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A FRESH FLOW
Late last Friday Fish and Game staff got calls from concerned anglers about trout dying in some of the smaller streams of the region. The cause of the deaths was the heat. Too much of it. Just as the calls were being received dark clouds piled up in the west and a warm front descended on the south.. Regional Council staff revealed temperatures in some of the larger rivers were in the mid-twenties. Dangerous for trout. There were real concerns but not much we could do. While bureaucrats pondered the gloomy future heavy drops of rain dappled dry, mud caked stones.
The rain came as if it was an answer to a prayer. Curiously the prayers of folk in Blenheim were not answered but for two days steady rains swept away all concerns of trout anglers in the south. Actually there was a little too much on the northern side of the Takitimus and the headwaters of the Oreti and Aparima but now these streams are pretty much back to normal. The risk of too much hot water has probably passed as we head towards the autumn. Cooler nights and temperatures closer to twenty rather than thirty should ensure the safety of the trout in Southland rivers, at least until another hot summer
The Waiau still has more than its normal summer flow trundling down at present but when this subsides there should be excellent fishing here right through to the end of the season. Large numbers of brown and rainbow trout live in the lower Waiau now and the recent fresh will have swept away any build up of slime, leaving a sparkling river bed and hungry trout ready to take all forms of bait.
The Oreti tends to become difficult to fish towards the end of the season. A warm afternoon should bring out the cicadas for about a month yet but the big fish of the upper reaches will be on their guard for tall thin creatures on the bank. The Aparima would be a better bet for a fish in the bag. It was extremely low before the rains but it has plenty of attractive reaches throughout its length. Warm autumn afternoons usually produce a hatch of mayflies on the Aparima. Its a peaceful place and its trout are not usually large but you will rarely find other anglers there.
Of all Southland rivers the Mataura is the best in the autumn with mayflies hatching regularly during the afternoons from now until the end of the season. Last week it was in a state of depression, especially in the lower reaches, with green filaments of algae as worry lines on its brow, but the rain, like a visit to a tropical island, has taken these and cast them into the sea, leaving a fresh river, full of life again. Its trout waiting in its cool water, bright and tantalising once more.
Maurice Rodway
Southland, New Zealand E-mail: fishgame@southnet.co.nz Article ©1998 Maurice Rodway, All Rights Reserved. |
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