Ronan's Report

“I’m only wishing to go a-fishing; For this the month of May was made”

May 31st, 2017 Ronan Creane No comments

What is it that excites me so much about the month of May? I’ve had to think about this! There are a few reasons. One of them is that its relatively new to me. In my ten years (pre 2011) when I came to NZ from Ireland every season, I was always home by the end of April, so May was unknown to me. In October 2011 I moved out here full time taking up a job as a joiner. In May, just like every other month I only had the weekends to fish. I enjoyed the month of May then of course, but it’s only now that I have lots of time on my hands that I can really explore, search and learn; just like I did during my early years exploring NZ. So thats part of it! It’s new, exciting and fun. It’s more than that though. Fishing for migrating fish in May is challenging. To do well you need to be able to cast heavy flies on long leaders or heavily weighted fly-lines (around here at least!). You need to be able to see your fly in you minds eye and know what it’s doing and where it is. Sometimes it’s sight fishing, sometimes it’s blind and it’s frequently into deep water. Migrating fish move around a lot on their lies. Sometimes to take a fly but often jostling for position or to chase out another fish. They do feed, but as the month progresses they gear more towards spawning. However, with accurate casting; putting the fly in just the right place and making it swim / drift correctly you can still induce a take. So, it’s the challenge? Yes, but possibly even more than the challenge and the realisation that it’s still new to me, is that it’s so much about the big, beautiful migrating fish. When these fish run they are in their absolute prime! Full of condition and energy for the months ahead. Who wouldn’t want to catch fish like this?! On certain rivers in May there is a real chance of a big fish. Sometimes well into double figures and these fish only appear in May. I predominantly target browns all season long but in May I turn my attention to rainbows. Last May I realised just what a great species they are. Hooking into a big rainbow and listening to that tail slap before the first run is simply exhilarating! One more thing.. This is my down time after my guiding season. I’m relaxed, I have nothing to do only fish, I’m in holiday mode! So I think I know now. It’s new and exciting, its challenging, it’s about enjoying big, powerful, beautiful rainbows and some browns, I’m on holiday! Why wouldn’t I love it.. Sorry if I just bored the feck out you with that but I wanted to know for myself.

May has been a great month to catch up with friends. I made lots of use of my drift boat taking Fraser, Wesley (see you next season!), Guy, Tom and Jeff out in it. It’s been such a new lease of life and a great way to explore rivers and lakes. The pics below tell the story as they do!! Tassie Sean will be up for a visit soon too. That should be fun whatever we get up to. I’m hoping for new waves of fish migrating up some of the rivers which are still open through winter. When they’re fresh in they take really well, still piling on the pounds. bring on the next wave because the first run are now stale and not really taking the fly anymore…

Finally, to finish off what was probably the most enjoyable month of the season for me, we returned to The Bay of Pigs. Just like before the fishing was slow, Tom and Jeff saw one fish from the boat. I managed to drag out one brute of 15lbs from the shore. A long leader and a weighted streamer fished about 3 feet down did the trick. The take was a gentle one before I came up tight!

The next thing on my agenda is to practice my shots for my upcoming trip to Malaysia. I need to get good at that before I leave, or as Paul says, I’ll spend the first week not catching any fish.

I’m available to guide until mid July. Contact me ronan@sexyloops.com or visit my website www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

Tight Lines All!!!

Ronan..

PERSONAL FISHING GALLERY

: May in Otago..

: Search and you might find!

: May is a time for me to explore and fish hard!

: One of Chris Dore’s tactics.. dead drifting a streamer under a dry. It’s been pretty deadly this month. This is of of my dad’s Minkies.

: Stunning water!

: And a free can of beer lost by some duck shooters!

: I lost a big fish here! The second this season.. the first was a brown the same colour as Trumps face.

: A perfect Clutha rainbow..

: I worked hard for this one.. wading into tough flows and casting as far as I was able to reach some likely water. Great result!

: This gust was unreal! The whole place went bananas for about a minute.

: This equals my biggest (non canal) rainbow. I was very disappointed to find that in all my fumbling to balance my phone on a rock I zoomed it in. Of all the days to forget my camera..

: The next day out with Guy.

: To my delight I got another almost as big. This time a male. He took a slowly fished heavy streamer on a long leader fished on a floating line. I was about 10 feet down.

: Back he goes..

: Guy into one!

: This took a dead drifted orange bugger.

: Another for me on my possum streamer.

: Lunch!!

: Guy in again!

: Perfection!

: Good holding water!

: Otago skies in May..

