A ridge of high pressure sat over the North Island this weekend and gave the Waikato a proper winter's day: a 1°C frost to start, fine, light winds. No excuses in the weather. Snow is hitting coastal cities in the South Island as I finish writing this now. NZ is cold at present. Back to the fishing story and to the lower Waikato for round two, below Huntly this time, working the new spots off the latest map. The list of spots is now three maps long.

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Many years ago, at the beginning of my career, I remember being in a technical meeting with some colleagues when one turned to me and whispered, with a cheeky grin, “if you want a straight line you should only make two measurements”. He was, of course, joking and it was more of a sarcastic comment on the quality of the data analysis that was being presented to us at the time by a scientist who should have known better. What brought this anecdote back to mind was some conversations regarding the scoring at the Game Fair competition a couple of weeks back.

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Just a quick one from me this week as I'm walking the West Highland Way, soaked and more focused on my blisters than fishing. But I am going mullet fishing soon, so it's
spectra shrimp.

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We arrived late Saturday evening to Kraddsele and had nice dinner from friends. We have small cottage with table and beds, there is coffee machine yet cooking, toilet and shower are in other building. Really nice cabin for sleep, and have morning coffee as it is only purpose to be inside.
 
Sunday I went check upper part of Vindelån, not really up part yet area which requires walking pretty much. I took bicycle and shortened time to reach area. I found a lot rising trout yet small ones. I saw few bigger fish rising yet either on other side or totally in middle, so out reach. Wind died totally during evening and there was even hatch yet I couldn't find decent trout. I got one small up. It was absolutely peaceful day by the river. 

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When I started to work with Paul I didn’t really know what I wanted to learn in fly casting, or specifically single handed casting. So everything seemed like a good start. Well more distance was off course a goal. My main fishing is blind casting for seatrout a long the coast. Distance and fighting the wind is hard to avoid then. But the rest of the things I didn’t know specifically when I would need, but nice things to have in the toolbox. So I was a bit surprised that it seems like almost everyone else working with Paul is shot taking saltwater anglers. I think that if you are a stream fisherman you want everything that Paul offers in the curriculum.

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I foul-hooked two fish. I hate that. It’s been awhile but a foul hooked fish always colors my mood for a while. I’ve foul-hooked carp too. I think the mechanism is a little different for them but with both carp and corbina it’s a problem that stems from the combination of weighted flies, and bottom feeding fish in shallow water. I think, can always be avoided by right fishing. It’s a sin of inattention and imprecision. My joy of a perceived eat is infused with doubt. I hate it. Hate hate hate. 

Corbina showed in a variety of postures, crowding the backside of flooding waves, surfing in front of them, tailing in pooled water when a set flooded a flat, and nosed into the beach fighting the currents while making divots. Conditions were good all week - the middling tides fished well. Still only a couple ate and I failed to hook those. 

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