The recent rainfall will have freshened up some rivers and streams. The rain has been patchy, with the Waikaia catchment receiving 25mm and others nothing at all or close to nothing.
At least the overcast conditions will help cool the smaller waters such as the lower Pomahaka. This river has been flowing at less than 4cumecs for some time now and has been very warm - in the mid-20s day after day. It will take quite a bit more rain before it is worth fishing.
However, there are plenty of places worth fishing, especially the lower Clutha. The Waitaki, at around 400cumecs, is at a good level, but when I crossed it the other day it was a bit misty.
The Mataura would still have to be the pick of the waters. With cool southwesterlies forecast, it will be ideal, but if we have a fine weekend, there could be some cicadas out on the tussock lakes.
The onset of the cicada emergence varies from year to year and the earliest I have caught fish on the cicada is January 15, although I have talked to anglers who have had them a couple of weeks earlier than that.
Murray Smart and I had an interesting day on the Mataura last Sunday. The weather was almost perfect, warm sunny and calm for most of the day, with a strong wind getting up in the late afternoon. The water was clear and, at 16degC, perfect for fishing.
Surprisingly, I could hardly find a fish in the first hour or so and those I did find dropped off after a few seconds.
Then mid-morning, my luck changed. I found fish rising off a cut bank. There were odd duns coming down but most of the rises were swirls that indicated sub-surface food. I tried an unweighted size 14 hare's ear nymph and that worked.
Fish feeding off cut banks lie among the clods that have fallen in on the last flood, the water being a confusion of currents and eddies, with nymphs and flies accumulating in the latter.
The fish sometimes hold station in the current or do small circuits in the eddies.
The rise lasted about half an hour, during which time I hooked several, landing some and losing others. When the rise stopped, there were still odd fish in the side, one of which I caught on a bead head nymph after it refused the unweighted nymph. It turned out to be my best Mataura fish for some time at just under 3kg.
Further upstream, Murray had similar fishing, with rising trout coming to the emerger and nymph.
By late morning, things had returned to normal and we picked up fish in the ripples and this lasted right through the rest of the day. It was interesting that there were pockets of different-sized fish in some ripples under 1kg and in others up to 1.5kg. It could be even better this weekend.
• Written by Mike Weddell.
