by “March Brown”
Autumn can be a great time for trout fishing. Fish have been feeding actively during the summer and should be extremely well conditioned. On the other hand trout may be well “educated” having had a variety of flies, spinners and soft baits tossed at them during the summer.
Another disadvantage can be that trout may get into spawning mode territorially chasing each other around. As such they don’t feed actively when pre-occupied like that.
Browns rather than rainbows, are nearing spawning mode and can behave oddly with a touch of aggression. So be prepared to use slightly brighter patterns of streamers, rubber legged patterns like the Bitch Creek nymph or brighten up the Pheasant Tail nymph by using a Flashback PT or a gold bead head on your PT
.
Gold bead PT
In the autumn and don’t be afraid to impart movement to your nymphs. On the other hand trout may be in pockets so once you catch one, there’s probably others there.
Dry fly fishing is tapering off but currently cicadas are still chirping here and there so a cicada may draw a response. Bear in mind cicadas vary. Those in Canterbury tend to be small and brown while on the West Coast they tend to large and green.
Cicada Dry Fly
Soft baiting is the newest thing and has hooked a lot of spin anglers. It’s a way to find some big trout who have developed a predatory streak.
Remember the angle of the light. The sun isn’t riding so high as in mid-summer so the lower angle will create longer shadows which can spook trout. You need to keep this in mind, crouch and be prepared to cast slightly longer and use longer leaders to keep the shadow of your fly line out of the trout’s vision.
PT
Sound advice
November/December and March/April have always been the best times for South Island lake shore anglers; whether spin or fly. The water around the edge is much cooler than in Mid-summer inducing the fish to venture close, especially at dawn and dusk. Stalking fish along the shoreline is my ultimate angling pleasure and Autumn is the best.