So Larry has not been around in a couple of years. I know I still owe him some fishing time so today we went to the top of Lake Matahina. The weather started out fine, perfect really. Then it got windy. Then it rained. Then the sun came out and it got calm again. Then the wind and rain came back. It really was four seasons in a day!
There were fish rising when the sun came out. The Gambusia were everywhere we looked. These little fish hang around the edges and the weeds and the trout are making a living from them. So Gambusia or mosquitofish are like guppies. They are ovoviviparous (they bear their young alive) and mature at six weeks of age. They breed like rabbits and the trout in Matahina think they are tasty. The bead head krystal olive bugger took the first fish, then another.
So I thought, what the hell... I put on a Craig's Night time. This is a night fly but it looked good with the fake jungle cock and blue wing. I think the red tag at the end is a good thing. Larry had about five different takes before he landed a nice rainbow on it. Then I put on a Scotch Poacher for him. This is another night pattern but I will tell you a secret; the trout like them during the day too. This, I had not tried before. Then, just to be cheeky, I put on an epoxy eyed lumo doll fly and it caught the next fish. What a crackup; three night patterns all caught fish in quick succession.
Then he caught trout on a bunch of different patterns that resembled mosquito fish. One rainbow coughed up a mouthful of them in all shapes and sizes from pinheads to adults. It was pretty clear what was happening.
The funniest one was the short shank epoxy eyed Taupo Tiger... Dan complained about this pattern because it took him a couple of hours to catch a fish on one last year. From now on, I am going to use one on the first fish just to rub it in....
Even in the wind we were still spotting cruising fish and they took at every opportunity. We definitely both realised that if I was not spotting the approaches and takes and giving curt instruction, he would not have hooked half of the fish he did. The takes when the fish come from behind are not detectable unless you see it happen. Suddenly, I yell, "Strike".
We probably landed 15 and we broke three off. I knew Larry's leader was light. It was likely set up for a dry fly from the last time we fished together a couple of years ago. It was all good and we had a blast!
I know one of the patterns we broke off was the epoxy eyed short shank grey ghost. The other was a short shank epoxy eyed grey rabbit and the other was the epoxy eyed short shanked Parson's Glory. I am sure we caught fish on other patterns but I cannot remember what they were and I just got off the water an hour ago. I usually keep them in a container but this time I did not have one so they just went into a pile in the storage container in the canoe. The video will be attached here once I get around to it. Now I have to finish the rafting video from Saturday. Tough life eh?
