beauty on the Pyrotechnic.. Another on the Pyro. Primal Bold 6 weight..The Bruiser.. hard to beat.A very fat trout on the Green Machine.Another on the Green Machine.Magnificent spots on this one.Off home after a great day..Back up again with Roger.. The rivers were in flood, but I knew where there were a few trout!A brilliant 7.25lber for Roger.Love the late season colour..Our Au pair, Ilana. She wanted to catch a fish before she left us!These little feckers came too!Ilana did not want to give up – so I had to give in and turn on Netflix for these two. Their patience were running thin!Finally! Persistence paid off. We have dinner.. well, maybe a starter!A nice day on Dunstan with Bruce.His first on fly after a lesson..Not a monster but great to get one on the first day.Enjoying the view..Out with Andrew.. The rod often looked like this!The best fish came in the morning..Another..And another great trout almost in the net..interesting spiky tree.A lovely riffle.Worms are always useful..In again..Another beauty..Same fish just before going back..A great day with lots of trout to the net.Adaline reeling one in..Lochlan and Adaline. They love the river. Hopefully it’ll always be there for them.Success. She decided to return this one.Off home with wet boots and a fishing story!Out myself for a day exploring new water..I had great fishing. After a quiet start it all turned on!Super trout. I recently got some Primal Bold rods for guiding. They are great rods! I got the 5,6 and 7. They all do what they’re meant to do.
I usually get the chance to get into Fjordland once or twice a season. I’ve been a visitor to the area since my second trip to NZ back in 2003. I have many great memories from this vast area with lots of my fishing buddies. Wekas stealing our biscuits (I got the blame), melting my boots and socks beside the fire, almost getting stranded in a flood, filming “the man and his fish”, exploring new rivers, assembling a raft with zip ties, duct tape and tent string, catching seatrout, rainbows, browns, kahawai and jack mackerel, and many more… This trip cemented a few more great memories.
The fishing was magnificent as the photos below make pretty clear, but as I get older I think I appreciate this location and others like it even more. It’s a truely pristine environment. Looking around, it’s as though man has had no impact on the area. Frequently, I found myself gazing up the valley with my jaw hanging open, awestruck, expecting a moa to wander past. I think this is what makes it the cream of angling in many ways. Unreal scenery, gin clear water, good numbers fish of an impressive average size, keen to eat dries (and nymphs!). It’s the picture of NZ that many foreign anglers have in their head. Fish & Game have implemented strict controls on some rivers in the area to prevent overfishing and maximise angler satisfaction. I think they’re working very well. That and the sandflies! We had a few days of fishing back in normal NZ after that (next blog). There was certainly a bit of an anticlimax coming from such a magnificent wilderness which compounds why it’s such a special place.
One of the highlights of the trip was randomly bumping into my great friends Robbie and Tom with a couple of their friends. Plenty room for everyone at the backcountry hut! Good food and fine wine, great company, a fire on the beach, a few beers, plenty craic… what’s not to like. A really great trip. Hopefully we’ll get back next season!
I would like to say that Fjordland Outdoors are a fantastic company to deal with. Very professional and accommodating. Great staff and a super boat to get you where ever you need to go.
As always, my Fulling Mill patterns did the business. Mainly the Tussock Cicada and my range of nymphs. All available here.
Plenty spaces still available for next season. It’s filling up quickly so I advise not wasting too much time to secure your spot. Contact me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website
Tight lines.. Ronan..
