Richmond Sports Power Fishing Reports

The month of October is the big one for troutfishers. Although we have plenty of waters available for winter fishing, the majority of our fishing has been unmolested for five months. This means that the prospects of clumsy arm-waving figures attempting to catch them have hopefully faded from the fishes memories.

Small streams are often a good bet early season. Get out some maps and look for tributaries to the more popular rivers. These may hold some large fish staying on after spawning. When summer flows become too low to provide cover and water temperatures become uncomfortable, these fish will return to the parent streams. A bonus too is that you almost certainly will not have to compete with other anglers. There will also be plenty of room around our lakes on opening day. Bullies spawn around lake margins in September/October. Trout know this and will be waiting to ambush this valuable food supply at a vulnerable stage in the life cycle. Fish may cruise the lake margins or wait in ambush around structures such as weed beds and submerged logs. Stalking lake margins can be very productive. Fly fishers should use a lure such as Brown or Green Maribous and Woolly Buggers, Green Rabbits, Green Dorothy, Parsons Glory, Hamills Killer, Mrs Simpson etc. Spin fishers can use life-like lures such as Rapalas, Squidgys etc. Establish the ‘beat’ the fish will take and drop the lure onto a clear patch of lake bed. When the fish returns give the lure a twitch and slowly retrieve and action should be instant. If the lake bed is very weedy, use a small bubble to keep the lure off the bottom. Casting from a boat towards shore, using a fast retrieve can be very productive for fly and spin fishers.

Our bigger rivers can be a little daunting early season. Fish can be hard to find due to the sheer volume of water. Spin fishing is a good way to explore large areas of deep water relatively quickly. Fly fishers should concentrate on shallow ripples at the head of good holding pools, especially during the warmer part of the day. The ideal nymph for shallow water is a small Pheasant Tail Beadhead size 14, 16 or 18. Add a dry fly dropper such as a Parachute Adams, Royal Wulff or Humpy size 10 – 14 about one metre above the nymph and you have an ideal combination.

There have been some good hatches of “Early Brown’ mayfly in the Motueka, but these have been fairly sporadic. Fish seem to be patchy in the lower river, so exploring several locations should be the best option for your opening day.

Tight Lines
Allan Ballard

July is the best month of the season for at least one aspect of trout fishing – tackle maintenance!

Rods should be checked for worn rings, frayed bindings and chips and cracks in the varnish. Fly lines should be checked for cracking or wear and treated with a
re-plasticiser such as Armoural. Spinning reels and fly reels can be lightly lubricated and it may be time to go for a monofilament transplant. New line doesn’t cost much, but can prevent the gut-wrenching feeling of losing a large fish. Remember it is easier to catch a large fish nearer the start of the new season rather than the end when rivers are low and clear and the fish are ultra-spooky. So make sure your gear is up to the job.

Fishing is relatively slow this month with water temperatures at their coldest. Fish deep, lower water with deeply sunk nymphs, lures or spinners. Fish at optimum times, such as mid afternoon on sunny days with a rising barometer. Towards the end of the month as days lengthen and water temperatures increase, so will fish activity. Spawning fish will have mostly dropped back downstream to their usual lies. They will be looking to pick up condition again. Some fish will move to tidal waters where they can gorge on the smelt, whitebait and torrent fish moving into the rivers in spring.

Places to target this month would be the lower to tidal reaches of rivers, especially the Buller, Wairau, Pelorus and Motueka. Also Lake Argyle and the shallow margins of the Nelson Lakes (Lakes Rotoroa and Rotoiti) would be worth a look.

Tight Lines
Allan Ballard

So far this month, rivers have been in a holding pattern. Low flows, plus migration of larger spawning fish has left a residual population of smaller immature fish, especially in the Motueka. However these fish, averaging 1 – 1 ½ lb, put up a good scrap and are very good eating.

There have been some good hatches earlier on but these are now tapering off with the shorter days. In ideal conditions (high barometer bright sun ‘red fish’ day) it is definitely worth trying your luck. 11 am to 3 pm is the optimum time and there is usually some sort of hatch if there is. These young fish will eagerly take a size 6 – 18 Parachute Adams, emerger pattern or a size 16 – 18 beadhead nymph swung across and down the current.

The Pelorus has not fished well this year. It suffers from poor forestry and farming practices. The Wairau and Buller are exceptions to the small fish rule, having longer winter fishing sections and generally larger fish sizes. Fish spotting is still possible in many parts of the Wairau on a good day. 5pm fishing should work well too.

Reports have been coming in about food fishing in the Nelson Lakes this month.
(See Lake Rotoroa and Lake Rotiiti.)

Trolling and spin fishing around stream mouths have been producing some good fish. Fish deep with a lead line or cast and let the lure sink to the bottom before slowly retrieving.

On good days there are always a few good cruisers around the shallow flats. Be careful to observe winter fishing restrictions.
(See Nelson/Marlborough regulations.)

While the main fishing season has come to a close, those with full season licences are able to fish right through the winter.

