From the angler's point of view, things are looking about as near perfect as you can get for fishing during Easter weekend. Rivers are low and clear and the weather forecast is good.
Cooler nights have kept water temperatures down. The high country lakes have risen a little from the heavy rain on the main divide and this should tempt trout into the shallows.
Despite having a bit of a struggle the last time I fished the Mataura a couple of weeks ago, that river would be my first choice this weekend. The Taieri throughout its length would be a close second. Any other water that has a hatch of mayflies comes in third.
For anyone spending the weekend on the Upper Clutha, the river has risen a bit but is still well within bounds for good fishing with the sedge in the evening. Pick somewhere where there is plenty of shadow from the banks as the moon will be up.
For salmon fishers, the Waitaki is the place to be, although the Clutha is producing salmon, too, and I hear that there have been quite a number caught in the Mataura.
Last weekend, I had a couple of outings on the Taieri - one on the upper river and one on the lower reaches. They were quite different days but both good in their own way.
I left home for the upper river at 6.30am and it was 14degC. When I got to the Maniototo it was 1degC and there were patches of frost in the hollows. However, it soon warmed up and there was little wind - perfect.
I walked downriver for a while and started fishing on a weedy section at the top of a flat.
I caught a fish blind on a diving beetle. That fly stayed on for the whole day after I picked up a couple more. As it warmed up the odd fish began to rise and they, too, took the beetle. One interesting fish that I caught was a salmon smolt which from memory is the first that I have caught on the Upper Taieri.
I had figured on fishing back to the car for lunch but nothing slows you up like catching fish and lunchtime came and went and I was still a long way from the car, but fish were moving and as the day advanced the size of the fish increased, with the better fish lying in against the cut banks in the deeper water. Lunch was at 4pm.
On the lower river, a couple of days later, conditions were similar although the fish were less plentiful and they were a lot harder to catch.
I fished to quite a few taking willow grub, and they either took straight away or not at all - but mainly the latter. The odd fish in open water came to the hare's ear nymph.
Interestingly, over the two days on the water I saw one damsel fly and about half a dozen mayflies.
I hope to see a lot more mayflies this weekend.