Heading across the lake and into the wilderness.The boat across gave us time the appreciate the magnitude of the place!Can’t recommend the folks at Fjordland Outdoors highly enough. Excellent service.And off we go!First look at the river..What a place..It didn’t take too long to find feeding fish..Moving upstream..Bryan working a lovely pool. Clear Fjordland water..Bryan into one.Super brown.Nice bow for me!Searching..Bryan in again..Just love this water..Reel screamers!Some cool looking fungus on the walk back to camp..Time to relax and drink some wine!Lovely!Getting ready for day 2..The river is just as spectacular around every bend..Tim in..One of the better fish over the 2 days..Another healthy rainbow.Looking downstream..Time for lunch..Lunch while watching trout!Back to business..Magnificent!The cream of angling in many ways..Some deep water and the fish were there..Time working some deep water.Bryan puts some scale on this awesome place.Just seeing the river was as good as the fishing.There has to be something on the left..And there was!One for me on my tussock cicada.Magic..Just beautiful ..Then this for me on my brown nymph. Fat!Made my 2 days!Stunning.. Not often do we see red spots on trout from gin clear water.Keep moving upstream enjoying every minute.Fishy!3 huge trees growing unusually close together.Another crossing.This is truely as nature intended it. A pristine environment.Coming the end of 2 great days fishing.One more for Tim.More of this funky stuff..Back at the hut to find these feckers had moved in!Another modest campfire.Heading out on the morning of day 3. Tom and Robbie. A great and totally chance meeting in the wilds of Fjordland.Time to go.. “I’ll be back”
It’s great to be busy guiding again after a couple of hard years. November was a challenging month to guide. Not many nice days! Lots of rain and stormy conditions. The rivers were regularly coloured up as a result. Now and again I had to use lakes and still waters to keep my clients on the fish – but of course I adore this type of fishing so for me it’s not really a plan B, it’s just another option. All up it was a successful month through bad weather. I enjoy the challenge of finding good, clear water to fish through these rain events and I’m yet to cancel a guide day due to weather or water conditions. There’s always water to fish!
Fish were a little leaner than usual earlier on in the season. I put it down to the harsh winter and more specifically a monster flood last July which completely changed many parts of my local rivers. Some of my favourite beats were unrecognisable when I went back to fish them with dad in October. Fish numbers and quality certainly suffered as a result. It was really heartbreaking at times. Walking upstream and not even knowing where I was on the beat. Large corner pools gone – pools that I never thought would move. Long sections of pools and bends bulldozed straight and useless by 460 cumecs. I’ve been using all my spare time trying to get out there to rediscover them and find out where is or is not worth fishing. Thankfully I’m getting a good handle on where is fishing well. Fish are in good condition once again and the rivers are starting to get comfortable with their new courses. Certainly my biggest fear going forward are these huge floods. Hundred year floods they call them… the annual hundred year flood I call them! The flood in July did so much damage around the country. I can’t imaging what 2 or even 3 of these events in a short space of time could do. Utter destruction to rivers and fish populations. I have already been hearing some sad stories from the top of the South Island. Anyway, right now the rivers down here are recovering well and fish numbers are still healthy in most of the rivers. Many rivers were unaffected, thankfully.
My own fishing was pretty limited through November because I was so busy with work. I did get out for a relaxing few hours before a 10 day straight stint. Also one big day through a gorge on my annual pilgramige to catch up with my old friend. Check out the full story here. It’s well worth a read!
The gallery below covers the highlights of a busy month of guiding. I was out most days and now I’m taking a few much needed days off. When I get a chance I’ll put together an account of my time fishing with dad in September and October. We fished 26 days so it certainly warrants its own report!
You can check out my fly patterns, the ones I use on a daily basis over here on the Fulling Mill website. If you’re within NZ I may be able to help you out with a deal. Just let me know. I currently have 7 patterns available in various sizes but I expect to have 7 more patterns available next month.
My season ahead is pretty much full – There may be a gap here or there although I know April still has gaps. Feel free to get in touch about guided fishing this season or next (which is already filling up). Contact me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.
Tight lines.. Ronan..
