Red Tag: Fishing

TRIP REPORT: NEW ZEALAND CRAIG BOLCH

Mataura, the water is crystal clear and filled with big trout, the fish I saw where probably 5­7 pounds. ere is a regular Mayfly hatch in the afternoon and lucky enough I got to experience it It is a famous fishing stream but does get a lot of pressure, so the fish are tough When the hatch was in full swing you would see multiple fish rising in a stretch gobblingdowntheemergersanddunsastheydrifted past. You had to get the fly directly in front of them about a meter upstream to eliminate any drag, they would not move side ways to take a fly and would only take what passed directly over them. To add to the difficulty once you ho k d fi h h d play it between the flowing patches of clear water. I managed to hook two, snapping the first one off, much to Gavin’s disgust, but the second one was just bad luck with the hook pulling out Fishing a hatch is incredibly stressful, because of the intense action and you know it wont last I therefore did not fish well, my advice in this situation is to slow down, take a deep breath and focus on one fish at a time.

Another great moment was finally catching a fish after twenty minutes of changing flies. I can really vouch for my guides perseverance as I would have given up and moved on e guide was more excited h fi ll h fi h h fl