Most anglers dream about the next fishing trip, and in the dream, it is a sunny day with a gentle upstream breeze. Of course, the water is at a perfect level and at just the right temperature for wading wet.
Anglers dream a lot, especially when doing mundane tasks such as working, gardening, DIY, cutting the lawns and washing the car when it is already clean. It helps the time pass more quickly which brings the next fishing trip ever closer.
The fine days we have had recently only intensify the dreaming.
It is not necessary to have a fine day to catch fish, but it does make the experience more enjoyable. Equally, going out on a less favourable day and catching a fish makes it more enjoyable, too.
At the moment, there is a good chance of catching a fish anywhere there are fish. Most rivers are at a good level and the rain forecast should not be enough to spoil things, fingers crossed.
It is quite hard typing this with fingers crossed so hopefully 30 seconds of crossing will be enough.
The higher lakes come into their own at this time of year. The weather is probably more important from the access point of view as rain can make the roads difficult.
We are maybe a week or so away from cicadas but the fish are still there and they have to feed.
If they are on the surface, a beetle imitation or a midge pupa should catch them.
If they are not on the surface, a damsel fly nymph or a water boatman are worth trying.
If the water you are fishing has crayfish (koura) in it, a Mrs Simpson fished slowly will work.
I have had a couple of outings recently — funnily enough they were both mostly fine days with a gentle upstream breeze.
The first was on the Mataura and fish were rising when I first started. They were moving around in flat shallow water and were difficult to spot due to the glare from the water’s surface.
I caught a couple on the nymph but as more duns appeared on the water there were several refusals to it. So, I put on an emerger and targeted fish that I could see in areas near bushes that cut the glare.
The ones that took the emerger did so first cast. If they did not take it, it was a waste of time casting at them again.
After lunch I fished ripples blind as there were no rises and caught a few and lost several more on a weighted hare’s ear nymph.
The other outing was on the Taieri below Outram.
There few fish were rising but one tucked under a bush took a nymph dropped near it. Then I saw and touched nothing for a while then spotted a rise which produced the best fish of the day.
Two fish rising regularly under a tree produced a take and no hook up and that was it for the afternoon.
