South Canterbury Report – December 2007

How angling fortunes can vary from season to season and even day to day. This one has been particularly fickle in South Canterbury, to the point where I’ve been contacted by a number of anglers asking if I had any theories on the extremely variable success they have been experiencing. Like most other anglers I’ve spoken to I’ve had days ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous too.

So just what’s been going on? Anglers in this region have not had to contend with wildly fluctuating stream levels, unlike some areas which have gone from floods of near record proportions to low, low levels in a very short time frame. This should all be good for both fish and anglers here but cooler than average October and November conditions and a lack of freshes to stir things up seems to have inhibited mayfly hatches in particular. Our lowland rivers are essentially “hatch driven.”  Brown trout are somewhat lazy and respond to periods of food abundance and loll about conserving energy the rest of the time it seems.

The transformation when a good hatch starts up is often quite remarkable, with fish receptive to small nymphs right up in the fast water. Indeed, blind fishing has been much more productive than sight fishing for me this season. Just because fish are not on show does not mean that they are not there. I guided a couple of very skilful Auckland anglers recently who stuck to their guns on a grey, miserable day. Their persistence saw them hook up on over a dozen fish for the day. Of course Murphys Law applied and the biggest ones got away, but they certainly knew that they had them on!

By contrast the evening fishing has been stunning at times. The brown beetles are causing the local farmers much grief but the trout are wolfing them down.  Bulky dry flies like  coch y bondhu, royal wulff or humpy fished upstream to rises right on dark are almost guaranteed to produce success. Presentation isn’t important. Just keep tossing it up. Sooner or later a fat brown will grab it. Be quick though as the beetles will be gone soon. I’m confident that the mayfly hatches will come as water levels drop.

The salmon season is underway with some outstanding fish taken already, mainly in the Rangitata surf. I’ve tried my old haunts up-river but haven’t even seen a fish yet apart from some excellent trout. Some of the old hands are predicting a very good season. Fingers crossed. Unfortunately didymo is present from about Peel Forest down. Please try not to spread it.

Hot tip. Check out the Ashburton river and other small streams running near pasture for evening beetle hatches, especially after a warmer than average day.

Graeme Marshall is an independent fishing guide; his reports are not officially representative of Fish & Game NZ

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