There is every chance that we will be back to typical autumn weather before the end of the season.
However, this does not help those anglers keen to get out this weekend as most of our rivers are high, especially the bigger rivers.
If running water is a must for you, seek out small streams especially nearer the coast as they drop and clear faster than streams that drain the high country.
There are plenty of still waters that will be fishable.
The drop in temperature will trigger the spawning urge in brown trout, so they will move towards the mouths of streams that run into lakes.
Rainbows too will start to gather there, not to spawn but in anticipation of the feast of brown trout eggs that will be carried downstream when spawning commences.
Rainbows spawn in the late winter and early spring and will be in peak condition for the next two or three months.
They can be readily caught at stream mouths on such flies as Woolly Bugger, Mrs. Simpson and my favourite, Red Setter.
These flies should be cast down and across the current running into the lake and retrieved slowly.
Some of the biggest rainbows caught each year are caught in this way.
If you can find a stream that is fishable, afternoons will be the best, when there is a good chance of a mayfly hatch and the flies to use are a nymph, an emerger or a dun imitation. If I had to limit the selection to one fly, it would be a Hare’s Ear nymph.
Some browns will be already close to spawning, but in some rivers there will be some maiden fish that will not spawn this year, they are still brightly coloured and are the best fish for eating.
Trout close to spawning tend to be grey on the belly and dark on the back and feel slimy when you touch them, they should be returned.
With only a month to go until the end of the season I will get out as often as possible to make up for my lack of fishing in March.
I managed to get a few hours on Blakely’s Dam in the last week.
There was a mist first thing in the morning giving that autumn feel to the proceedings and more wild fowl on the water than I have seen for a long time.
Unfortunately there were not many trout rising but as the mist cleared a few started to rise.
There was nothing that I could see on the water to suggest what they were taking, so I persisted with the good old damsel fly nymph.
It produced a perfect maiden rainbow making the day worthwhile.
