Ronan's Report

Earthquake Fly Fishing!

July 3rd, 2017 Ronan Creane No comments

I can’t believe almost a month has passed since my last blog! Time is flying by. It’s been a great month! June is a good time for me to take on some woodworking projects. I started one last June and finished it this June. A writing desk for Iza, but it just might become a fly tying bench for me!! The boat has also taken some of my time but I have not made as much progress as expected. It’s ready for fibreglassing now. Lots of painting preparation has been done and some timber work since my last blog. The engine arrived. It has certainly had a previous life or two in salt water but hopefully she’ll fair us well. There’s lots still to do, but once the fibreglass work is done progress will begin again in earnest.

Yesterday Brayden and myself hit the water for a float. I have done very little fishing in the last month, only 3 or 4 pretty poor days, so it was really great to get out for a solid mission. The day started with a 6.5lber and the action continued all day. Blind and sight fishing accounted for fish with streamers, eggs and nymphs. To my delight, about half of the 14 fish we landed were silver fresh run fish.

Early in the day while afloat we heard a rumble. Like thunder but not quite. By the time my brain figured out “earthquake” we could feel the pulses coming through the water and the boat. We wondered how this might affect the fishing. It didn’t.. They continued to confidently eat our flies. We did find one fish flopping around on the bank. He had tried to navigate up the skinniest piece of water imaginable and beached himself, maybe due to the earthquake. He was going nowhere! It was his lucky day. I picked him up off the didymo (which cushioned him as he flopped around) and brought him to the main river. He took off, relieved no doubt! We noticed some sign of gravel and mud broken away from the banks as we drifted down river. We also witnessed some mini avalanches. An interesting dynamic to add to a days fishing!

I’m off out now to practice my shots for snakehead! I’ll be in Malaysia with Paul in less than 2 weeks. Can’t feckin wait!

Tight Lines..

Ronan.

If you’d like to book me as your fly fishing guide in NZ next season, check out my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com or email me ronan@sexyloops.com

: I decided to take out the seats to give the ply a proper chance to dry.

: Seats out. Next is to remove all the fibreglass and clean up the steel. (It’s done!)

: Builders fill is very strong a durable; great for blending the old with the new!

: This router cutter to match existing rounded features in the boat.

: this is the profile before sanding.

: Plenty days out in the sun to dry it out well before fibreglassing.

: Filling holes and imperfections; painting preparation!

: A recent trip to Benmore with Paul Macandrew, Trevor Bourne, Dave and Santillan.

: A freezing cold day! The fishing was terrible! 5 anglers – 0 fish.

: Paul Macandrew, a top local guide and bloody good bloke!

: Time to pick up the lads..

: ..and go to the pub!

: Off to the canals with Guy!

: Stunning evening..

: ..we fished well into darkness. I had one take and this was it. A 12lb salmon (photo does it no justice!)

: Early morning..

: Guy beside his camper. We only managed the one fish for our 1.5 days.

: Some thoughtful vandalism!

: A recent float with Brayden from H&F Cromwell..

: First fish of the day on a sculpin head streamer fished deep in a backwater. Great moment!

: Brayden into one not long after..

: Almost there..

: Nice brown..

: A braid to check out..

: Heavy rain and a 4.4 earthquake but the fish kept taking! Plenty fresh fish moving up still..

: After a long fruitless walk up a side braid, Brayden overheated!

: We landed a few here..

: Almost ashore..

: A healthy rainbow as Brayden cools down!

: About to get back on the boat when we spotted a migrating fish.. A quick intercepting cast got the desired result!

: A fresh, energetic bar of silver!

: A likely spot..

: Wide water!

: Failing light when we hit a hotspot! Brayden lost a cracker here.. around the 7lb mark..

: Finally I got my SLHT fixed, it’s been out of action for a while. Here Brayden is giving it a work out..

: Hot Torpedo with a Harfin reel.. a perfect combination.

: Small but healthy..

: Plenty snow on the mountains.

: June is a time for me to indulge in another practice of mine. I made this writing desk for Iza out of recycled timber, mostly pallets and an old fence. I think it might become my fly tying bench!

“I Put on Wet Socks in the Morning”

February 25th, 2017 Ronan Creane No comments

I wanted to chat briefly about the Damselfly nymph and how most anglers standard pattern makes no sense to me. I had some great photo’s of a damsel nymph which was still alive inside a trout I took from Lake Dunstan recently, but I deleted them by mistake!! I put the green nymph in a jar of water with a sprig of rosemary (haha) where he lived happily for a week or so. I watched how it moved, how it swam (or wobbles!) etc. The one thing that struck me was how similar it was to mayfly nymph. I thought this before, but I though I was missing something that everyone else seemed to know because most damselfly nymph patterns have a long marabou tail. Why? A mayfly nymph representation generally has no marabou. I see some merit in a short marabou tail matching the length of the 3 strands in the real nymph. I’m not one for perfect representations of what fish are eating, far from it actually. However in my opinion, a damsel nymph with a long marabou tail is a woolly bugger, not a damsel! I use a long shank #12 PT or similar as a damsel nymph.

