The Mataura looks a good bet at the moment, as do the Pomahaka and the Waipahi. The Taieri is taking a long time to drop and is still quite dirty but spinning could be a good option for catching a sea trout or salmon in the lower reaches.
Water temperatures are way down and more like spring time than late summer, although not cold enough to put trout off the feed. Lower temperatures are good for daytime hatches of mayflies, so it pays to look out for them.
The Clutha, which is a little high, could be worth fishing off its gravelly beaches in its lower reaches, where mayflies can be expected.
If, by some unfortunate chance, there is more rain, enough to raise river levels again, it would be back to stillwaters. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as I found out last Friday. I fished the Maniototo irrigation dams, or rather, three of them. There are a lot more than that but three are enough for one day. It was a lovely sunny day, with little wind, when I arrived at Mathias Dam and I saw a fish rising straight away. Unfortunately, it stopped rising before I caught it. The next rising fish was not so lucky. It took a damsel fly nymph and so did the next one. This second one was a bit of a fluke, as I flicked the fly into the water while I stripped off line from the reel to cast further out and when I lifted the rod to do so, the fish was attached. The third fish took a water boatman and then things went quiet.
After a while with little happening I moved off to Rutherfords Dam. The scene was equally idyllic and the trout were more co-operative. They were cruising the shallows, so a cautious approach was called for, as walking up to the water's edge produced bow waves of spooked trout.
The third port of call was Blakelys Dam, where it was a little more breezy but still pleasant. There were few rises except in one small corner, where several fish were surging around in the shallows. First cast produced a hit to the damsel fly nymph, then nothing. A logical alternative was a water boatman, which produced another hit and a couple of casts later a solid hook-up and the best fish of the day - a rainbow just under 2kg.
If you fancy something different this weekend, and advancing fisheries science, there is a competition on the Teviot River at the Bridge Huts section from 8.30am-4pm. You fish as a team of two. Register at the Bridge Huts Bridge and weigh in there. You need to carry a tape measure and notebook to record the fish. If you keep any, you can weigh them in. There are lots of fish in the river and it is a good place to take a novice. There are several spot prizes.