This month fish will be in top condition in readiness for spawning. Male trout especially, get more aggressive and territorial as they prepare to defend their spawning areas from smaller fish. Anglers can take advantage of this by using lures which will provoke an attack response. Red seems to be a colour that trout will go for. So your lures should incorporate red in some way. Other good colours are black and green. Yellow is good when the water is discoloured.

Spin fishers can try all their favourite lures in these colours; Veltics, Toby, Squidgy, Artic Trout and Rapala are all good. Dark colour combos on bright days/clear water and brighter colours on dull days/discoloured water is a good rule.

For fly fishers, large Woolly Buggers are a good bet. Black and olive for clear conditions, yellow for murky conditions. Try to incorporate some red to all your lures. These lures are best fished with a medium sink line such as a Teeny 150 or 200.

There will be good hatches of deleatidium mayflies this month on calm clear days. Most standard dryfly and emerger patterns in sizes 16 and 14 will work. Nymphing is still a good bet. A good rig is a heavy tungsten green caddis with a #14 flashback dropper. All of our larger rivers fish well this season with good numbers moving upstream to spawn. The Motueka, Buller and Wairau are good places to target. In many places, fishing can be combined with duck or quail shooting. What could be better?

Tight Lines
Allan Ballard

April is often one of the best months for trout fishing. Daylight hours are noticeably reducing, which means that water temperatures will drop markedly, towards the comfort zone for trout – between 11 – 16 °C.

Another factor which increases feeding activity is that trout are trying to put on as much condition as possible to tide them over the stressful spawning season. Also cooler water and generally calm conditions stimulate mayfly hatches, especially during the day.

Paradoxically many anglers put their tackle away after Easter and start to think about deerstalking and gamebird hunting. So this month the fish are active and you will often have your favourite river to yourself.

Mayfly hatches are usually the smaller deleatidium varieties so artificials should be small – sizes 14, 16 and 18. Parachute Adams, Dad’s Favourite and similar imitations are good standbys.

Fish will often be feeding on emergers and crippled duns. A good combination is a Parachute Adams with an emerger pattern fished on a dropper about 30 cm long. Most emergers will work well such as CDC and deer hair patterns. A simple pattern which is very effective is a slim pheasant tail body with 1 or 2 turns of sparse hackle.

Passion vine hoppers will still be on the water and should be tried if fish are rising but no hatch is evident.

Spin fishing should be increasingly effective through the month. Good lures are Veltics, Mepps, Squidgy and any of the new variations on the market.

During a fresh, when the water is discoloured, fish the lure down and across. If we get an ‘Indian Summer’ and flows remain low, cast upstream and retrieve just faster than the current. This ensures that the lure stays near the bottom, which is where the fish are usually feeding.

Tight Lines
Allan Ballard

February has been a difficult month at times. High water temperatures have often stopped fish feeding during the day. However the warm weather is great news for insects such as Passion Vine Hoppers (PVH), Cicadas and Willow Grubs. It may seem like over emphasis, but March is the prime month for these bugs.

On most lowland rivers, with significant streamside vegetation, you should expect a productive days fishing using just these 3 imitations. They can be fished with a fly rod or spinning rod using a plastic bubble. Spinning gear can be an advantage on willow choked streams such as the Rai or Riwaka. It is possible to flick a bubble under overhanging shrubbery, where it would be impossible to cast a fly rod.

On upward streams, stonefly and mayfly nymphs are still a good bet and cicadas should work anywhere you can hear them.

There have been reports of good salmon runs on both the east and west coast rivers. Local spin fishers should definitely think about targeting the Wairau River, especially in the tidal reaches. There is the chance of salmon, sea run trout, kahawai and possibly red cod and flounder. Also the Takaka and Aorere Rivers fish well for sea run trout, kahawai and possibly the outside chance of a salmon.

Tight Lines
Allan Ballard

February 2008 Trout Fishing News

February is definitely the month of the terrestrial. As the name suggests, terrestrials originate on land and may arrive on the water in large numbers. They include almost anything that flies or crawls and is small enough to be swallowed by a trout. We even found a skylark in a Wairau trout once.

Important terrestrials to anglers this month are: Cicadas, Passion Vine Hoppers, Green Beetle, Blowfly, and Willow Grub. There are good imitations available in store for each of these critters. Carty’s General Terrestrial pattern is a great all-round pattern, but more specialised patterns are needed for Passion Vine Hoppers, Green Beetle and Willow Grub.

While it is always fun to lure fish up from the depths to nail a large dry fly, it may not always be a practical method. There is often a strong North Wester blowing downstream, making it impossible to cast a large dry.

A weighted nymph due to its great momentum may still be hurled into the teeth of a gale. Good patterns are Green Stonefly size # 8 and 10 or Tungsten Pheasant tail size 16 – 14. Use appropriate weights for the depth and speed of water being fished.

