Over the past week there has been a string of fine days, although some were cold.
Luckily there has been little rain and rivers are falling, albeit slowly due to the ground still being saturated in many catchments.
I was on the Taieri at Outram one evening this week with my fishing class and although it was high, it was clear enough to fish. My measure of fishability as far as clarity goes is to be able to see the riverbed in about 45cm of water.
It was a cool, calm evening with the odd midge hatching so nothing much to bring trout to the surface. I did see three rises and one of the class members caught an apprentice trout on a nymph.
I suspect there could well be a hatch of mayflies in the afternoons. Turning over a few stones uncovered a mayfly nymph and surprisingly a stonefly nymph.
The Pomahaka is getting close to good fishable level as is the Mataura. Again, it is not so much the flow but rather the clarity that is important. The Waipahi too, which is at normal spring level, could be worth a look despite the relatively poor numbers of mayfly.
The dams around Dunedin are still producing fish —some of them quite large. I have recently caught fish at Sullivans and Southern Reservoir — not many but the size made up for lack of numbers.
Early and late in the day are the best times to fish.
Fishing Sullivans midweek it was fine but cold with a steady southwesterly wind blowing. There were few rises and those I saw required casting into the wind. The only way I could reach them was to wait for a lull in the wind and get a quick cast in.
I have not fished a river yet this season but hope to break the streak this weekend. Having only fished still waters it is not really surprising I have only caught fish on stillwater patterns and even then, only two, with a water boatman and damsel fly nymph, although the latter is used in two sizes — a heavy-hooked size 10 and a light-hooked size 12. The size 10 is for getting well down in the deeper water and the 12 to avoid getting hooked up in weed or catching the bottom in shallower water. As far as effectiveness goes, they have caught the same number of fish.
