Ronan's Report

As the world descends into chaos, here’s a chance to step into a positive world where fish are feeding and people are friendly. I’m horrified by what’s going on right now. The continuous lies, genocide, hypocrisy and double standards.. but right now here’s a look back at my NZ summer. This blog takes me up to the end of March.

While fishing well out in the backcountry with Marcus we had an unexpected encounter. We had about 2kms left before the fishing ends on this wilderness stream. Upstream I couldn’t make out whether I was looking at was a camouflaged side by side or a rock! As we got closer it was indeed a side by side (4×4, 2 seater vehicle). “Shite”, I thought. “Probably a fisherman?”. When we got to the vehicle we found no evidence of it being an angler but there were no rifle cases either so the jury was out! We decided to continue and hope for the best. Just as we started to make our way upstream a spritely fella came jogging over the hill wearing a fly vest but without a rod. We went over for a chat. It turned out to be Bruce Masson. He’s about 80 I think. Bruce was the man behind the Trophy Trout videos from about 30 years ago. They’re still highly regarded fishing films today and inspired many anglers including myself. Bruce had fished the water above us so that was the end of the day for us. We didn’t mind, it was so good to meet this man. He was fishing with his wife and they had landed a few fish, she was still upstream waiting for him to come back with the vehicle. Bruce has some incredible access to this backcountry area. We had an enjoyable chat about fishing past and present and spoke of some mutual friends. Over the years I have met and gotten to know many people involved with this production, Robbie Mcphee, Bob Wyatt, Chris Jackson and more. I felt quite honoured to meet Bruce. The man behind it all. It was especially great to meet him randomly in this wilderness while he was doing what he loves. Hopefully we’ll meet again!

Next season is filling up fast! January and February are full, March almost full, but there’s still lots of room in the other months. To have a look at my flies which were great for me this season you can check out this link. You can contact me on ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website.

Tight lines, Ronan..