Lake Dunstsn. A great option when the rivers get dirty. Even the lake was too dirty to fish by the end of the day!A stunning trout on my sunken green beetle – a new killer pattern!Working “O Malleys bank” carefully..Brendan makes a mean coffee! Also smoked trout and cream cheese on crackers.Clear water when everything else was blown! Aside from getting jumped twice we managed 2 good trout.A tough day on a Maniototo still water.Benndan saved the day with one great fish from the river.A very welcome trout.Rivers clear enough to fish by now.Some good fishing!Clearing nicely.Healthy brown trout.Fishing to a difficult brown.A few great days with Bill. This superb 7.25lb trout on day one.More rain.But the fishing was very good.Walking back..A 4 and a 6 SLHT – a great combo for Southland rivers.After a bad start we had a super day!My 16 clarets deadly as always..Best rods for NZ. I now own a 7wt too – a powerful weapon.The trout cottage. Luxury accommodation.The Bruiser doing its thing.A great couple of days with Brendo. Plenty fish!Full but fishable.A lovely early season stream. One for me before 10 days straight guiding.Will – new to fly fishing – landed 3 great fish after a casting lesson!The Hotspot. A very useful fly.A healthy rainbow.Eamonn first NZ trout.Fish of the trip! Over 6lbs on the hotspot..Back he goes – A delighted angler!Another one goes back. A fellow Irishman, we had great craic over 2 days.Another super bow..We had a wicked hatch here for a hour. Not easy but we did okay!Working the water..Out with Gordon – River high and coloured after overnight rain.Into one on the Bruiser.A great fish on a hard day..The first proper sunny day in ages!And the fishing was great.Graham did really well.A spectacular day.. Felt great to be out in it after some cold, wet days.Lovely!Friends of ours, Diana and Shirdoo during a casing lesson.A fun day out but fish were not really playing ball!Shirdoo fires a streamer into a likely spot.My annual pilgrimage....to see this old fella....the only fish in the river, he’s now 10.5lbs. My 4th time catching him.A great day with Greg Ford and his son Chris from Ireland. Great see them over here. I knew Greg when I lived in Ireland from a few meetings on the lakes.A super 6lber for Greg.Chris into a good brown as the rain hammered down. By the end of the day the river was rising a getting dirty.
This has been a real winter. One of the harshest I’ve been here for. Lots of wind, rain, frost and snow – so different to the mild winter last year. Usually by July the fishing on the lakes starts to improve, but this year it took a lot longer. Locally, the lake fishing only picked up earlier this month. Mackenzie Country a little earlier in August. There were always a few fish to be caught but they took more persistence and some were on the lean side. I really don’t mind not catching many fish in a day – or any for that matter. I enjoy the search, trying to figure it out, working hard to put it together. It is a bit a kick in the balls when I can’t figure it out but this is part of continuing to learn – or adjusting what I already know – or think I know! Afterwards, I’ll consider what I might have missed and think about what I’ll try next time. There were days this winter when the fish really seemed “off”… like there was little or nothing I could do to drag out a result.
I have my parents here at the moment so dad and I are fishing most days. This is exactly what I need after a tough few months of colds, flus and covid in the family – and a bad injury to recover from after a dog bit my face. The fishing has been excellent so far – mainly because we have my boat to make the most of the lakes. More about this in my next blog as I haven’t downloaded any photos yet! We’re heading north tomorrow for a few days and then the rivers will open again on October 1. So, I have a very full on 5 weeks of fishing ahead with dad and then guiding kicks off full bore in November. Happy times! The rivers are looking good now after being high and dirty for much of the last few months..
This is a good time to stock up on nymphs, dries and streamers for the coming season. Some of my most successful patterns are available on Fulling Mill. They’re all designed for the NZ fishery and well tested!! I’m very happy to say that I’ll have 7 more patterns available next year.
Still a gap or 2 in the coming season if you’d like to book some guided fly fishing. Contact me – ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.
Tight lines all and enjoy the new season! Ronan..
Out for a look on one of my favourite winter lakes..One of these under a dry and scout the edges.. This is the Fulling Mill Tactical fly box – very slim and lots of room.No joy, but I didn’t mind..Out with the family..Lochlan on the engine..Just me – out in the boat today..This should do! The mighty Bruiser..Hard to find fish.. Pulled up to fish a river mouth.. moved one or 2 decent fish.A tough, cold day. Fish were just not on, but landed four 1 pounders.On the bank today..Once again, fish hard to come by so this super 5.25lber made my day.Another day done..Family walk… with the rod!Dunstan today with Wesley and Guy..We had decent fishing. The lake is very slow to fire up this winter..Wesley fishing O Malleys Bank.Ideal conditions.No good with the nymphs, only buggers. My Killer smelt mainly.Gorgeous day..Fishing these flats always feels promising.Great colour.GuyAny second now….Call it a day..a great day,Lessons for the lads!Great students..No fish on day 1 but day 2 was excellent!Lots of fish for everyone.Cam puts one backThen this! The fish of the trip..A beauty.A lovely winters evening..Day 3. 4 today!Tom landed this super trout..Winter trout flats..Time for Rick to get one.. We worked it for a while until….. he got his trout!Lots of witnesses too!Call it a day – one for dinner!Wesley came to join me for some lunch on shore..It was a good thing he did!The place went cracked for about 5 minutes..The fishing was great!!In the bag..
