John Coles Fly Fishing Report May 2006

Just before Easter I spent the week fishing New Zealand’s Mackenzie Country around Twizel. We had a mixed bag of weather. The first day we fished the Upper Ahuriri and after a short shower the sun came out and we had rising fish. I spent quite sometime on a fish feeding nicely in a back eddy. Finally the fish took my fly only to have me take it away, bugger! A little later I got a beautiful brown on the first cast that went 2.2kg. Overnight the Mountains got a good cover of snow and the weather was mixed with rainsqualls and sunny periods. I had a ball fishing double nymphs and catching really fit browns and rainbows in fast flowing streams. When the rivers finally coloured up I had great sport with glow bugs and streamers. I caught a beautiful brown that went 3.2kg from the Maori Lake, I got it on the first cast after polaroiding it.

I finished up on a beautiful spring creek for the last day and caught and lost one or two very nice trout. The big brown that I lost right at the net is more than enough reason to return next year.  Last week both North and South Island got some much needed rain and snow. During this winter I will be escorting small groups to fish the spawning runs on the North Island, this is really exciting fishing. I will also be taking groups to the South Island later next season.

As the season draws to a close on most of our local streams we appear to be heading back into the drought.  I wish it was different but we have had little rain since early March. That aside I have had some good trips to the Central Tablelands. Last weekend I attended the CFA Inter Club at Wallerawang. There was good fish caught from the various dams around Lithgow.  Bob Beamish won the trophy for the largest trout, a rainbow that measured 440 mm. I managed a couple of nice trout from one of the creeks, and won the best brown that measured 425mm. Even though the streams are low there appears to be a good head of fish in some creeks. Only a couple of weeks ago while guiding some visiting American anglers we encountered rising fish all day long.

This winter will see the Cox and Wollondilly Rivers in certain sections open all year. The reports from the lower Cox are not good with one of the main spawning streams dry.

However I have access to a remote part of the Wollondilly only accessible by 4WD or helicopter. Due to the fact that the water board is pumping water from the southern impoundments the river has a reasonable flow. As the weather gets colder and hopefully with some rain it could get a good run of fish. I can run trips for one or two anglers and there’s a nice comfortable cabin.

Although the local dams are low there is still plenty of water and fish, I took a very fit Rainbow of1kg last weekend and other anglers captured several similar sized fish. I really enjoy fishing the dams in winter they can often come into their own and will be organising some trips away. I will be ending the season at Tumut; the fishing is usually very good at this time of year on both the big river and the many smaller creeks. I have some places still left on some trips so contact me if you would like to join a small group or get your own group together.

I will also be running my learn tio Fly Fish workshops hjere in Sydney over the coming months, check the web site for details.

Tight lines,
John