Keen anglers, looking forward to catching a fish or two over the holiday period, will be keeping their fingers crossed the rain forecast for the next week or so is not enough to spoil the current perfect conditions for fishing.
I mentioned willow grub last week, but after a couple of days on the water I think they are not falling in great numbers yet, as I have only seen one fish that looked like it was feeding on them. A few more warm days should help them along.
Over the last week or so, I have seen several spinner falls and a few duns hatching although the former cannot exist without the latter. That suggests that most of the duns are hatching when I am not around, which is in the evening, as I have been fishing from morning until late afternoon. Does this sound like a good excuse for an evening on the river?
I mentioned perfect conditions above, so what are they? Fish are generally more active when atmospheric pressure is rising and best of all when the pressure is high and stable. This usually produces fine, warm sunny weather which is also good for anglers. Conversely dropping and low pressure are not good for fish nor anglers, as it usually produces what is known in polite company as bad weather.
Luckily my last two outings have been dominated by high pressure. Fine, warm and dry with little wind. The first was on the Pomahaka with Murray Smart. There were mayfly spinners on the water when we started and they trickled on to the water most of the day. Fish were taking them on the first flat that I fished in exactly the same spot as I caught two fish on the spinner last season. Unfortunately, it only took one cast at each to have them disappear into the depths.
Not long after, I came across another pair of rising fish. To get into position to cover them I had to negotiate a fallen tree and a steep bank. This time the outcome was better with one fish landed but not before it spooked the other. The day could only get better, and it did.
The other day I was with Richard Fitzpatrick on the Mataura. We had rising fish until mid afternoon. The ripples held few fish, but the flat water had trout feasting on emerging duns and spinners. Although it took a bit of swapping back and forward to find the fly of the moment.
It was interesting, there were two distinct year groups of fish, one group averaged around 500gm and those a year older averaged about a kilo. We hope to catch some of them next season when they are bigger.
