Rain last weekend raised levels, but luckily not too much and recent warm days have raised the water temperatures to above 12°C, which is ideal at this time of year.
I like to fish the Mataura in the spring, but it has been running a bit high for me. That is changing, and it is rapidly approaching a good level. If there is one river where a good hatch of mayflies can be expected to appear, it is the Mataura. In fact, the level does not affect the chances of hatch as may flies hatch just about every day.
The factor that fishers need to be concerned about is the clarity of the water. That is most important, not so much when trout are rising, but when they are chasing the nymph before a hatch or when the hatch is over.
The water needs to be clear enough for the fish to spot an angler’s nymph in the water, but if they are rising and a dry fly is being used the fish can spot it more easily against the light sky. One way to help trout spot a nymph in coloured water is to use a gold bead head nymph.
The Pomahaka is at a very good level, but I have not heard whether it has cleared enough to make it worth fishing. Again, a dry fly will work if fish are rising but it is a long way to drive to only fish for the short duration of a hatch of mayflies.
Last weekend I had a fly fisher’s philosophical dilemma whether a single may fly hatching constitutes "a hatch".
This came about as I saw only one dun hatch on the Waipahi when fishing there on Sunday.
I expected to see more fly life, as it was cool and wet with the wind coming from the southwest. This is typical for a spring day in South Otago and is usually good for fishing. It was windy and wet to start, but the river was looking good, a nice level and clear.
Murray and I were fishing the middle reaches of the river so that the wind was not in our faces. I covered a lot of likely pools and runs, but only saw one fish in the first hour. Sadly, it saw me first.
Shortly after, I saw another which was not spooked. It was in a difficult position under an overhanging branch. I had to have a go and amazingly missed the branch and dropped the fly close to the fish. It turned slowly towards the fly, then disappeared under the willow never to be seen again.
Further on I carefully fished through what I thought was the best run so far and just near the top, the line stopped and I was on to a good fish. Just before getting back to the car, I managed to land an even better fish, before heavy rain and stronger wind curtailed fishing for the day.
