The Mataura is one of the world's great brown-trout dry-fly rivers — a long, accessible Southland freestone famous for its reliable mayfly hatches and the afternoon rise. Wadeable along much of its length, with long glides and runs full of free-rising browns, it rewards the mayfly angler above all: a good dun, a sparse emerger, and fish that key tightly on the hatch. It fishes through a wide range of flows and is at its dry-fly best when low and clear.
The Mataura runs south from the Eyre and Garvie mountains through the green Southland farmland to the sea, an unhurried river of long gravelled glides and willow-shaded runs. It is brown-trout water of international renown, its fame built on the dependable afternoon mayfly hatches — the 'Mataura rise' — that bring fish up the length of the river.
Wading: Slick gravel, didymo, willow snags — wadeable but cautious
The best-documented hatch on any New Zealand venue in this catalogue — Deleatidium mayflies hatch throughout the river in autumn (March, with Fish & Game recommending the open middle reach into May) under 12-18°C, cooler overcast conditions, with recorded activity around mid-morning and mid-to-late afternoon; local reports also describe a strong early-season spring hatch and summer evening caddis.
- River
- Mixed sedimentary
- Unconfined
- Pool riffle
- Glide