Most waters are well above summer level but low enough to fish well. Let us hope the rain that is forecast will not spoil things for the weekend.
As I write, it is hard to choose between the Mataura, Pomahaka and the Taieri.
For those who are aiming to fish a still water, Poolburn or Mahinerangi would be good choices.
There are lots of insects about at the moment — I have seen mayflies, sedges, beetles and damselflies in good number and even fish rising to them. The advantage of rising fish is that you have a good indication what they are feeding on and their position.
It is, however, worth remembering that where a fish rises is not necessarily where the fish is lying in a stream.
They may move sideways to intercept a fly or drop back with the current as they come to the surface and the rise could be well behind where the fish lie.
Fish will drop back a metre or more at times depending on the depth that they are lying at. If you cast a fly that you think is likely to tempt a fish and it does not do the trick it is easy to assume it is the wrong fly.
But if the fly lands behind the fish, it will not see it. It is worth casting further upstream of the rise to ensure that the fish actually sees the fly. If they can see the fly, they will move some distance to take it; if they cannot see it, they will never take it.
Last weekend, Murray and I took the sage advice from this column and fished the Pomahaka.
It was slightly higher than the ideal level, making it difficult to cross, but still worth fishing.
We saw fish rising as soon as we got on the water, which was a good omen. As it was calm, there were a few mayfly spinners on the water and where I started there was a fish rising on the opposite side.
Catching it from the high bank that I was on did not seem likely, so I walked downstream to find a place to cross. It was much harder to see the fish once I had crossed without the advantage of height. Luckily it rose and I was able to get the fly to it quickly and it took it straight away. A good start to the day.
But things slowed up dramatically and it was well over an hour before number two came to the net.
This time it was nymphing at the tail of a deep ripple. It would not take my weighted hare’s ear so I put on a tungsten bead head nymph to get down to it and it took first cast. Looking up at the flat above, there were several rising fish which provided the action until lunchtime and after lunch too.
