The weather is good, waters are in good order and the cicada season is upon us — all we need is the will to get out and do it.
The hardest part is deciding where to go.
Actually, we face this problem every time we go fishing as we are spoilt for choice in Otago despite my last two outings being in Southland.
Just as you choose a different method to catch them if they are not rising in your favourite river, do the same on the lakes.
So, make sure you take some damselfly nymphs with you, just in case.
Calm days recently have produced mayfly spinner falls on rivers.
These falls do not always bring trout to the surface but when they are rising trout can lock on to them and are just about impossible to catch on anything else.
They can be just about impossible even if the right fly is used. Trout are usually rising to spinners on flat water so they get a good look at the fly and refusals are common.
If a usually reliable spinner pattern is being used, it is probably not that you have the wrong fly but how it is being fished.
Ideally, cast into the sun rather than having it at your back and fish at 90 degrees to the fish.
This way your leader is less visible to the fish as the sun’s glint is the usual reason for the refusal. Spinner fishing is easier if fish are rising often and you can see them in the water as they tend to move around a lot in flat water. Fish a fine tippet, in keeping with the size of the fish you are targeting, and most of all persevere.
On my recent visits to the Mataura, I have found fish in bunches after covering lots of water without a sign of a fish. Having spotted a bunch, I have found they have been ready, in fact almost eager to take.
Such was the case at the tail of a large pool where trout were rising regularly. I had fished the stretch of water and caught one fish then suddenly I was in the thick of it as every cast was to a rising fish.
The same thing happened midweek. I had fished what I thought would have been a productive ripple but only spooked on fish in the shallows.
Crossing the river above the ripple, I spotted several fish cruising around under a willow. They were taking something on the bottom, although there was the odd rise too.
They took a nymph, although the first taker took and rejected it twice before being hooked on the third attempt. Several of its companions soon followed suit.
