In this unseasonably warm weather, I am sure quite a few anglers will be out on the water.
I was taking a casting lesson this week on the Taieri, below Outram Bridge, and there were mayflies hatching and trout rising to them — none of them were of great size, but they were rising trout nevertheless.
Seeing them made me think about the season and that on very few days did I see as many rises as I saw on Wednesday.
I also probably saw fewer duns hatching this season than any of the previous 42 seasons.
Although, I did see some big spinner falls on the Mataura during the summer and spinners are the terminal stage of the mayfly so there must have been some big hatches of duns just at times when I was not on the water.
The early season was blighted by high water in most rivers and my fishing was largely confined to still waters, and I could best describe the fishing as being steady, rather than spectacular, with some good-sized fish taken from the dams and smaller streams.
I obsessively go through my diary to see which fly was the most effective and how many different flies on which I caught fish.
I was surprised to see I only caught fish on eight different patterns and of those, on two of them, I only caught one fish each — on a Fuzzy Wuzzy and a sedge.
So, effectively, I had six productive patterns, the hare’s ear nymph being the best performer. Which is no surprise as that is the pattern I fish the most.
Something changed in the new year and my fishing improved, or rather the trout gave themselves up more easily, especially on the Taieri and the Mataura — I think it related to the predominance of trout feeding on willow grub on the Taieri and on mayfly nymphs on the Mataura. My catch rate dropped in March, yet April produced more than half of my season’s catch.
Not fishing much in March probably partly accounted for the lack of fish.
My wife’s theory is that it is because I am getting old, but that can not be right as I have been old for a long time.
I hope to get out a few times over the winter, targeting perch and fixing the leak in my waders, as well as tying lots of flies — especially hare’s ear nymphs.
I have a lot of fishing books, mainly old ones and I will plod my way through them picking up the odd pearl of wisdom here and there.
I also need to put a new fly line on my reel as the current one has had a beating over the last three seasons.
There is also plenty of time to dream about sunny days by the water next season. This is my last column until September.
