On opening day Murray and I fished in snow on the Maniototo and this week I fished the lower Taieri in 20˚C plus.
Both days produced fish but the snow day was by far the better of the two.
Admittedly it was not total absence but numbers and days with them present were well below average.
Of course, the weather plays a large part in how many and how often insects appear on the water.
But checking my diaries of the last 46 years what stands out is the decrease in mayflies. This is noticeable across all the waters that I fish regularly.
The Mataura in particular was conspicuous in its lack of hatches.
Probably more noticeable there as it has historically had the biggest and most frequent hatches.
The Taieri too has seen a drop in mayfly numbers, I saw only two for the day this week. That was on the lower river but I have had days on the middle and upper reaches where I have seen none at all.
Interestingly the same thing is occurring in English waters.
There it has been attributed to the widespread use of pesticides (this is advertising puffery for insecticides to con us into believing they only kill pest species).
The weather was against willow grub.
They emerge in vast numbers when it is warm so the cool summer did not help.
It seemed late in the season there were still a lot of these little caterpillars ensconced in the red blisters on willow leaves.
Equally the weather did not play its part as far as the cicada fishing goes.
I only looked for them once and saw none and anglers that I talked to had seen few and there were even fewer days when reasonable numbers of fish were caught on them.
The most concerning absence throughout the season was the lack of fish.
In the waters that I fish a lot, the Mataura, Pomahaka and the Taieri I noticed far fewer trout than in past seasons.
Surprisingly the average weight of fish that I caught was higher than in previous seasons.
Not that there were more big fish but rather an absence of small fish.
This could be the result of a one-off event such as a flood coinciding with spawning or the emergence of trout that have recently hatched.
If that is the case the normal mix of sizes will resume in a season or two.
On a brighter note, luckily, I do not fish for salmon.
Now for a winter of tying flies, sorting out tackle and remembering the good days of the last year.
Then thoughts turn to next season which will soon come around.
This past season I only fished 10 different waters — well down on usual.
Hopefully next season it will be a few more.
