My fishing mate Craig & I decided to make an end of season final push to get our fly fishing fix in before real winter set in and our fishing options would be severely limited. We decided to visit one of our usual favourites, the Clarence River in the Molesworth Station, and to revisit a bit of water I had fished the same time last year but Craig had never fished.
The weather was generally co-operative at the start, with calm winds and plenty of sunshine. But by late morning the gusts rolled down river causing a few tackle hiccups here & there…
We each managed 2 five pound browns to the net and several hooked but lost…and quite a few 2-3 pounders just for fun.
We crashed in Hanmer as we had the night before, and after a night of serious rain, we awoke to a blue sky & sun beaming day and made our way to our second river of the trip. When I had fished this river at the end of last season I managed to spot & hook a 5 pounder (very thin but big head) and pretty much saw nor caught much else. I thought it worth a revisit as (1) Craig has never fished it and (2) one 5 pounder gave me hope there may be a few more like that if the conditions were right.
Again it was a cracker of an autumn day with a wee nip in the air, and the river looked in good nick so we kitted up and started our march up river. The water was stunning – and we hoped once the sun rose over the ridge we’d have some decent spotting conditions.
And that was exactly what happened – we came across dozens of beautiful runs & pools and spotted a fish or two in just about each one. We each managed a 4-5 pounder to the net and several hooked and lost…
This river will mos def be on our early season to do list…
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