I never seem to have enough buggers. They’ve always been a fly which I tie the night before a trip, so at best, I’ll have 6 nice ones in my box – but I’ve often been reduced thrashed old shite. They’re such a useful fly and can be fished anywhere, so finally, I bit the bullet and set out to tie a box of them. Although, initially that wasn’t my intention – I started by tying a few for a friend, then a few for me – then, when a bad cold went through the house, I found myself with time to tie and a new fly-box to fill. What I ended up with was a box of about 120 buggers from size 12 with 2.4mm beads up to size 6 with 4.6mm beads – all on Fulling Mill Competition Heavyweight hooks. I generally like to avoid starkly contrasting colours but since I was tying a comprehensive collection I tied a bit of everything. They’re all tied with possum bodies and marabou tails. I’ve been using this combination for many years now and I find it to be excellent. Rabbit is also very good in the body, but years ago I lucked onto a load of possum in lots of colours and that’s really what set this combination in stone – I had lots of it, and it worked. I don’t add much bling or rubber legs, just one or two strands of flashy stuff on each side or none at all. Of course they’re far from the original pattern. No chenille, no palmered hackle but if a fly has a marabou tail then it’s in the bugger family.
Last weekend I put them to the test. Myself and Brayden went to Mackenzie Country for a couple of days on the lakes – both of us trying to shake off a cold. Day one would have been good but there were 5 other anglers on the lake which made it harder to find good water. We got a few fish none the less, we just had to work a bit harder to get them. The scenery was really spectacular though. In winter, the snow really shows you just how big and dramatic these mountainous valleys are. My eyes were regularly taken off the water to enjoy the scenes. At the end of the day a couple of hot whiskeys were most welcome!
Day 2 – Fog! The fog never left the water all day. This was a bit frustrating because the skies were clear above it and sun was trying unsuccessfully to break through all day. There were a few fish cruising the edges in the morning but they were just hard enough to see to make them very difficult to approach. We worked hard to land a couple for the day and we covered lots of lake edge to get them. June on the lakes is generally hard because the majority of fish are up the rivers spawning. I don’t mind that it’s tough. There are still enough fish about to make for a good days fishing and I can’t wait to get back up there.. The new buggers did their thing anyway! I lost a couple but replaced them yesterday..
I still have a heap of photos from local fishing over the winter to date but they’ll have to wait for the next blog. It’s just too many photos otherwise!
If you’d like to get in touch about guided fishing over winter or next season please get in touch! ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website. Tight Lines, Ronan..
Tying a box of flies is a big effort, but worth it!It will be great to have a bugger for every occasion!Dark blue and black – This has been great over the years. “The Bruiser”My 4 year old daughter, Adeline, chose the colours for this one. “The Bumble Bee” she calls it!Very proud of her bumble bees!Getting ready for a lake trip.. Buggers and sinking lines.Buggers!Brayden working a likely bay..Cold but spectacular..Certainly one of the joys of winter are the snow covered mountains.Lovely – that fence is a great spot for a fish!Mountains looming over head..Blind fishing out and sight fishing in. A good tactic.The fish fence!Hard to find fish – mainly because there were 5 other anglers there – but we got a few.Time for a hot whiskey!Day 2. Fishing in the fog.My new box of flies in its natural environment!This one should do! Lots of smelt and cockabullies here. The main food item in a weedless lake.We worked stream mouths in search of fish..Winter flats! Not many fish on them.Natures patterns.The search continues.The sun tried to come out a few times but never succeeded.A black stilt.Brayden works a gutter..One nice rainbow for me just after Brayden lost a solid brown.The fog makes sighting difficult but it has it’s own charm.If the sun was allowed to come out the sight fishing might have been okay. Lunch stop.Back to business..Brayden Time to call it a day..
