I had a chance to go half-day fishing during last week. So back on the river!
Hooked up a big one again in the same riffle where I caught the biggest one on last Sunday!
5lb, 23inches jack again. Uhhh...
I think I have seen you before. Same fish???
This is the one I caught on last Sunday. Definitely the same fish, same size, same body colour and he had a tiny scratch on his right cheek. Quite easy to identify him.
He was at exactly the same spot again. Last time, I put him back in the water at the next pool upstream because he ran up this fast run all the way through as I wrote though...
I thought he was gonna keep running upstream and stop at the next drop off somewhere but actually he got back to his favorite spot downstream. Amazing...
Another hook-up in the evening!
A big jack, 5.5lb, 24inches. I fought with him for ages, very strong!
One of the best fish I have caught in this year 2015.
"Do you want to see me again like the other one that I caught today for the second time??"
And on Sunday, I tried a new stretch out of my home river.
There was a heavy rain the night before but the river water stayed looking good regarding its colour.
So hooked up the first one as soon as I started fishing.
A nice 2.5lb hen.
Fished well all morning, 2-2.5lb fish took nymphs. But in the afternoon, the river went quiet and I noticed that the water started getting turbid for some reason.
Even this good looking water was completely quiet.
"Why is that?"
Only Czech Nymphing worked to catch small ones.
And then, in the evening, the river water level went up and badly turned turbid.
" Ohhh, Noooo~... No chance to fish anymore!"
I thought this was apparently a flow of discoloured water into the main stream from side waters like dams because of the heavy rain the night before.
It was sad to finish fishing earlier but I did.
As summer is over and it is getting wet here, river fishing really depend on rain and the river conditions. The size of the fish I catch is probably getting larger which is good, but I can't choose the day when to fish.
Hopefully I have a great fishing day next weekend.
The weather forecast changed a lot during last week. It was quite misty on my way driving up to the river but when I almost got there, the sky cleared up.
Here we come, another beautiful Sunday after all!
Got three bites in the first 90mins but they were all incomplete hook-ups, dropped and felt them like short and soft bites. Hopefully, fish get started becoming more active as the temperature rises later on.
After 100mins from the start, finally hooked up a good one at one of my most confident drop offs, Very strong!
Caught him in my net.
A nice 4lb jack, nearly 22 inches in length.
Okay, Anyway, I fished one for today, not a easy day though...
Keep walking upstream under the sun shine.
And at my favorite fast run, a big one emerged to my dry at the first cast but didn't take it. No matter how many more cast I made, it never showed again, never take the dropper nymph, either.
Then I took a short lunch break to rest myself and the spot and restarted after 20mins. Before the first cast, I changed the dropper nymph from #12 Horn case caddis to #14 Phesant Tail.
And then, the fish took the nymph at the second cast in the fast run.
"Yes! it worked!!"
He got hooked up at the bottom of this fast boulder run and kept running all the way up stream into the next pool above. Never stopped!
Finally ready to land him.
A cool jack, awesome fish!
The colour is stunning, too.
As autumn is near, I think that jack's colours are changing to more like breeding season ones.
Holding 5lb, 23inches quality fish in my hands. Good day!
Caught the third fish, just a 2 pound one.It seemed that fish got more active than they had been in the morning. Not much activities but still better.
Sheep, sheep sheep. Uhhhh, where to fish next?
I tried to fish a new stretch where I hadn't been before.
A cute one like 14inches.
The last fish in the evening. Great force!
A nice fish nearly 2.5lb.
Not that big but good enough to end up the day with.
Bye, see you around!
Today's my bag was five fish and the first and the second fish were really nice jacks.
But fishing is getting not easy that's what I've been finding since the last weekend. All the fish were on nymphs, none of them on a dry today. I know the summer will be over soon but I just want more dry fly action for the rest of the season. Try more cicada next week??
There was rain that didn't last long but reasonably heavy in Saturday evening. So wondering how the river water went up or discoloured. Sunday morning, when I crossed the river at one of the bridges on the lower reach, the water didn't look turbid and was still normal level. Therefore, I just kept driving up to the middle reach where I have been fishing recently.
