The river that looks the best to me is the Mataura, which is dropping steadily and should be back to last week’s level, and I intend to fish it tomorrow.
Even though it is the end of the main season, there are still plenty of places to fish over the winter.
Being retired I have the luxury of being able to decide when I wake, and if it is a fine, calm, sunny day, to deduce that I should go fishing.
The hard part will be deciding where to fish. The tidal reaches of lowland streams are open and well worth fishing. The lower Taieri is a good example, being open from Outram Bridge downstream.
Over the next month there will be sea trout moving in from the sea to spawn; some of these will be big and well worth catching.
The whole of the Clutha except for the Deans Bank section is open, and it too has a good run of sea trout, many of which run up the Pomahaka and other tributaries downstream of Roxburgh Dam.
So, fishing at the confluences of the Clutha and these streams offers a good chance of catching them.
Then of course there are the lakes and dams that are still open — the main Central Otago lakes, Lake Mahinerangi and Lake Onslow — although care should be taken when planning a trip to the latter, as it can get snow at any time and the only access is a dry weather road. If you check the Fish and Game regulation booklet you will be surprised how many waters can be fished in the winter.
Where tributaries run into lakes are ideal spots to target fish gathering to start the spawning run.
Rainbow trout are in peak condition at this time of year as they are several months away from spawning, whereas brown trout will spawn in the next few weeks and do not make good eating. Not all browns spawn every winter, though.
I fished the Mataura last weekend and several of the trout that I caught would not be spawning this year — they were brightly-coloured, lively fish, in great condition.
Although the river was at least 30cm above the level that I prefer, the fish were feeding from first thing in the morning and throughout the day.
There was a trickle of duns hatching from late morning and into the afternoon, not enough for an intense rise but enough to bring the odd fish to the surface.
This enabled me to at least drop a fly close to a fish.
Although I fished two flies, a weighted nymph on the point and an unweighted on the dropper, most fish were taking the dropper.
I suspect the weight of the heavier fly helped get the lighter one to the right depth.
Hopefully it will work again this weekend.
