Late April fly fishing down south

NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Lake Whakatipu

The last week since Easter has seen some odd warm (ish) weather with quite large quanties of precip falling west of the divide with some signifacnt spill over. The eastern side has not recieved too much rain but with the temps being warmer (until now) on top of the large floods we recieved about 3 weeks ago in many areas have certainly taken a toll on the the big mayfly hatchs we normally get. Although there has been some good steady action on the lower Mataura and yesterday on the upper “X” saw a good mid afternnon hatch of mayfly with fish feeding on the sub surface on the emerger but no actual surface action.

With the cold and clear weather on us now and steady thru to Friday there should be stronger hatches and we should see trout coming to the surface to sip the mayfly a great deal more on most of the Southern rivers.

NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Clear, calm and cool Lake Hayes in Autumn

With only 9 days left to go before the lowland rivers close it’s nice to see some stable weather for a change. This season has certainly been hard due to the very chanageable weather patterns but with good local knowledge has produces some great fishing at times.

The back country rivers stay open until the end of May and if the weather patterns give us some decent weather there will be some more good fishing available for the keen angler.

I am starting to get ready for some duck shooting and have been bringing bags of feed back from Southland to feed our ponds – (evening shoots preferred) but I will get in a bit more trout fishing before I head up to Golden Bay in mid May for a wee break. I am taking some saltwater fly fishing gear in the vain hope there might be some snapper around still (they usually move on around the end of April to follow the warm water)  – we will see.

NZ Fly Fishing Expeditions - Back country Rainbow

My last few days of guiding have been interesting from the tuition front. An interesting point is how detrimental to good fly casting is the habit of wanting to overmuscle the rod to load it up as opposed to allowing good technique to work the rod and allow for clean excution of the presentation. It’s something we are all gulity of now and again and is probably excerbated by “hog fever” and trying too hard rather than feeling the smooth rhythm of good fly casting. To be sure powering the rod up takes musclar activity and especially so when it comes distance casting but the majority of trout we catch is in a 30 -45 ft distance using long (and sometimes very long) leaders. Having the skills to deliver an acurate cast the right length, first time can make a huge difference to the results at the end of the day…….practice  your casting. Make the time to practice particularly before going on a trip. Practice casting is best done on the grass in the park and not while seeing a 8+ lbs New Zealand feeding parked in a tricky pool eye. Yes life is busy but do yourself a favour – PRACTICE – it will pay off!