Fishing Reports index >May 2007

Trout Chasing

Well our freshwater season is truly over now but that is by no means a reason to put away the rod. You don’t want to appear rusty on opening week, and there are two courses of action to avoid this.

Keep fishin.

The Southern Lakes area can provide some exhilarating sport for the fly angler over the coming months, with pre spawning rainbows making their way to the river mouths of the Wakatipu. These fish can appear in surprising numbers around the many stream mouths of our main lake, as they await a fresh to entice them upriver.

The Dart, Rees, Greenstone, Von and Lochy are the big boys of the lake, but do not discount the many smaller trickles, which run from the hills. Many a fun filled afternoon has been had hitting the stream mouths off the Glenorchy road.

Now during the day these fish will often stay deep, congregating over the drop offs around the river mouth. An orange coloured streamer of sorts to play on their aggressive streak should be fished on a sinking line, or a sink tip where appropriate.

The benefits of a sink tip line come into play when retrieving over a rocky drop off, where a full sinking line would snag up on the structure of the shallows.

The floating portion of the sink tip also allows replacement of the line on the water after the cast has been made, better facilitating a tighter retrieve, and instant strike detection.

Now you don’t need to run out and buy a sink tip line. Many people often find difficulty in casting these specialist lines, due to an unbalance where the sinking tip kicks in. This can be reduced by employing the Belgian, or elliptical cast as described in the April 07 issue of Reellife.

A worthy alternative are the inexpensive Airflo polytips, a 10 foot polymer leader which comes in a variety of sink rates and are surprisingly smooth to cast. They can be attached within seconds to your ordinary floating line and are perfect for fishing around our Wakatipu drop offs.

Night fishing however is when I encounter the big fish of the run. Under the cover of darkness, the darker the better, many fish will move into the shallows around the river mouths and into the streams themselves. Be careful wading at night, for as well as the obvious dangers, fish will often nose right up to the beaches. Needless to say, your first casts should be short, and pitched parallel to the shore.

Use a black fly at night, to throw out a dark silhouette for the fish to hone in on. Long casts are not needed, for as mentioned, many fish will work their way in close.

Retrieve with your rod tip low to the water, to eliminate slack line, and retrieve slow.

With today’s modern innovations in outdoors clothing, or even with the tried and true Kiwi Swandri there is no reason for winter fishing to be an uncomfortable experience.

Remember to clean, check and dry, for didymo is now widespread throughout Lake Wakatipu. There is a Cleaning station free to use at the Frankton Mobil. Please use it this winter.

Get a lesson

As a Federation of Fly Fishers Certified Casting Instructor I am qualified to teach fly fishing technique at an international standard. Why go to waste this winter? Touch up on your technique, improve loop control, learn to double haul or add a few presentation casts to your arsenal. Why watch helplessly as those fish cruise 10’ past your max distance? Learn fun, effective practise drills to progress your overall ability and keep you sharp for October, and to broaden your skills for when you most need them.

A quick tip

Most casting problems stem from an inefficient back cast. Your back cast must travel high and tight to enable any sort of effective fore presentation.

One of the most common problems is sag, or a drop in the back cast, where the line falls below the level of the rod tip, losing tension and requiring much of the rods stored energy just to lift the line back up over the rod tip again. Often the result is a high forward cast or a wide, ineffective loop, and a pile of line dumped down in front of you… The trout feeds on!

What I want you to do is not look at it as flicking the line behind you. Imagine you are trying to flick the line upwards, not backwards. Stop your back cast whilst your rod tip is still travelling in an upwards direction, sending your line high and fast. Inertia will ensure your line travels behind, but with enough energy to maintain tension throughout your cast. Correct timing of the pause (short line, short pause – long line, long pause) will ensure your back cast straightens sufficiently, and a smooth acceleration on the forward cast will then send your fly sailing towards its target.

Sort your back cast for an effective overall performance!

Tight lines

Chris Dore

FFF Certified Casting Instructor

M. 027 693 3027

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