High pressure usually means good fishing, provided rivers are at a good height and are fairly clear. Many rivers have been up and a little discoloured this week, especially if there is snow in their headwaters.
Most of the snow has disappeared, and the melt water has to go somewhere — and that is into rivers and streams. Hopefully it will be well through when you hit the water.
River temperatures will be a bit lower than recently and when the water is cold, trout lie deeper.
If you are fly fishing get your nymph well down; the same applies to spinners or soft bait fishers. If there is a rise to mayflies you can change to a dry fly.
If you prefer stillwater fishing, the conditions are ideal for fishing your favourite pond. Again, the water is cool so fish will be deep, so that is where your fly or lure should be.
Both should be fished slowly or slowly with a slightly quicker retrieve every second or third cast for variation.
I was fishing Blakely’s Dam this week and there was still some snow on the banks in the morning, but it was mostly gone by late afternoon.
The only other angler I saw was Bruce McGavin who, like me, is a regular competitor in the Waipahi Gold Medal. Naturally our conversation contained discussion about the prospects for this weekend — what beats had we drawn, had we fished there before and how did we rate our chances.
It is always better to play down your chances as you can only be pleasantly surprised.
Eventually we began reminiscing about previous "medals". Something we came to quickly was the lack of fly life in the river.
My diaries from the 1980s and 1990s frequently mention hatches of mayflies through the middle of the day in the spring.
It is quite a few years since I saw a good hatch, and there are few nymphs on the riverbed stones.
The number of fish caught and weighed in on competition day has dropped over the years, as has the limit bag.
When I first started taking part the limit was 10 fish, and it has been gradually been reduced to three. This leads to a weigh-in of usually less than 20 fish.
Usually less than half of competitors weigh in a fish, which is roughly the same as when the bag limit was 10 fish, and in recent years a catch of only two fish was enough to get a place.
One thing has improved and that is the average weight of fish, which is logical as only the very best fish are kept.
You may think Bruce and I are a couple of old codgers reminiscing about the good old days — and you are probably right.