I found a tiny rise soon and thought that it was a small fish. Then, I softly presented a dry & dropper nymph and got the first bite!
Actually, a nice one, much bigger than I thought! Quality start for the day.
A beautiful 4lb jack with glossy yellow colour.
Cool!!
Lovely fish!
And then got the second fish on at the corner where exacty I had great confidence in.
Hardly stopped this one kept runnning down stream!
A nice 2.5lb jack.
And I got one more fish on but dropped it.
After that, no fish activity was seen and I didn't get any bite for the next two hours, even some of my confident runs and drop offs provided nothing.
Probably because it rained the day before, the river water was quite bubbly at surface even though the colour was okay, and this was something I noticed and was concerned that may be a negative factor for fishing on the day.
I reached the fast run where I got the best fish last weekend and tried again.
And finally hooked up the 3rd fish, good one!
Landed a big 5lb hen, 23inches in length.
Uhhhhh, this is an awesome fish.
"Actually, fish tend to be bigger today than usual and so I feel like only good ones stay active and smaller ones don't. Does that make sense?"
Bye~.
This was caught on the czech nymph in a riffle.
And the sky was cleared up in the late afternoon but the river went very quiet.
Feel so good under the blue sky though...
I just drove down a bit to fish a different stretch.
Only 3 little ones till the end.
And on Monday, I did just 4 hours fishing.
It was a bright sunny day.
Although I tired to fish a different piece of the river, it was still quiet. I was barely able to find a few activities on the surface and caught 3 fish.
15-17inches ones.
Because the river was quiet, fishing was not as exciting as the last two weekends but I could still enjoy it encountering a couple of large browns anyway. According to the weather forecast, it is supposed to be wet over the next weekend as well. So I have to keep my eyes on the weather during this week.
Weatherwise, last weekend was amazing, like nice temp around 20℃ on Sun through Mon, was really nice and shiny days. On Sunday, I tried to fish a different river where I haven't been for a while, actually since new year holiday. As soon as I started fishing, I saw a fisherman who is originally from Germany and we talked and fished together for a couple of hours. Both of us caught one fish each after a little while. It was a good start and I thought it was going to be a good day but the entire river went really quiet for some reason in the afternoon. We saw few fish, they just disappeared.
The only fish, 2lb hen I caught on the day.
If I had done Czech Nymphing, I could have caught a few more fish, I reckon.
But I just did not feel like doiing that for the day.
And on Monday, I went back to my home river where I've been fishing well recently.
After having a tough day, I really wanted to enjoy fishing there.
Just like last weekend, caught 2lb fish soon for the start.
Yes, this is why I would rather be here!
As I walked up stream, some fish were already rising. Looks like going to be a good fishing day.
The 2nd fish on! It was one of the rising fish I found.
Got it in my hands.
Another hook up! ! Good one!
A nice 2lb jack.
And then, the 4th fish on!
I got a good bag with mostly 2lb browns, 18-19 inches ones and this hen was one of those fish.
After two hours from the start, most fish stopped rising but the Dry&Dropper nymph rig still worked very well. As the weather was really fine, I walked up a bit further up stream than I usually do.
And I found a nice and large drop off and thought like it must have been holding fish in the riffle definitely!
"There they come!"
Successfully took two good ones out there.
This was another one looked alike but a different fish.
Both of them were beautiful ones.
Such a pleasant water, love the Central Otago.
And hooked up the 7th fish!
It was a strong fish, kept jumping almost like ten times!
Being crazy!!
Finally landed the best fish of the day, 3lb, 20inches jack.
He had a nice yellow green back.
One more fish on the way back down stream.
The 9th fish on in the evening.
A lovely 2lb hen again.
The last one to end this awesome day.
I caught 10 fish all together, dropped 2 and 3 faullty hook ups through the day.
Being here to fish lovely browns is really really pleasant like a dream, especially when the weather is nice, it is just delightful.
I have been quite satisfied with my life in Dunedin having these great fly fishing within 75mins drive from town without any annoying traffic jam, no need to share the river with many other fishermen. This is something that could never happen to us or something you could never have in Japan. It is totally a different world, just another world for fishing.
Hope this moment lasts forever!
