For those who like chasing trout that are feasting on cicadas, the recent weather has been a bit of a setback.
The lower temperatures stop cicadas flying.
Looking at a seven-day weather forecast I see that from the sunshine point of view that things will improve next week but temperatures at sea level are going to be near 20degC which may not translate into enough heat at altitude.
However, there are often small sheltered areas on the tussock lakes that may become warm enough for localised cicada activity.
It is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Just like most fishing.
Although there was some rain this week, it has not affected rivers too much as I write so there should be opportunities to catch trout.
At the moment the Pomahaka is looking good along with the Mataura and the Taieri. If you like winkling trout out of very low streams the Waipahi is the place for you.
It is very low again after rising to just low after the rain.
The Waipahi has a reputation of being a spring river but most of my best catches over the years have been in the summer when it was very low.
The fish lie in the deeper ripples and between the weed beds where they mainly feed on caddis and mayfly nymphs.
There will also be fish on the flat water beneath the willows sipping down willow grub.
Last weekend I fished the Maniototo, a great standby when rivers are too high. I fished three dams, Rutherford’s, Hamilton’s and Mathias.
Rutherford’s has an algal bloom which was not too bad, visibility being about 300mm but not that attractive when clearer waters were available.
I gave it about half an hour but not seeing any trout moving decided to go to Mathias where the water was clear with just a bit of floating algae and a lot more water in it than on my last visit.
The hardest part was getting away from the fish that were stocked earlier in the season.
There were some rising fish and I covered the ones that seemed to be a bit bigger.
I got into an area where there were more brown trout and hooked several in a short time.
Of course, I did not land them all but the those that made it into the net were in very good condition.
I gave the fish a choice of water boatman or damsel fly nymph and both were accepted, with the water boatman slightly more successful.
A shift of scene to Hamilton’s produced quite a few of the small stocked fish and the only ones of a good size that I saw rose once each and a long way out of range.
I think the best bet there would be to fish at dusk when the bigger fish could rise to midge or sedge. Roll on next week’s fine weather.
