Silver scales makes deceptive fish hard trick

OPINION: Rainbow trout are invisibility professionals. A cloak of reflections cover them so that they cannot be seen in the tumbling water of a river, writes Maurice Rodway in this week's Trout Fishing.

To fish for them you must cast a fly or a lure so that it swims or floats through the place where they live, which is a house of shifting mirrors.

Rainbow trout rise avidly to dry flies and at this time of the year they often prefer a dry fly to a sunken nymph. There are lots of beetles and other terrestrial insects floating on the rivers' surface now and in rivers such as the Waiau, where the aquatic insect fauna is relatively sparse; this is where a lot of their food is to be found.

Manuka beetles and perhaps a few flies of various sorts during the day, then caddis flies in the evening all float, bumble, or skate across the water's surface. Invisible trout waiting in the river can be hooked relatively easily if you are in the right place at the right time. Brown trout can be seen more easily. They tend to lie closer to the bank, in shallower water. They also look dark or at least grey against the stones onthe river bed.

Rainbow trout prefer faster, deeper water, which makes them hard to see, especially if they are young fish that have not yet developed a deep red side characteristic of older fish. A shiny 1.5kg rainbow living in a deep run in the Waiau is impossible to see. But a jinky lure that looks like a little trout or a bright dry fly drifted over them on a warm day will attract them. They will appear as a sudden splash, taking your line and lure far across the pool.

Only when you get them close to the shore will you see why they are so hard to spot in the river. The fish has a coat of tiny silver scales, which change to the faintest pink on its side. It's a magic, iridescent gown.

When combined with the singing flow of the river, this living thing becomes a phantom that you would never know was there unless your own piece of deception tricks it into revealing itself.

» Maurice Rodway is the regional manager of Southland Fish and Game and an Environment Southland councillor.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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