Hi,

Went out to my wife's parents property outside of the city for the weekend. It was good to get away for what turned out to be the best weekend we've had in months. First time it hasn't rained on Sat and Sunday (Note the use of and, and not "or" in that weather report - it's been a wet one here).

Anyway, next door is a small lake, stalked with rainbows. You can walk along the water's edge and cast out over the drop off. Direct behind you the hill climbs straight up, so you almost have to steeple cast, but not quite. Just aim that backcast very high and don't let out more than 10 feet of line and you're away.

Normally in the summer this lake has a lot of fish rising through the day. I've hooked into one fish that was in the 3.5-4lbs range, but the one's I've brought to hand have generally been in the 10-12 inch range (isn't that always the way?).

So, with spring just begining, the weeds were low and there was very little insect life around. A fair number of midges, but no fish rising. I lie, I did see two or three over the weekend, but nothing regular. Anyway, last time I was there I had some luck with an adult damsel fly pattern of mine. There are tonnes of damsels and dragonflies in the summer here. So, I figured I would try some damsel and dragonfly nymph patterns.

Although fishing was slow, I did manage two small rainbows. One was 23 cm (about 10 inches) and the other was 28 cm (around 11 inches). I took one on a size 12 Hamil's Killer, which is the first time I've caught anything on one of those! Hamil's Killer is a very popular fly here in NZ, but althogh I've tied a few up, I keep forgetting to try them. It's basically a black squirrel tail, dubbed wool body (mine was bright green, but yellow and red are the most popular colours) and tied to the side are olive partidge body feathers. The fly looks like a little almond with a black tail when dry. When wet, it streamlines nicely and is a very good damsel fly nymph pattern. The other was take on my "Green Mock Pupkeko" fly. The wing is made from two feathers from a cock ringneck pheasant. The copper rib on this helped get the flies down to the depth the fish seemed to be hanging out:



Anyway, only fished a few hours, but boy, was it nice to be swinging a stick! The fish were just a nice bonus.

- Jeff