The hot and windy weather has pushed up river temperatures well into summer levels with some rising to over 20°C.
As temperatures drop in the late evening there is always a chance of an evening rise. Most small streams are low and for easier fishing it is the larger rivers that give the best chance of a fish: the Mataura, Pomahaka and Taieri.
Fishing a nymph in the ripples is the best bet if there is no surface activity. Cover the water systematically, fishing close in then gradually extending the length of cast to comfortable distance. Always fish the water closer to the bank first as fish will lie in quite shallow water often just enough to cover them.
Cast upstream to start, then further out again as far as you can cope with comfortably.
Most things that go wrong when fly fishing are due to false casting too much or trying to cast too far. These cause tangles, cracking off flies, splashy presentations and hooking the bank behind, all of which reduce the chances of catching a fish.
Most of the things that trout feed on in rivers are small brown things, so using small brown nymphs is the logical way to go.
Murray and I fished dams this week hopefully before concentrating on rivers for a change.
The day was pleasant when we started on Blakelys Dam with a few fish rising, although they were hard to interest in a fly.
Even when they were interested, they did not hang on long.
Murray eventually found an obliging fish which well and truly hung on and it weighed over 3kg.
I also managed to catch one about half that weight.
After a while we decided to see if the browns in Mathias Dam would be more co-operative.
We have fished Mathias a couple of times this season and have been disappointed with the results, my catch to date being one brown trout.
Murray has caught both browns and rainbows, but the rainbows have evaded me.
We saw very few rises but fished resolutely, nevertheless.
I covered one fish that I saw rise to no effect.
I decided to fish along the shore, moving every few casts, and after a while I saw a couple of rises but they were too far out.
One rose an easy cast away and I plonked my flies, a water boatman and a damselfly nymph, a metre upwind of the rise and it took straight away. It was a 1.5kg brown on the water boatman.
I saw another rise but it was a while before I hooked it, on the damselfly nymph. It was a 2kg brown trout. Shortly after I landed my first Mathias rainbow about 15cm long. At least it was a fish.
