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TROUT FISHING WITH MAURICE RODWAY - Weekly Column: November 28, 2001
 Southland, New Zealand

Warm Days

The warm days at the end of November are a signal that the trout fishing season is in full swing and that the best time of the year for trout fishing has arrived. Through the early part of November there is always a chance of a frost. December diminishes that but the risk of a thunder storm rises.

On warm November evenings black thunderheads moisten the air and failing light draws brown beetles from the grass just as a clear October night draws out the frost. Late last summer and into the autumn the drought made conditions ideal for grass grubs which now hatch to spread more beetles around. In the process many find their way into streams where they make a tasty  treat for trout.

While beetles provide food for trout and an opportunity for anglers to catch them their habit of only flying just on dark makes fishing for the brown beetle rise rather more difficult than fishing for trout during the daytime when the light is much better. For those of us with failing eyesight tying on flies as the dark deepens is hopelessly difficult. And even when, at last, connection with the eye of the hook is made and a bushy bumbly fly is securely fastened, casting to the exact place where the trout is rising relies more on luck than skill.

Luck is important in our lives but in the dark where running water muffles the sound of a trout rising it makes the difference between a trout to take home and only a story to tell. Where water runs quietly you can hear the sound of trout sipping brown beetles from the surface. Then you can cast in the direction of the sound and your skill in casting a knot free line, avoiding overhanging grasses in front and branches behind will really sort out he wheat from the chaff. In fact if you have not reached a high degree of proficiency in the art of fly casting you will not catch a trout. You will catch most other things within range. Since this is not the aim of the exercise it is better that you do not attempt such fishing until you can cast with your eyes closed, because that is what fishing for brown beetle hungry trout is like in the darkness of a November evening.

While there will be many challenges to overcome, when you lift the rod in the dark to the sound of a rise over near where you think your fly is drifting and you find something solid and splashy on the other end such frustrations vanish.  A trout on the bank, taken from the interior of the darkest night is an achievement not all of us can attain.    

Maurice Rodway
Southland, New Zealand                           E-mail: mrodway@southlandfishgame.co.nz

Article © 2001 Maurice Rodway, All Rights Reserved.

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