One foot paddock, Mararoa River 1 mi above bridge Jul 25, 1978 Ken had spoken to me of a part of his property quite isolated from road access. He asked to go there this morning and Ken gave us a map and instructions. Starting through a gate across from his house you wind up hills and over paddocks dropping down to the river above the so called "Gorge", about 2 mile up from the bridge. Lovely fishing water, but little action until about noon when Ied tied into a 23" rainbow on a dry fly (4 3/4 lbs). For an hour thereafter we had a good rise in that long flat riffle, landing 12 fish between us, mostly rainbows 11 to 16". Woody and I each got a good brown - both about 15". The rise slowed ad stopped after an hour and we caught no more. There was very little bug hatch to account for the rise - only a few small ephemerae flying at 11:30 to noon. Woody took the water temperature mid-day - it was 55°F. This compares to 67° reading on the Mataura a week or two back. No wonder these Mararoa fish fight hard. By contrast though, this river looks comparatively sterile whereas the Mataura is brimming with nutrients and life. I suspect the fish population here is meager. Every day we see flocks of 10 to 15 NZ seagull on the waterfront by Le Aman. Saw a large raft gulls in the middle of the lake late PM - perhaps molting?