Ronan's Fly-Fishing Missions

A short blog today.. things are warming up!

Ronan's Report » The Days are Getting Longer! The trees are about to explode into life right now. Some flowers are already blooming in the garden. In the next few days there’ll be a lot more. It’s an exciting time of year watching the cycle rotate again, I’m imagining the trout in the rivers are piling on condition already. In a month it ...

Building my fly tying desk..

Ronan's Report » Fly Tying Desk – Full Build. I was born into fly fishing and trade. I never had to search for what I was meant to do with my life, they were right there in front of me and I took them both. I feel very lucky about that. Many people spend their lives not knowing just what it is they’re meant to be doing! My dad was a builder. ...

It's time for the Department of Conservation and the Ministry for Primary Industries to act. Save the New Zealand longfin eel from extinction. Why does New Zealand have a commercial fishery for a species that may be going extinct? New Zealand's largest freshwater fish is disappearing. We're still exporting it.

The longfin eel — tuna, endemic to New Zealand, nowhere else on Earth — is classified "At Risk: Declining" by DOC. The IUCN calls it Endangered.

We still commercially harvest it. We still export it, some of it for pet food.

Look at the chart. Longfin landings have collapsed from 453 tonnes in 1989–90 to 21 tonnes in 2023–24. That's not a decline. That's a species falling off a cliff.

Here's the part that should worry you more than the tonnage: fishers aren't even catching their full quota.

Since South Island stocks were split by species in 2016, the longfin Total Allowable Commercial Catch has sat at levels that would allow real targeting — and fishers have caught a fraction of it, year after year. In Otago and Southland (LFE 15), the 2023–24 catch was 4.2 tonnes against a 52-tonne quota — 8%. In Westland (LFE 16), it was 0.9 tonnes against a 25-tonne quota — under 4%. That's not fishers showing restraint. That's fishers going out and not finding eels to catch.

A declining tonnage with an undercaught quota means one thing: there are far fewer eels left than the quota assumes. The number on paper still allows heavy fishing. The eels themselves are running out.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment called for a moratorium on longfin fishing in 2013. Twelve years on, the commercial harvest is still legal.

So why doesn't DOC step in?

Because DOC doesn't run the fishery. DOC classifies the threat. MPI — Fisheries New Zealand — sets the catch limit, under a different law, the Fisheries Act. Two agencies, two mandates, and neither one owns the whole problem. The PCE found that DOC has the legal power to write a Freshwater Fisheries Management Plan for exactly this kind of situation — and has never used it.

Longfin eels mate once, at the end of a life that can run past 100 years, in the ocean somewhere near Tonga. Every fish taken out of a river before it makes that migration doesn't get replaced next season. It's gone from the breeding population, permanently.

We wouldn't accept this for a native bird. We shouldn't accept it for our biggest, oldest, most remarkable native fish.

Source: MPI Fisheries Assessment Plenary, May 2025 (freshwater eels stock data); DOC threatened species classification; Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, "On a pathway to extinction?" (2013).

A good report from Graeme about a recent trip to Mackenzie Country. Fishing in the dead of winter. I love it..

Black Ice, Blue Sky and Trout I was still down south in New Zealand. Ronan said the fishing was on, even in the cold. The forecast's main problem was ice over the high passes after snow. Black ice, freezing conditions, dangerous driving. The other problem was that I was down with my family, and I wanted time with them too. I can...

Late season and winter fishing.. it’s been good!!

Ronan's Report » Late Season & Winter Escapades.. Between late April and now I fished with a few good friends. First up was Dan, it was good to spend time with him on the water hoping for some late season magic. It didn’t really happen on the river unfortunately but thats how it goes. Staying at Peters Farm Lodge in the Maniototo was a bit of a t...

A wrap up of the end of the regular season.. into the winter season now!

Ronan's Report » Late Season Wrap Up.. It’s June now but it’s mild and lovely. I’m in the workshop most days building a fly tying desk for myself. I’ll write a blog about the whole build. I’m over three quarters way through and enjoying the whole process. This is a time of year I really love. Little to no guiding, I step back f...

A couple of big fish stories from the season…

Ronan's Report » A Great Season for Big Fish! The season is winding down now with only a few more days booked in. I like this time of the season where I can step back and relax a little. Today I’ve spent some time at the tying desk trying to finalise a few more patterns for Fulling Mill. I’m almost there so hopefully I’ll have a few new p...

Some good stuff from a cool summer!

Ronan's Report » A Cold Summer! The summer is coming to an end over here. March 1st always seems to land with a cold day. We had a very cold summer in general with plenty rain. No complaints about that from me! It kept the rivers nice and full and cool. New Zealand weather is always uncertain and unreliable. Adverse weather can pr...

Some season highlights so far…

Ronan's Report » Lochlan’s PB! I’ve never know a season to hurtle past as fast as this one. It feels like it’s just begun but we’re into late January already. It’s a busy time, I just finished a 12 day trip a couple of days ago and in an hour I’m heading off to pick up a mate from the airport for a 5 day mission into So...