: Guy enjoying the drift!

: My streamer. This thing has been great!!

: My view from up a tree. Wesley was fishing over 4 very big fish here. I mean big!

: Another 7.5lber. I love May!

: Great markings! In May it’s mostly about rainbows!

: Maybe I’m mad taking the boat out today!!

: yes..mad.

: Feckin cold out there but great fun. A novelty to fish in these conditions.

: Fraser works an edge,

: A healthy rainbow from a deep edge.

: A cold day on the Kawarau but a few fish were out on the prowl.. mostly small ones!

: Retie!

: Lunch! Time to warm up the hands with a hot cup of tea!

: Almost time to call it a day.

: Getting ready for a drift with Wesley.

: The Clutha.

: We did a huge drift but didn’t find many fish..

: Perfect weather. The great thing about drifting is that it’s a fun day out no mater what mood the fish are in!

: Great markings..

: ..back he goes!

: My streamer in its element.

: A wee one for Wesley.

: Great potential but no fish.

: There is so much dead water but I’m learning where to skip and where to stop.

: Fishing with Tom recently on a misty morning.

: Tom into a good one!

: Solid, strong rainbow..

: Weird!

: Lunchtime!

: Beautiful river but we only managed a couple.

: Great day none the less..

: Tom, Jeff and myself about to chase some monsters..

: Last day of May and another visit to The Bay of Pigs”.. I got this monster. Thankfully he had a bottom jaw this time..

: Back he goes.. Fishing deep with a long leader and weighted streamer fished on a floating line.

In the Merry Month of May…

May 3rd, 2017 Ronan Creane No comments

April has been a fabulous month! I had lots of time to fish myself but was also kept pretty busy guiding. The fishing was excellent! With terrestrial insects still locked into trout brains and magnificent mayfly hatches to boot, most of the activity was on the surface. It’s rare that I’ll fish with a single dry but I did a lot this April, both for myself and my clients. Cicada’s, blowflies and mayflies were the leaders of the pack. April sees the most consistent and reliable mayfly hatches of the year in these parts. For the last 2 – 3 weeks of April, the main hatch kicked of at 2.40 every afternoon on a number of rivers from Omarama to Invercargill. The dry-fly action during the hatch was simply as good as it gets and the best for many years by all accounts. It was most welcome after the constant onslaught of wind and rain brought by the early and middle parts of the season. Summer lasted ten days!

Earlier in April, Nick Reygaert, Jeff Forsee and myself got together again to film another episode for Pure Fly NZ, this time series 2. We went to the West Coast to film a variety of fishing locations. I think we all worked well together to bring something pretty full-on to the screen. I won’t elaborate too much so that I don’t give anything away before the show airs, but watch this space!

Most brown trout rivers are closed now, but many of the rivers flowing into the Southern Lakes (and a few besides) are open until the end of May. A few rivers and most large lakes are open all year, so thankfully, the season never stops. It’s May now and time to stalk migratory fish! I love fishing at this time of year as the leaves change colour and fall from the trees. Fish start to move up river on their spawning run and opportunities arise that are unique to May and the winter months. These fish respond well to streamers, large nymphs and a little later in the season, egg flies. The first part in fishing for migratory fish is finding them. In many cases when you find one you find a few or lots – fishing for migratory fish is like that. The first cast to a pod can get a chaotic response from a lot of fish, then it gets a little quieter. It’s not unusual to catch a few fish from a pod. At times you’ll stumble upon a large fish or two which has spent the last 8 months or so deep in a lake. This is exciting stuff and I will be trying to make it happen this month! I think I know where some will be..

I must change the format for this blog! With the amount of time that passes between reports I struggle to choose what to write about and end up breezing over everything. In the future I need to try (try) to write more often. Maybe less, but more specific content, the way it was before guiding.. I’ll do my best! The pictures below tell the story of full-on month on April!!

Tight Lines and bring on May!!

Ronan..

I’ll be guiding until mid July for the few that are keen on winter fishing! Let me know if you’d like to plan a mission.. ronan@sexyloops.com or see my website http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

PERSONAL GALLERY

: Perfect. This on a damsel nymph (no marabou!).

: Flowers. Breandan? About 10mm across.

: Such condition! 6.5lbs

: A sockeye salmon. Not the target species but quite aggressive towards my streamer.

: Wesley, early on a bitterly cold april day.

: The cold brought on a great hatch and we had some superb dryfly action. 17 to the net.

: Wesley working a big pool.

: First of the day..

: ..they kept coming..

: ..and got bigger as the hatch intensified!

