First few days of
the new season have kicked off and river conditions are still reasonably
average, due to the rain falling reasonably consistently in the ranges.
Caught and released
a couple of nice fish in the middle reaches of the tributaries which I imagine
are late spawners looking at them. They hit a modified woolly (using UV yarn)
which I will share later. It really seems to work esp for newer anglers early
in the season throwing wets, as nymphing in the early stages of learning can be
quite unrewarding and technically difficult.
River color and a
lot of stream mouths being very tight or
closed, is limiting the whitebait’s run
at present, but hopefully those of us that chase the sea runs feeding on them
should have it better soon.
Will be interesting
to see what the beetle flights will be like this year, as it has been a good
winter for bugs (not to cold for too long) so hoping for another great dry fly
season later on.
Fishing all next
week as son off school so should hopefully have a better report soon.
If it stops bloody
raining.
Cheers
Well
the true Wairarapa summer has hit, 29-31 degrees and the river dropping faster
than a politian’s credibility, river levels are very low in the Raumahunga and
Waiohine, the forecast for later this week is rain, but then it was for a couple of days last week. Farmers are not allowed to pull water
for irrigation now and water restrictions are in place for the townies.
It
always surprises me when a well-known side creek here dries up every few years then
when it starts running again it is quickly populated and fishes well.
Little
bit of concern as the water heats up and the pools become crowded, lethargic
and dead fish, as in the big drought a few years ago. Let’s see what happens
this year; I hear they are moving fish in the mainland to lower reaches
already.
Hatches
are in full swing with some good late evening fishing, haven’t heard any consistent
cicadas yet but soon it will be time to get on the bike and cycle up to some
little creek that I am sure is around here somewhere………
Been
having fun with wee wet blue duns fished across and down in really shallow
sections late evening, on a floating
line, a newby we are helping nearly tuna’d
a fish ( except the tippet broke…..) as it drove a bow wave to get to the fly.
(tuna’d) : To strike so hard the fish lands on the
bank beside you.
Santa brought me TFO Axiom
6w for Xmas and I have to say it casts as well or better than some rods I have
at three times the price, have had to go up on it, a weight class or two nearly but it still
throws well no matter what I line I use, WF, DT or depth finders.
Have to share last evenings fishing as I can’t be the only
one this has happened to….
Beautiful evening, almost no wind, and we decide to go for a
late evening fish, the good lady and son are coming so a great family evening
in the outdoors.
Load up the truck, drive and then wander up to the bottom of
a favourite long long pool and see fish already rising.
While two set up the rods the other goes and catches a
couple of the mayflies floating past so we can match the hatch…. Looks like a size 12 Dads Fav will do tonight comes the sons opinion, one of us decides to
try a small klink just in case.
We select our stations and quietly slip into the river……. I
watch the son miss a fish on his second cast, small chuckle… still over eager
he is (Yoda the wise statement)
3rd cast a nose rises through the mirror, and my
little klink vanishes in a little swirl, I wait, strike feel a good fish tear
over to the deep channel peeling out the loose line, got him on the reel, he’s
powering upstream, apply a little side strain and pop the hook pulls………….
Little smile from the good lady, shrug of the shoulders and
the thought… well there will be another
Then my lesson began…….. 45 minutes and 5 lost fish later, I
was getting a little wound up, have checked hooks, done everything I know just can’t
keep them on, or hook them after the take.
Then I see a really good fish for this river in about 2 ft
water feeding freely, sneak in behind, perfect cast to the side wrapping around
ahead of him, watch him rise to it, here we go all will be forgiven…..slurp,
wait, strike….. a solid feeling like getting snagged then nothing……… #%$&@ echos down the river, I am not happy…
I look up and see my family laughing at me….. And then I laugh.
I learnt a valuable lesson last night… fishing is fun even
when I get it wrong.
You won’t need wading boots on some sections of the rivers
around here now, you would be lucky to get your toes wet wearing jandals, one
mate commented on the weekend.
There are fish around if you are prepared to walk where no
one else can be bothered too, lots of pressure on the easy access pools not only from the fisherman but this
weekend nearly any spot that could be reached by a four-wheel drive seemed to
have someone swimming in it. Some riffles have a few fish but some of the runs
have a good build-up of slime (if good is a suitable word)
Good hatches occurring just not seeing the usual level of activity
we would normally see, as you would suppose it is much more concentrated
now. An unconfirmed report from a cockie
said he could count 80 plus fish from the cliff top above a pool through his
property.
I hear the rivers around the lakes are fishing well so might
be time for road trip.
Gulfisher wrote: Mid week and the possibility of settled weather is still in question., Mates fishing the Hutt River over the hill have taken up drinking.... more chance of seeing a fish they reckon. Possibly the worst start to a season I can remember for a while, the funny thing is the cabbage trees here are flowering which if local predications are correct means an hot dry summer. So we may go from too much water to none in some creeks. We were thinking about heading out to the coast for a SW trip on the Kahawai but the river mouths are just brown, so out come the mountain bikes and we are off to a "special" site, Hoping everyone has a good season. |
After a couple of weeks off due to a shoulder injury, I finally got back on the water over the last few days, the rivers as expected are low but seem to have settled into a good rhythm, if that makes sense. Wandering along the river it was good to see quite a lot of small fish ( 1lb) around and the better runs with some cover are holding some nicely conditioned fish. As usual they can be few and far between, and most of the time seems to be taking dun colored emergers in the evening, and beetles during the day. No cicadas yet… Last night I threw half a fly box at a couple of nice little fish feeding really hard in the bubble line, sometimes just a nose would appear other times they nearly broached they hit that hard. In the end I was successful with a 16 willow grub, which made little sense, but thats fishing.. Don’t know what they were feeding on in reality as I did not kill a beautifully conditioned 3lb hen who really did not want to come to the bank.
Having success with a small modified woolly, green marabou tail with a couple of gold filaments, body is really simple the main body is bright green synthetic chenille, warped sparsely with either brilliant red or blue chenille, and nothing else.
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