Excuses, excuses. Talking to anglers at the 131st Waipahi Gold Medal on Saturday, you could be forgiven for thinking the fishing was a shocker.
Until weigh-in, that is: 40 fish between 28 competitors.
''The fish weren't rising,'' one said.
''The nor'wester came up late morning and they shut down,'' said another.
''The river's not the same as it used to be since the farming ... .''
The sentence trailed off.
• Slideshow: Waipahi Gold Medal Fishing Competition
But one-time silver medallist Chris Hyndman, of Dunedin, was happy with his lottery-drawn beat on the Waipahi River in South Otago this year. He has fished the competition for more than 20 years.
''At least it isn't snowing like it did two years ago. They only caught one fish between 30-odd anglers,'' Mr Hyndman said while fishing, delivering a coup de grace to his third ''keeper''.
He checked its stomach contents: chocker full of stick nymphs, a few mayfly nymphs and a koura (freshwater crayfish), the trout's vividly red-hued flesh owing to its diet of koura.
For Mike Sawyer, of Dunedin, things did not go to plan in his fourth Waipahi Gold Medal competition.
He had caught and released only two small fish all day.
In admitted desperation, he switched to a sinking line and swung a big wet fly through a deep hole in the final 10 minutes.
It snagged and broke off.
''That sums up my day,'' he said with a smile.
''I like this river, but I've had better days.''
Fish were weighed at the Waipahi Station woolshed, hosted by Gaynor and Dave Linklater.
Fish and Game officer Helen Keeling tried her hand at fly-fishing in the competition.
''I had bit of trouble with the wind,'' she said.
Then she got back to business collecting research data.
Most trout would eventually land in a smoker or pan, but their heads were bagged for science.
''Because the fish are killed, it's a great opportunity to collect weight and length data.''
Each contains an earbone - an otolith - that, like a tree, has rings which tell a story about its past. A chemical signature enables scientists to identify rivers where each trout has lived year to year.
Catch records from every Waipahi Gold Medal event run by the Otago Anglers' Association go back to the late 19th century.
By any measure, anglers will be just as hopeful again next year.
Results
Gold medal: Bruce McGavin, 5.63kg; silver: Shane Hansen, 4.63kg; bronze: Tim Gibson, 3.76kg; heaviest fish: Roy Smolders, 1.8kg.
