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TROUT FISHING WITH MAURICE RODWAY - Weekly Column: 20 November 1998
 Southland, New Zealand

WEEK-END ISOBARS

Often a November in Southland is one when westerly winds dominate the weather patterns and anglers become frustrated with the conditions. This year, with La Nina in attendance, these northerlies and westerlies are like the slap of a wet bus ticket. They have little influence on our angling behaviour.

What is more, the weather patterns are aligned with the weekends so we have some rain during the week and fine weather on the weekend. Last weekend was a perfect example and a glance at the isobars approaching for this weekend foretell a similar story.

Last Saturday and Sunday were both mighty fine for trout fishing. I went to a small stream in the hills of western Southand which has for a long time been a poor fishery, but over the past few years it has improved. This has been because long time pollution has now ceased and anglers who thought it was ruined have not rediscovered its plenty.  It is now a fine little stream with a good population of trout. It has slow moving pools and short attractive riffles where trout like to lie in the morning.

On the Mataura trout in the riffles are sometimes hard to see, due to the wide expanse of the river and the lack of glare reducing backdrops. But smaller streams often have willows overhanging which, provided you have polarised glasses, allow a much clearer view of what lies just under the surface.

In a riffle of say 20 to 30 metres in length there may be two or three trout. If mayflies are rising, as they were on Saturday, trout can be seen swirling at the surface, making splashy rises to chase mayflies which are carried quickly past. Such fish are not too easily frightened. A small grey dry fly that drifts near is usually captured by a toothy grin, and the trout's surprised response is one that is a satisfying comma  in a sentence of pleasant prose on the river.

The delivery of a fly to a trout in a riffle is like a golf shot that starts with a smooth, balanced swing, a clean sharp "thwack" and is completed with the ball disappearing up and up, away towards the green.  Both rely on careful, skilled timing and the delivery of enough energy to propel the ball or the fly just to the right spot.  The delivery of a fly into the feeding circle of a trout in a bubbly riffle on a sunny day and then having the trout glide over and confidently take it is akin to the applause of a packed gallery. Anglers have no audience but none is needed for satisfaction to be complete.

Maurice Rodway
Southland, New Zealand                           E-mail: fishgame@southnet.co.nz

Article ©1998 Maurice Rodway, All Rights Reserved.

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