The water will be at a good steady level and clear, and of course there will be copious numbers of fish in evidence.
Opening day had all of those factors, bar one — probably the most critical factor — there were very few fish to be seen.
Murray, Trevor and I fished Mathias Dam.
There was a little fresh snow on the highest hills around the Maniototo with postcard blue skies above all. But we had little interest in postcards — the aim was to catch trout.
Surprisingly, there was only one other angler there when we arrived and shortly after a couple more arrived.
Mathias copes with such numbers easily, especially as it was full to the top with little weed and the water was gin clear.
We were straight into action, at least as far as casting out a fly and pulling it back again. Unfortunately, there were no trout to break the rhythm of cast and retrieve, cast and retrieve.
Regrouping at the car for lunch it seemed it was the same for everyone — very few fish seen and even fewer hooked and landed, or in my case, one hooked and lost.
Being optimistic as all anglers should be, and reinforced with tea and sandwiches, we set forth to improve the score which we did. My contribution was one meagre solitary fish.
The fly that did catch a few fish on the day was the damsel fly nymph.
Still, it was better to be fishing than not to be fishing.
On Tuesday I was in Christchurch with the Canterbury Fly Fishing Club, which was a really enjoyable evening.
Flying home on Thursday was somewhat disrupted by the snow but I got a good look at the rivers south of the Waitaki, and from the Kakanui to the Taieri they all looked promising for the next few days.
No doubt they will rise a bit due to snowmelt but it should not be enough to spoil things.
Not that it matters, as there are still plenty in Mathias Dam and Sullivan's Dam.
I had the last night of my fishing class out on the water on Monday evening at Outram bridge.
The water was in great order although the wind was very cold and we saw little fly life.
Several fish were landed and even more were lost, all on the nymph.
I suspect there will be some mayflies on a warm afternoon. If we get some warm evenings there will no doubt be sedges about too.
If you are keen to fish the Mataura it will be best to leave it a few days as it is a little high to fish well, although some of the smaller tributaries could be worth a look.
As I mentioned last week it does not take much to spoil the fishing but equally, it does not take long for it to come right again.
