It is hard enough predicting how fishing will go a few days out when the weather is settles but the roller coaster weather of the last week makes it even more difficult.
It seems to be settling down this week more on the cool and damp side than the warm and dry.
This is probably a good thing, from the fishing point of view, as water levels dropped dramatically last week. Water temperatures also rose but they have dropped back to an ideal level for spring.
One water that was starting to look promising was the Mataura but it has risen about 25cm. If there is little rain before the weekend, it should be ideal.
The Taieri, too, has been fishing well and should do so again this weekend.
There are quite a few people who would like to see the Waipahi in good order this weekend, as that is the day of the annual fly fishing competition the Waipahi Gold Medal.
In fact, it is the 125th Waipahi Gold Medal. The entry this year is 46 with many familiar names and the odd new one.
Usually, trying to pick a winner is a fruitless exercise but that has never stopped me before and will not stop me now. I will hedge my bets and pick three anglers in with a good chance of winning.
Best bet would be Jeff Hansen, of Balclutha. Jeff has drawn section 1, at the top of the river, and he has won the gold medal twice from that section.
Dave Linklater has won eight times before and he is on a good section, number 13.
Previous winner Steve Milford has drawn section 18, a good one, and he is always there or thereabouts.
I would like to think I was in with a chance, but the reality is I have drawn section 22 twice before to finish nowhere, Ah well, there is no harm in dreaming.
I was not dreaming on Monday, when I fished the upper Taieri. It was calm, warm and sunny when my son Chris, Matt Thomson and I arrived on the river.
I fished upstream with the nymph, lost a fish straight away and it was some time before I connected with another. This time it stayed on and in the net it weighed over 2kg and was in great condition.
I caught one or two more as the morning wore on and the wind increased.
An occasional fish jumped at damsel flies and as long as the nymph was put to them quickly, they obligingly took it.
After lunch, the wind increased considerably and I saw only one fish rise all afternoon.
There were few flies on the water, although they would have been hard to see because of the ripple caused by the wind.
It was a long, fruitless flog into the hot wind back up to the car, but it made the ice cream at Middlemarch taste all the better.
- Mike Weddell
