Most of the other anglers I meet on the river are old codgers like myself, or at least middle-aged codgers, but very few are young people, which is a pity.
Last Saturday it was a pleasant surprise to meet half a dozen youngsters on the Taieri below Outram. They talked knowledgeably about fishing and their gear was well set up and could cast well. One of them had caught a perch that day but all of them spoke of fish they had caught previously.
They were spin fishing which is an ideal introduction to fishing as they learn river craft and where to find fish. Youngsters often say there is nothing to do, but fishing opens up endless possibilities of things to do; there is the fishing itself, there is tackle preparation, making lures, tying flies and talking with fellow fanatics and, of course, reading about it.
By sheer coincidence the next day, I met a young fellow on the Mataura who was fishing in a club competition, Mataura versus Wyndham. The limit bag is two fish on the Mataura.
He had already caught and returned 10 trout thread-lining and caught another while I was talking to him which he deemed big enough to keep, then returned two more.
He certainly knew what he was doing and he told me of catching 17 trout recently on the spent spinner so he is a fly fisher, too. I also know Menzies College, in Wyndham, has a fishing club, which is ideal, so close to the Mataura. When I was teaching in England, I ran a fishing club at the middle school I worked at. It was interesting the so-called ‘‘problem kids’’ took to it with great enthusiasm and were never a problem.
Rivers have certainly cooled over the last week, as I found out on the Taieri, midweek. The water temperature was 14°C, several degrees cooler than the Mataura last weekend. I was wading wet of course but by lunchtime the day and the water had warmed up.
The first ripple produced two fish netted and one lost as well as couple of misses. Things looked promising, but the promise was not fulfilled, as it was a while before I saw another fish. There was the odd mayfly about, both spinners and duns, but not enough to bring trout to the surface.
The water was clear but I hardly saw a fish. Then I came to a shaded area under some big willows and at least one trout was rising there. I covered the general area with a nymph and missed a take.
I cast again and there was a savage take and the fish took off down stream at a rate of knots but eventually came to the net and weighed just under 2kg.