Because I live here, taking a gamble is not such a big deal. If I want to go after a really big fish, I often have to forgo even the chance of catching average fish. That’s the nature of some of the big fish rivers I go to – they only hold large trout. Very few but very big. It becomes all about the fish and not the fishing. I’m fine with this because I’ve been fishing for long enough that I really don’t mind if I blank and I have plenty time to try again if I do. It’s very different for my clients. I don’t generally want to push those “big fish” gambles on them unless conditions are perfect or they just want a trophy and nothing else.. but it’s different for Marcus. He simply loves the prospect of catching something really big! While he enjoys every aspect of trout fishing he’s more than happy to gamble everything, even his few days of fishing, for a chance at one great fish. This makes it easy for me in some respects. We just need to fish where big fish are – even if the conditions are against us – and they were! After a couple of months of what seemed like blue sky days every day, the clouds formed and the rain came as Marcus landed. Watching river flows online I was trying to determine what rivers would be fishable in our fishing timeframe. I had safe options for great fishing but with little likelihood of finding fish to double figures. The big fish rivers were being hit with spike after spike of rain. On one day we got it wrong – found our chosen river in flood and unfishable – but managed a great evening dry fly fishing locally to redeem the day. Another day we got it half right and just managed to squeeze a decent trout before being flooded off. Another day it worked. It had rained all night and I expected the river to be dirty but I thought, maybe hoped, it would be just okay. On arrival at the river it was dirty but fishable. As we drove up river to where the bigger fish reside it got dirtier and dirtier. The feeder streams were clear – effectively cleaning the main stem a little bit more below the confluence of each one. This was worrying. We continued venturing up river only to find it becoming pretty much unfishable. There’s not much in the way of a plan B here so we just kept going upstream to where it seemed to be getting worse! Way up top, to our relief it was a bit clearer – and just fishable. I think by now it was clearing from the top down. Whatever the reason, it was fishable to our great relief.. The plan was to streamer fish it down. Marcus is a regular to my hometown in Ireland and knows the local salmon fisheries well. This river, especially with the tannin colour was just like a west of Ireland salmon river. Marcus was fishing it like it was. To me it was the right way to fish it – across and down, covering the water methodically. The water was fishy – it just screamed fish and we were both feeling it. We were just waiting for the pull… and then it came. Like an Atlantic Salmon, he was on. Nothing chaotic about the take. I had to see what he was into so I quickly moved to the edge to find out. The fish rolled on the surface and he was big. I had caught a 9.5lber from the same pool earlier this season, so I thought it was likely to be him – but maybe not. This fish could have been bigger… or smaller! I got into the water and as soon as a chance presented I put the brute safely in the net. There’s a great sense of relief and excitement when a big fish goes in the net. Relief for obvious reasons, excitement just to see this great creature – to look at him with awe and respect… and of course to find out if he’s cracked the mythical 10lb mark which we all pretend doesn’t matter. I guessed 9.5 because I assumed he was the same fish I caught a few months earlier on my last visit. He was 9.5 – but he wasn’t the same trout as I had caught; he was a much more beautifully marked trout. We were both delighted. This was the ultimate payoff for a huge gamble – April is a bad month to fish it, conditions were terrible and the river was in flood! Fortune favours the bold they say. Well it certainly did that day.
It was great to see Tim again after quite a few years. We had a few great days fishing with regular hatches, lots of trout to about 7lbs, a few beers, a 4×4 adventure, Wilderness lakes, a few beers, backcountry rivers and good craic. Looking forward to next time..
Right now we’re in the midst of winter and the fishing is very good. Better locally than the last couple of years I’m relieved to say. I’ve had quite a few good sessions on river and lake but more about that soon. I wanted to catch up with the month of April first. I’m always a bit behind!
I’m pretty much exclusively using my own fly patterns which are available from Fulling Mill for everything now. I have enough patterns available with them for most of my needs. The hotspots and streamers are great through winter and the brown and claret nymphs with the kiwi dun were pretty much all I used through April. I’m delighted to say that quite a few more of my patterns will be available in 2023. Exciting times indeed. I’ll have another article in the Fulling Mill blog in the next month or so too.
