The Rock and Pillars range was covered in snow and so too were the Hawkduns, the Kakanuis and Mount St Bathan’s.
By the time we reached the Maniototo, the skies brightened and the rain stopped and there was hope for the day.
With a bit of luck there will be hope this weekend and the most hopeful spots, as I check the river conditions prior to writing this column, are much the same as last weekend without the Pomahaka.
The Waipahi is dropping nicely and will be well within good fishing levels — provided, of course, there is no more rain.
The North and East Otago streams are looking good and, as always, there are the stillwaters, either as first choice or if all else fails.
Murray and I started on Mathias’ Dam on Sunday.
The water was clear and full to the top and there was little wind.
Now, being the proud owner of a thermometer especially designed for anglers — that is, almost indestructible — I plonked it in the water and it soon settled on 8°C, which is relatively warm for this time of year.
We were beaten to the dam by Matt Thomson and Scott Hughes who were busily chucking out nymphs and retrieving.
Matt informed us that he had hooked and lost three fish already.
Scott hooked one as we were talking and it dropped off too.
A few minutes later, I followed suit.
There was the odd fish rising but the rises soon stopped.
I fished several spots that were usually productive without seeing a fish or feeling a take.
Murray had wandered off in the opposite direction to me and when we met up to consider lunch, he had landed a nice rainbow of 1.5kg.
So that was the sum total for four of us.
We decided to move to Hamilton’s Dam.
It was quite windy when we got there but a fish that rose as we ate lunch raised our spirits.
A few minutes after finishing lunch, Murray caught what I presume was the same fish.
I went to the far side of the dam to a favourite spot of mine and after a few minutes landed my only fish of the day.
We moved back to Mathias’ to escape the wind, but it was blowing even harder.
We gave it a good flogging for an hour or so without seeing or touching a fish, so called it a day.
Not the greatest of opening days but better than not fishing.
On Wednesday, I was taking a casting lesson at Outram bridge so arrived early to check out the river.
It was clearer than I expected and around 11°C.
There were some mayflies hatching but it took me a while to spot a rising fish.
It rose about a dozen times, so what were the other fish doing?
I suppose that is one of the mysteries of fishing.
