Some kayaking friends told me last week that dolphins had been swimming in and out of their group, ducking, diving and jumping. Birds were hitting the water and fish were jumping, work-up style. Auckland has spent years putting a large sewerage pipe under the city. Not a pretty topic, but the water is cleaner already and the life in the harbour has responded.

That was enough to get me out, even though not all the stars were aligned for harbour fishing. The temp of the water is 14.4 degrees C, still a little cool for the migratory species that are some excellent sport on a fly rod.

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Down on the Willow brook it’s been a challenging summer for both fish and fishermen.
Firstly someone upstream appeared to be messing about with the levels , we were plummeting on the gauge to very low flows and then sudden spiked recoveries. As the heat of late spring grew, this became more concerning. We are not a freestone river at the mercy of the mountains, but a long slowly gathering midland channel  with three sources at least, which then flows through a few stately homes that dam the brook for ornamental lakes and have sluices that can regulate the flow. Therefore levels for us don’t change dramatically.

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This week's pattern is a wonderful exercise in simplicity, that could teach a lot of people a few things about what flies really need. It's Lefty's craft fur shrimp.

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It is Thursday evening when I write this. Normally I do it on Friday morning when having coffee. Night before I will finish the idea and on Friday it is an easy write. This week I had to do differently. Friday morning there is no time to sit down and write FP. The river is calling for sure.
 
Last weekend I had last guiding for this season, I think. Guest from Argentina, weather +6 celsius, north wind and on Saturday some heavy rain also. Not really weather for good fishing, still on Saturday we had great fishing with dry flies, not really big fish, yet few decent, and not really small ones at all. I was perfect day despite weather. Sunday was more difficult yet fish were bigger even he lost all the good ones. Overall good weekend.

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And burnout. 

The time after a competition can be very empty. You might not really know what to do. No goals. At least not in the foreseeable future. You don’t know what to do, no plans. Should you go out and practice? Take time off? Work on something else? On top of that you can have a burnt out nervous system and dopamine system. Everything feels strange.

Then you have the reflections from the competition. What did you do well? What could you have done better?

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Southern storms drove big swells up the SoCal coast. They washed away a lot of sand on the West facing beaches. Waves broke over the jetties and big rogues did some damage. There was some impressive erosion. And worse, the latest heat wave drove me off the river - so hot and humid here - very rare. We’ve had weeks of 90 degree plus heat, some warm rain, and no relief overnight. It never cools down. It’s awful. Was 103 degrees (40 C)  last week.  So it’s been park practice on the grass or nothing. I practiced in the morning at first light and still worked up a sweat. My recent emphasis on extending carry and tuning hauling movements seems to be bearing fruit. I have Walter Mitty-ish day-dreams of joining Gould, Rajeff etal. on the competitive circuit as a 76 year old rookie and being carried off on the Team’s shoulders in triumph (BTW congrats to all). I might get there in another 5 or 6 years, maybe 10. I’ll shoot for that. So I practice mindfully. I hope I can still afford the entrance fees. 

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