January 2019 Otago Lakes Fishing Report

Proudly brought to you by Craig Smith from Hatch Fishing

Summer is well and truly here, with some nice warm days. There is still some patchy weather with strong winds and rainfall, which seems to be a bit of a theme this season!

Trout are in full dry fly feeding mode, with green beetles being a popular choice, cicadas are just starting to make themselves known. Blowflies are also common and a good “go to” pattern if nothing is obviously happening.

Sub surface there are some excellent damsel fly hatches, and the nymphs are being taken very well. Make sure you have a couple of different colours in your fly box - quite often the fish will target reddish nymphs over the usual olive ones, which can be rather frustrating if you are caught short.

At the time of writing most backcountry rivers are experiencing high flows, so heading East or fishing still waters are options worth considering.

Remember at all times to be considerate to other anglers, and talk to them about what their intentions are and see if you can work in together. If they are there before you, then they have the first pick of options. Also, make sure you leave a note on your car with your intended fishing direction (upstream, downstream etc) so the next angler doesn’t have to guess what you are doing.

Above is a nice green beetle eating brown from a local river.

Craig Smith