Just casting a dry fly with a nymph suspended under it, wasn’t cutting it. The past few seasons at this time of the year a size 8-10 Kossie dun or big attractor dries, with an appropriately weighted beaded nymph fished close to the bottom, was almost foolproof.  On evening, the clouds of caddis made an Elk Hair Caddis an easy choice, if not small dun patterns or delicate orange spinners. Trout numbers were good, and they seemed to feed freely.

Well, this weekend wasn’t quite like that. The hatches were still there and perhaps more intense than I have seen for a while: Kossie duns and horned caddis the size of small helicopters, duns of every size, spinners, beetles and dragonflies.

The bigger flies drew zero interest, nymphs were generally ignored. Head scratching stuff!

I spent the first afternoon trying to emulate what had worked before, but I drew a blank. It was a cold afternoon and despite the plethora of insect life, nothing was looking up or down.

Just before dark, I walked to a big, long pool – always a reliable place to find several rising fish. On cue I saw a good rise. I crouched, I stalked, I stripped off the required amount of line and told myself to stay calm, this could be the day’s saviour!  It rose again…. but not to be, as I realised it was a cheeky platypus and not the large trout I had hoped for.

A bit dejected, I walked upriver, tied on a dry and a small nymph, and started working a nice run. It was almost dark, and I could barely see my fly, so my casts were only a few rod lengths long. In doing so I felt I was achieving good drag-free drifts. My dry suddenly dipped! I lifted and I was on to a nice little brown. It took a size 16 Back Country pheasant tail nymph. I soon caught another. I was relieved, but also somewhat perplexed that the fish were taking the nymph rather than my dry, which was a reasonable imitation of the hatching duns.

I walked up a few hundred metres and caught up with Eddy, waist deep in water and cursing the trout which had been rising all around him amidst a substantial hatch.  Big duns and orange spinners had dominated, but he could not get the trout to take his seemingly similar fly.

As is my modus operandi, back at the ranch, I laid out a delicious dinner complemented by some of Eddy’s good wine and negroni cocktails. Food and wine heal all. Tomorrow is another day!

We woke up to a warmer morning and bright skies. We decided to fish further up the river into the forest. We saw a few trout rise. The hatch was again substantial.

Again, the bigger flies and heavier nymphs which were appropriate for the faster water were ignored. I was surprised, as the trout up here are generally opportunistic.  I decided to turn over a rock and to my surprise it was covered in stick caddis. I didn’t have any stickies with me, so I tied the closest imitation in my box, a green and yellowish grub nymph. Within minutes I had my first trout for the day in my net.

The wading got tough in the faster water pushing down in the river’s steeper gradient, so we decided to head back and drive downstream, have some lunch, and fish the gentler flows.

We eventually moved to one of my favourite sections of the river to find several trout rising. This time, I snipped off my nymph and larger dry and tied on a fly that represented the tiny sulphur duns hatching amongst the bigger offerings.

If they weren’t smashing the bigger hatching insects (which seemed the logical thing the trout should be doing), maybe they will take the less calorific variety!

This was the right choice. For the rest of the afternoon and evening, every patch of water that had a decent hatch gave me a shot at some good fish, all rising to the tiny dry. Often the trout were found in the shallow (under a foot deep) top sections of the runs, just off the faster water.

I could tell that some of the trout were a good size, but these were mixed in with smaller fish. On striking, I didn’t know if it was going to be a half pounder or a two pounder on the end of my line. It made for some exciting fishing.

I was glad to have somewhat solved the puzzle, but so many questions remain unanswered.

In summary…

Trout numbers – It’s hard to know exactly what is happening out there, but we saw good numbers of trout, mainly during hatches.

Tactics – Blind fishing on this occasion was not successful. The majority of fish we caught were sighted/rising.

What they were eating – It seemed this weekend, bigger was not better. Tiny dries and nymphs prevailed over larger offerings. Had I not switched to what I thought was an unlikely fly, being an imitation of the smallest insect hatching, I would have struggled to catch a fish.

Water quality and the environment – Everything seems incredibly crisp and healthy.

Fun factor – 100 out of 100. Despite the challenges, I would go back in a flash!