That’s all for now! Feel free to get in touch about winter guiding or about guiding next season. There’s still a few spots available. Tight lines! Ronan..
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The start of a coiple of days with Robbie..Robbie fishes a likely seem.A lovely trout for me on the claret 16.Back he goes.The end of a great day.Day 2 – Exploring new water – enjoying some scenery before the hike..Really interesting local spot.High alpine stuff.Looks man made? The upper river.Very small water.We didn’t expect much.Lots of history but no trout.I thought this deep hole might hold a trout but I saw nothing.No trout but great country – happy to see the truck!A busy stint of guiding begins with an amazing day with Zac.7lbs in the morning..The fishing was simply superb!Even one for me!Dry fly heaven!Ending the day in style.My claret nymphs were deadly all day.A magnificent 6lber..One of those days that everything goes right! It’s important to acknowledge those.The start of a trip with Marcus.Quite a few of these to warm up!We had some great hatches into darmness.We took a big gamble coming here. We went very high upstream to get above the worst of the flood.Still very coloured be the Bruiser did it’s thing.A big backcountry trout..A 9.5lb pb for Marcus making all the gambles over the few days worthwhile.The mighty Bruiser!We fished hard after that but nothing else to the net.Amazing sky..The light made fishing extra tough but it was certainly beautiful.What a place.Fresh snow on the tops..Just in case I didn’t know!My trusty 80 on a frosty morning.No rush on this cold moring!To the river..Low and clear again..Fishing was hard but Marcus landed 2.Heading out – we had to get a photo of this....and this.Another day begins – this time with the sad and horrific sight of one of my favourite places being reduced to a pine forest. Probably carbon credit bullshit.A rapidly rising river – we didn’t have much time.The end of a great few days where we took big gambles in search of big trout!Out with Michael.We had a few great fish.Working the edges..Nice to see Tim again. The start of his trip.Tim Trout – on the claret. A bright fish.Another solid trout..Natures driveway.Lots of fish to the net! A great day.Waiting for the hatch..One on my kiwi dun..A healthy 5.5lb bow.Great sky!The end of the day.. now a 4×4 trip over the mountain to the next spot.Beautiful water..It was pretty tough but Tim got a few fish.A big reach was necessary to get the right drift for this one..Great day in a beautiful place.A wilderness lake.They were hard – mainly because another angler beat us to it!Cheers, Tim!
As we flew deep into Fjordland last January I wondered what might make this adventure an adventure. Something always happens when you put yourself in the hands of nature. Could be good, could be bad, maybe dangerous maybe not but something always adds to the story…
We landed about 3kms up a river which flows directly into a Flord. It looked as if we were above the tidal zone so we thought it should be a good base of opperations. Nick brought his raft so from here we could access the fjord downstream or the main river upstream. The objective for the 3 days was to learn and explore as much of the system as possible by foot and raft from the ocean to the headwaters. When the heli departed we were alone in the wilderness. I joked that I hoped we haden’t forgotten anything.
Day 1.
After considering the weather forecast we decided that the best option for day 1 was the main river. The sea breeze in the forecast might make the fjord difficult for the oarsman. Upstream was a very large, long pool; barely flowing. We decided to assemble the raft to get through that first pool to access the flowing river above it. It made sence to have that job done anyway. As we started to assemble the raft I noticed Nick looking a little bothered – and nothing bothers Nick! “What’s up”, I asked? “Forgot the bolts’ he said.. Feck. Okay, so this is a hurdle. We have a raft but we can’t assemble the frame. Not going to let this beat us, we gathered what we could to put the raft together. Tent string, 80lb nylon, duct tape and zip-ties. What couldn’t be assembled with that? Well not this raft! Before long we were all go. MacGyver would have been proud. After a couple of teething problems we advanced up river. As we rowed up Nick questioned the damp green slime on the logs. Is this tidal? We agreed that it could be but wern’t totally sure. When we got to the end of the long pool we tied up the raft with 80lb test and continued upriver on foot.