: Best fish of the day. Almost 6lbs.. Did I say it was cold?? Feckin freezing!!

: The cut banks were great fun!

: The daylight diminished quickly..

: It was a great day to be out and about!

: Home time!

: Some recent filming with Nick Reygaert and Jeff. The Land Cruiser saved the day..

: ..twice!! 😀

: Lots of tactics utilised.

: Out in the Stabi Craft..

: Searching!

: Stunning place!

: I think we got some great stuff!! I won’t elaborate, you’ll see the show next season!! Pure Fly NZ – Season 2

: A recent trip to my secret dam!

: We found fish!

: This late season beauty was my best. Wesley had one about 6 as well as the one photographed.

: Great colours..

: Sometimes the only thing an angler can see when sighting a fish is that dark line on the end of the tail, very visible in this pic!

: Tom, Robbie and I fished together for a few days late season..

: We hit the canals one day.. Tom and I had a big salmon!

: 10lbs for me, 11.5lbs for Tom.

: The first of 4 for a day in a gorge..

: Robbie.. there were a few fish here.

: Still a few of these fellas about!!

: One of our favourite pools but no fish there!

: Lunch!

: In the gorge..

: Tom into a good one which ran round a rock and got off! These fish fight dirty..

: Robbies gap!

: This fish was hell bent on eating my possum / marabou streamer!

: Last day of the brown trout season, Mike Bonn into a good one..

: One for me from a rising colouring river..

: My spun possum and marabou streamer is doing the business. It has a great profile and movement in the water..

: Streamer fishing for rainbows at this time year can be exhilarating!! This was May 1st..

: A healthy hen, no doubt full of eggs.

: A quick grip and grin before she swims home..

A New Dimension!

March 31st, 2017 Ronan Creane No comments

Bob Wyatt got in touch with me earlier in the season to say he had just put his pontoon boat on Trade-Me (NZ’s Ebay!). He asked me if I knew anybody who might want to buy it. I immediately asked him to take it off Trade-Me that he had a buyer. Me! I have used it about 8 times now and what a great craft it is! It floats high on 2 large pontoons (4 chambers for safety), It’s very easy to manoeuvre and great to fish off. I’ve used it on large rivers and lakes with lots of success. It’s definitely added a new dimension to my fly fishing. I can go places that I couldn’t go before, the Clutha for example, I haven’t even scratched the surface of this rivers potential yet and it’s on my doorstep. I can use it for access onto small or large lakes and still waters; it’s light enough for 2 fella’s to carry it a fair distance! West coast river mouths (any river mouth!! or delta!). You get the message. This will be a lot of fun! Recently on the Kawarau I took it down a fast and lumpy rapid to see how it (and me) would handle it – no problem and great fun! I wonder just how much it can take??? No doubt I’ll push it a little!

The Piscatorial Pot fly fishing competition was great success this year with the best turn out yet. This was it’s 3rd year. I run the competition for the Wakatipu Anglers Club on my local Lake Dunstan. The winner is the person with the most fish over 350mm. A quick pic and the fish can be released so that no fish need to be killed to win the cup (sorry, pot). This years winner was Wesley Seery from the shores of Lough Mask in Ireland. If you’d like to have a chance to win the coveted Piss Pot all you need to be is a Wakatipu Anglers Club Member to fish the competition. Yet another reason to join a great club!

Guiding has been chaotic for the last 3 months but has pretty much ground to a halt now. I’m pretty happy to have some quiet time to be honest! As you can see from this blogs galleries I really haven’t fished much myself since the last blog, at least not by my standards. I’ll use the spare time to learn the required casting for my 2 week Toman mission with Paul in Malaysia this July, I’ll fish lots myself (April is a super month!!), tie some flies, I might even be able to write another blog in the not too distant future! If you’re at a loose end this April and are thinking about a trip to NZ and you need a guide, drop me an email!

I think the most valuable lesson I’ve learned from guiding this season is the fact that I can only do so much. I can’t make fish eat flies. I make the best decision I can with the information and knowledge that I have, then I guide my client to the best of my ability, then it’s out of my hands. I’ve learned that I can’t force a good result. I’ve learned to let the day unfold while trying not to let stress take hold (It’s stressful at times, I can tell you!!). Almost every time, as long as everyone is happy and relaxed a great outcome eventuates.

April and May are exciting months and I have plenty days available. See my website to book or email me, ronan@sexyloops.com

http://www.ronansflyfishingmissions.com

Stuntman Ronan..

PERSONAL GALLERY