Guiding has been happily chaotic! I’m out most days at the moment but I did manage a few days for myself recently. Iza and I fished together for a day and a half too. Next season I’ll do things a little differently. I’m going to put blocks of time aside for me to fish each month. I need it!! I get a lot of what I get from a days fishing during a day guiding but not everything. Fly-fishing is my life and I must make this work. I know some guides who don’t fish at all during “silly season”. I must not let this happen!! This is only my second season so I guess I’m still finding my way a bit. Guiding continues to teach me a lot and I believe the most important thing it has taught me is how much I don’t know!! A great lesson. Therefor time must be put aside to explore new water and simply get better and better at this.

Recently I explored some new water to the north and the east. Some of it was re-familiarising myself with old haunts and some was totally new. Fishing new water is such a thrill! Absorbing everything the river has to offer, the excitement of seeing whats around the next bend, piecing it all together. Putting on wet socks in the morning means you’re in the thick of it!

Guiding has been lots of fun! I recently took Tim Kempton out for a few days. Great craic with him and his mate Fergus. Tim has fished with Paul in Malaysia which makes him the second (I think) to have been guided by both Paul and I in our respective countries (the other being Chuan Tay!). I hope more anglers do this! On the topic of Malaysia, I’m going there this July to fish with Paul for 2 weeks. I’ve been practicing a little from Paul’s instructional video on youtube so when the time comes I hope I’m on form. Speed is very important with trout fishing too so if I can make one second shots for snakehead, I’ll do it for here for trout too!!! Back to guiding, what else.. Some great heli stuff lately with Nick Mills and a fantastic West Coast mission with local regulars Bryan and Tim. That was a real adventure! One thing about heli-fishing.. The chopper takes a lot of the hard work out of it but the best results come if you’re willing to go hard while your in there. That we did! I think we had 14 trout in total for 3 days with the best fish of the trip going to Tim just before the chopper came to take us home. Many thanks to Greenstone Helicopters! Also a new personal best for Bryan, Bob and his birthday fish, the list goes on.. The pics tell a better story anyway!!

Time to prepare! I have an afternoon mission in an hour..

Tight lines!

Ronan.. ronan@sexyloops.com

For bookings and information see my website www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

For Pure Fly NZ dvd’s go to http://www.flyshop.co.nz/product/DVDPFNZ.html

For stu’s cicada’s go to http://stusflyshop.com/browse-by-fly/dry-flies/cicada/MY GALLERY

: The first series of Pure Fly NZ is out on DVD! Jeff Forsee and I host episode 6!

: Iza in the water! We haven’t had a chance to fish together for ages! We did some exploratory fly fishing on a trip to the Catlins..

: Some great reds spots on these fish. The river beats we spent 1.5 days on were extremely tricky! No easy casts from long grass, thistles, willows, high banks etc.. The challenge made it some of the most fun fly fishing I’ve had in a while.. Plenty fish to the net.

: The Catlins..

: Breandan?? You were a bit slack on the last blogs Flora & Fauna!

: Small but lovely!

: Fishing in the willows! Not much pressure in here and the fish happily ate a well presented Banana Fly ..

: This was the best fish of 9 landed in 1.5 days.

: Another sharp finned beauty goes back..

: A recent day with Bryan Wrighton. A cloudy start!

: With the sun out we had water to fish! Here Bryan is into his new personal best!

: 8.5lbs.. Tim, you’re going to have to up the ante! He’s beaten your PB by .25 of a pound!

: Cicada time!

: An 8lber for me on one of Stu’s cicada patterns. http://www.stusflyshop.com

: A great fish!!

: What a day.. Summer is here at last!

: A little more exploring and re-familiarising myself with old haunts. The most stunning trout come from tannin water.

: Absolute perfection!

: 2 days on my own on the Maniototo. This 5.5lber was the best. More vibrant red spots! Tannin water produces more red spotted trout than clear water.

: Back he goes..

: The amount of water around this summer was incredible!

: Up bright and early but very few fish about..

: ..so I went to check out some small still waters. If you have Bob Wyatts latest book, check out the back cover.. that was me down there! No joy on this day but there are about 4 good fish in there. One I recognised from about 6 years ago! Still alive.. Browns are amazing creatures.

: This was one of the most exciting places to fish 15 years ago. Not so good now but still has potential.

: I got a couple of beauties here. These dams are not on the F&G brochures.

: Mathias’s Dam. 2 quick fish then off to another..

: The only cloud in the sky parked itself in front of the sun for about 2 hours!

New Zealand – Ireland – Thailand – New Zealand……

December 14th, 2012 Ronan Creane No comments

I’m at Christchurch airport right now and my bag is checked through to Dublin. Snakehead has just appeared on the agenda for Thailand in a few weeks so hopefully my next blog (probably in about a month but possibly sooner) will have 3 countries and multiple species in it which will make a welcome change from trout.. I’m happy to be heading home for what will surely be an epic trip.

Last weekend was tough. I broke in 2 fish which I shouldn’t have and one was possibly a double. I hooked 5 in total and only landed one. Day one brought tough sighting conditions but day 2 was perfect and I blanked! I fished lots of new water and I’m excited about getting back there for some really big days in the new year..

If I don’t get a report up before Christmas and New year I hope you all have a great one!

Fish hard..

Ronan..