Opening day is a great tradition. It’s always more about getting out on the water with valued friends than about catching copious quantities of trout. Early season fishing is never easy with high rivers, cold water temperatures, windy conditions, and low sun angle but these are never reasons to not go fishing. This year there were four of us out together and we had a great time catching browns and rainbows. Don, Pete, Cam, and I, were joined by Anton Donaldson of Collingwood who was staying at a nearby hut and generously agreed that we should all share the water together. I was fortunate to kick the 2022 season off with a nice trout late morning with Cam & Anton as able assistants, then I enjoyed watching them catch trout as the fishing warmed up into the afternoon. Lake fishing was productive too, and best of all, there wasn’t another soul in sight. We had good success using 200 grain sink tip lines on 6wt rods and stripping small streamers. Natural coloured lures worked far better than more garish traditional rainbow offerings. My go-to fly was a smaller green bodied Rabbit, tied with variegated chenille.
RAI/PELORUS CATCHMENT
The Rai/Pelorus Catchment got some huge amounts of water over winter, with record flood readings. For example I was guiding Nelson Hunting & FishingStaffonAugust15thwhenwe were euro-nymphing the Rai at 7 cumecs. Two days later the Rai River hit