I saw some spin fishers on the Arnold last week. They stood in one spot and cast large heavy spinners into the same place time after time. Fish were rising but none ever followed their large chunks of hardware. They could have been successful using a bubble and dry fly or nymph. There is not much point persisting in one place if nothing is working. Move on and cover more water and think about changing methods. Be flexible. It’s different in a lake where fish may patrol large areas, but in rivers they usually stay in one spot.

Give the cicadas a go this month. The insect usually lands like a helicopter crash landing, so try to get your fly to do the same.

Tight Lines
Allan Ballard

January 2008 Trout Fishing News

The spell of hot dry weather we are experiencing this month will be great for two of the trout’s favourite summer tucker items.

Cicadas have been sawing away for the last couple of weeks. Some more hot windy conditions should see them become part of the piscatorial larder. Most large dry flies # 10-8 will be accepted, but there are some great imitations available. Not all rivers have cicada populations but most do. It is a great thrill to see a large fish appear out of deep water to hammer your cicada imitation.

Not all people can hear the high pitched cicada melody. Builders and other machinery operators from pre-OSH days are often a bit deficient in the hearing department.

The other critter that large trout get fixated on is the Passion Vine Hoppe (PVH). These should be hatching now and should start appearing on the water towards the end of the month.

There must have been many a frustrated fisherman faced with the sight of several large fish, rising consistently but refusing all the usual artificials. In increasing exasperation they tie on Parachute Adams, emergers, spent wing dry flies, fly nymphs and even cicadas only to have them totally ignored.

Fortunately there are some good imitations for PVHs and these are normally readily accepted. I usually use a small indicator or large visible dry fly such as a Royal Wulff about 30 cm above the PVH imitation.

Otherwise with so many naturals on the water, it can be difficult to detect the rise to your nearly invisible offering. Fish may be found feeding near streamside vegetation and often where a tributary stream merges.

For spin fishers times will be tough as river levels drop. Fish upstream into fast water entering deeper pools. Use small, dark lures, nymphs with split-shot or nymphs and dries with a bubble-float.

Fish early and late.

Tight Lines
Allan Ballard
Sports Power Richmond

December 2007 Trout Fishing News

Low river flows look to continue this month. Many rivers have been unaffected by the October floods, with good numbers of well-conditioned fish.

Reports indicate that the rivers around Murchison are fishing well especially the Maruia. Some smaller rivers have been badly knocked around especially the Motupiko, Rainy and Upper Motueka. Fish numbers are consequently low but good fish are still there for the angler prepared to put in the miles.

Flies performing well include Beadhead Pheasant Tail # 16 and 18, Green Caddis
# 14 and 12, Parachute Adams, Dad’s Favourite and Kakahi Queen #18, 16, 14 and 12.

For heavier water, try a well weighted green stonefly or green caddis # 10 and 8 or Royal Wulff or Mole Fly, well hackled # 12 and 10. All the above can be used in conjunction with a plastic bubble on light spinning gear. Otherwise spin fishing will be hard during the day. Fish may still be caught under the fast water dropping over the lip of a pool or in medium fast bouldery runs about 1 m deep.

Best results will come by casting upstream and retrieving just faster than the current. Small dark lures with all flash blacked out will be most effective. Green beetles will be hatching this month so be sure to have a few wet and dry imitations in your fly box. Brown beetles have been around for a few weeks now. Both varieties can be imitated with the same dry fly. A Coch-y-Bondhu, Mole Fly or similar are good killers.

Tight Lines
Allan Ballard

November 2007 Trout Fishing News

In the brief moments when it has been possible to fish, there have been signs of some good fish about.

I saw a large fish in the Motueka today (below the bridge) but the prevailing downstream hurricane prevented a decent cast. I have heard reports of a 12 pounder being taken in the same place (below the bridge).

Spin fishers have had pretty good conditions with some good bags around. Spinning can be successful when rivers are swollen and dirty. There are always pockets of quieter water on the edges and trout will be feeding there. Bladed spinners that make a bit of commotion work well. Fluoro red, orange, yellow and green are good colours for discoloured water. If grassy banks are flooded, try a worm or creeper under a bubble if regulations permit.

Fly fishing has been very difficult with high winds and discoloured water. However I managed to take some good fish in the last few days of the month. All rivers are now fishable coming into November and hopefully we must be owed some good weather.

Spinning will continue to be successful with rivers running above normal flows. Despite the adverse conditions, there were some good hatches of mayfly last month.

This month hatches of Coloburiscus Humeralis (or laughing mayfly) will start. All you really need to know is that the dry is best imitated by, my favourite mayfly pattern, the Kakahi Queen. This has got to be one of the most handsome dry flies around and the natural looks pretty good too. The best nymph pattern is Carty’s Coloburiscus, preferably heavily weighted size 12-14. Other good dry flies are the all rounders, the Royal Wulff sizes 16-10 and Parachute Adams size 16-12. Both are good all season in sizes to suit the conditions. The added bonus is that they are easy to see on the water. Lake fishing and trolling should be good all month. Lead lines or downriggers are the most productive. King Cobra lures with a large Woolly Bugger dropper are hard to beat.

Tight Lines
Allan Ballard