The river was small, a few cumecs I guess. Clear and beautiful flowing through pristine beech forest. A mix of bouldery pools and gravelly runs. Ideal trout water. We quickly moved upstream without trout to slow us down. We blind fished now and again when a piece of water screamed fish – but they weren’t there. We fished to about a kilometre short of where the river becomes unfishable. At that point we decided not to push on since they simply weren’t there. Apart from a couple of 2lbers we saw nothing. After a 2 hour hike back down the river we got to the raft. It was strewn up on top of some logs with the 80lb test tangled in a root system. I guess it was tidal. I rowed back down the long pool. About 20m from camp, Nick hooked into a super fish from the raft. A great surprise. A 6.5lb stunning seatrout and a perfect end to the fishing day. We got back to camp and cracked open a cold beer from Nicks Yeti and got the fire going. I then set to work cooking steak, spuds and beans. Good food, company, fire and few beers in the wilderenss is hard to beat…
Day 2.
The best weather day. Since there were no fish in the river then they must be in the tidal zone. Nicks big seatrout from tidal water the evening before certainly made us feel very excited about 3kms of tidal river water before getting to the fjord. We set off at about 7am. Nick on oars and me casting. Teamwork. Nick keeping the boat on the best bank, just far enough out for me to efficiently and effectively cover the water with my streamer. After a slow start I picked up a fish from a stream mouth. Then the fishing really amped up. We’d catch about 2 a piece and then swap positions – oars for the rod. The fish generally weren’t big but the action was pretty constant. We were fishing this tidal zone at low tide. There was great excitement as the tight river section opened out into an awesome fjord. Just to see it was enough. But what will we find here? First up was a very fishy shorline. We pulled up the raft and fished it from the shore – and it was good! We landed quite a few here before heading for the drop-off where thousands or years of deposition from the river meets the ocean. Now and agian the tent string keeping the oarlocks from falling down would break. We got pretty good at fixing this on the fly. a couple of minutes and we were off again. The flats on the way from the river to the drop-off looked fishy we saw very little. There were occasional bust-ups out in the black ocean water, sometimes close to the drop-off. This was clearly an opportunity. Before we persued that we tried for a blue cod for dinner. We were depending on catching fish for dinner! Nick and I lost one each but didn’t get one. As luck would have it, A cray boat in the bay saw us and came in for chat. A beautiful boat called the Amazon. Certainly the nicest fishing boat I’ve seen! The crew were a very sound bunch of fellas and we chatted for quite a while. When they offered us a few cray tails we happily said yes please! Dinner was sorted. Before they went on their way they towed us way out into the fjord so that we could drift back in with the wind and catch some cod. The idea was good but it was unsuccessful. We then turned our attention to the drop-off and the bust-ups. When a shot finally presented I picked up my 7 weight trout rod. I hooked a kahawai (probably – but who knows) which took off out and down. When I was near the end of my backing he broke me. My mistake. Wrong rod. More to the point – wrong reel. The birds were following the fish so we followed the birds. This was not easy on oars with considerable wind. Finally another opportunity. This time I picked up Nick’s 10 wt Scott Meridian with a large Hatch reel on it. This time I was correctly armed and landed a nice kahawai after a super strong fight. Nick and I hooked a couple of others too but just the one landed. It was high summer so the days were long. That was a good thing because we were about 6kms from camp and it was getting late. We wanted to fit in the fishy bank again too. By now the tide would be low again. We got another couple there before the row up the tidal zone of the river channel. The tide was going out again which slowed the progress on oars but still no major problem. The fishing was quiet while I rowed. Nick took the last kilometre on oars while I fished again. Then, right at camp (just like yesterday) I hooked into a strong fish. I caught a glimpse and said it wasn’t a trout or a kahawai. To my delight a jack mackerel came to the net. This is an ocean fish 3kms up a river in fresh water! Tidal, yes – but fresh water. What a day. It was 9.30pm by the time we made it back to camp. I got a big fire going. Nick was on cooking duty. Spuds, beans and crayfish. Probably the best crayfish I’ve eaten thanks to Nick the chef and the fishermen from the Amazon. After Nick went to his tent I stayed up for a while to wind down and just relax by the fire. I needed it after a non-stop brilliant day.
Day 3.
