Taieri River looking promising for fishing

Now that the thunder has come and gone and there are no strong easterlies in the forecast for this weekend things look promising for keen anglers.

Most rivers and streams are looking good except for the Clutha which is still very high. The Taieri in particular is looking good throughout its length as far as flow is concerned although it is still peat stained in the lower river.

The Taieri is 288km long, the fourth longest river in New Zealand most of it providing good fishing although access is difficult for some of it especially in the gorge between Outram and Sutton.

I am sure that much of it will not see an angler from one year to the next. I fish the Taieri quite a lot and rarely see other anglers, except for the Outram stretch which is very popular due to its easy access. It is surprising how good the fishing can be around Outram despite the pressure it receives.

The pressure is not just from anglers but other river users too. It is common to see bathers, kayakers, and rafters as well as swimming dogs and picnickers. I remember seeing hordes of people at the Outram Glen beach one hot summer’s day churning the water to a foam but within half an hour of everyone leaving there were trout rising. Evening is probably the best time as there are more insects around to bring trout to the surface to feed. It is difficult to spot trout in the water, so rising fish makes life easier for the angler. At this time of year mayflies hatch in the afternoon and if they are present in sufficient numbers trout will rise to them an Adams dry or an emerger will produce a fish or two.

So far this season I have only fished outside the Taieri catchment a couple of times. The irrigation dams, Blakely’s, Rutherford’s and Mathias’ are all in the Taieri catchment as well as several others.

I fished Blakely’s last weekend hoping to catch some of the maiden rainbows for which it is famous. I only caught three earlier in the season. These maiden fish are definitely there as they are the fish that were stocked last year. I suspect that they have been feeding in the deeper water out of reach of my flies. Probably on snails which have been conspicuous by their absence on the surface. However, snails were on the surface and I suspect that most of the rises on the day were to snails.

The first fish I caught was on a damsel fly nymph which has accounted for most of my fish so far this season. I was fishing it deep off the dam and the fish a typical maiden, a bar of silver and as fat as butter.

On the opposite shore there were snails being blown against the shore and trout were taking them. The biggest black and peacock I had was a size 10, a bit on the small side for imitating a Blakely snail but big enough to catch a fish.