Looking back over the past season it appears to have been one of stark contrasts. On opening day Murray and I fished in snow on the Maniototo and this week I fished the lower Taieri in 20˚C plus. Both days produced fish but the snow day was by far the better of the two. The first thing that springs to mind about the season is absences, an absence of mayflies, willow grub and cicadas. Admittedly it was not total absence but numbers and days with them present were well below average. Of course, the weather plays a large part in how many and how often insects appear on the water. But checking my diaries of the last 46 years what stands out is the decrease in mayflies. This is noticeable across all the waters that I fish regularly. The Mataura in particular was conspicuous in its lack of hatches. Probably more noticeable there as it has historically had the biggest and most frequent hatches. The Taieri too has seen a drop in mayfly numbers, I saw only two for the day this week.…