The main river was not an option so it had to be the tidal zone again. With the tide slightly different we had a chance to see it in another light. This was indeed interesting. With higher water in the tidal zone the fishing was very poor. Nick got one or 2 and I got my best trout of the trip. A stunning, fat seatrout. A great result but nowhere near the numbers of trout on the previous day. Down at the fishy bank, we arrived on low tide and it was good again. We caught a few. The advancing tide filled the edges quickly and this knocked out the fishing. We thought it might improve it but it didn’t. At least not on this day! We then fished the flats concentrating on the gutters or anything fishy. It was quiet but nick did get a follow from a very large trout. Possibly over 10lbs – that sort of big. Time flew by and we had a heli to catch. We checked out some shallows filling up with the rising tide. These were full of whitebait. I’m sure trout would come into these areas at times but not today. The row back up river was easy with the flowing tide. We got back to camp at high tide. Funny how our timing worked out – this was the first time we saw camp at high tide in 3 days. Luckily there was enough gravel for the heli to land. We took the raft apart and laughed about how the duct tape, zip-ties, 80lb nylon and tent string held it together for 3 days of hardship. With everything packed up there was time to sit down and have a beer and chat about 3 amazing days exploring this system. We discussed what we had learned and agreed that it left us with more questions than answers. We’ll just have to go back!
Nick Reygaert
Most of you will have seen some of Nicks fly fishing productions from The Source to Pure Fly NZ and so much in between. You might know him as a cameraman more than an angler. Well I can tell you something – he’s an angler first and foremost, and one of the toughest I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with. Dawn til dusk is no problem for him. Fly fishing is his life whether he’s behind a camera or not.
Tight lines, Ronan.
Ps, for guiding bookings visit my website or email me ronan@sexyloops.com. For a look at my flies available from Fulling Mill, including the streamers I used on this trip, click here. FYI, just enough time to grab some kiwi duns and size 16 clarets for the end of april – best hatch fishing of the year!
Flying into Fjordland wilderness..
The persuit of adventure!
Dropped beside camp for the few days..
First to assemble the raft..
..Nick forgot the bolts so zip-ties and duct tape will have to do!
Ready to go upstream. We’ll use the boat to get through this long pool..
With the boat tied up – possibly in the tidal zone – the fishing begins..
Beautiful water..
Had to take the packs off for this crossing!
So much potential but not seeing any fish..
Great to see this place..
Water getting fishier..
..but still no fish!
No fish here either..
..or here..
I think we timed the river wrong. The fish must be in the tidal zone at this time of year.
We fished almost all the fishable water and saw just 2 small fish.
After 2 hours walk we were back at the boat.
Clearly it was in the tidal zone! Luckily the 80lb nylon held it!
Nick got this cracker at camp from the boat at the very end of the day!
A brilliant 6.5lb trout.
Camp.
Excited about the prospect of day 2 in the tidal zone..
My first of the trip..
Great action at low tide in the tidal zone heading to the fjord.
Lots of fish!
A goodie for Nick..
..one for me.
The fishy bank.
Then back in the boat to get to the drop-off.
What a place.
Right out at the drop-off into the deep sea.
Searching for blue cod for dinner. We lost a couple.
Then these fellas came for a chat! A really sound crayfish crew. They gave us crays for dinner!
Then into a kahawai, finally!
They can pull! The 10 weight Scott and Hatch were well tested.
A quick stop on the way back to camp.
The camp fish! 3kms up the tidal zone in fresh water – a Jack Mackerel!
The waterfall at camp.
It was after 9pm when we got to camp so dinner was late!
Nick did a great job on the pan,
One of the best dinners ever!
Happy days is right!
Breakfast on day 3.
Dragging down the boat.
Running repairs.
Back down the tidal zone. Certainly no point going up river.
Fishing was much harder with the slight change of tide.
The oar rope broke frequently. We learned to fix it in a couple of minutes.
My fish of the trip on the Killer Smelt!
A beautiful seatrout..
Heading back to camp for pick-up.
Checking out a backwater en-route.
Rowing back after a super 3 days.
The raft did surprisingly well held together with string, tape and zip-ties! H&S at its best!
Packing up.
The 500 arrives. Great machines – they can carry a lot of weight.