Sept, 2016: To be fair, the last week has been rather wet for most of the North Island. The one upside is my reels have been cleaned and oiled, cracked, and worn fly lines have been replaced and fly boxes are replenished. So prepared in a material sense? Definitely!

Now we just need the weather to co-operate for opening day, October 1. It looks likely the weather might just come to the party. The local forecast tells me mixed cloud and sun for the first two days of the opening season and that’s good enough to hit the water with a realistic degree of optimism.

As John Buchan wrote; ‘The charm of fishing is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable. A perpetual series of occasions for hope’

Some rivers will likely be up and slightly colored, but that creates perfect conditions for browns to lie on the edges where they can be easily spotted and cast to. And they won’t have seen an artificial fly for at least three months.

A series of occasions for hope? Absolutely, and only one day to go.

By: Grant Petherick, Poronui