Thoughts after a Big Flood

t seems the main river in Marlborough - the Wairau - and its trout may have taken a hammering in a big flood in July. The river has continued to run high and mostly be unfishable since the new season opening on October 1 but when it has I've endeavoured to make the most of the rare opportunities. I've had a couple of good trout, the largest 53 cms, and lost about four. Two of the lost fish were my own fault. The first was the fly line catching around the butt of the rod and as the trout took off, the tippet snapped. The second error was so basic. I hooked a trout twice before I examined the fly. I had snapped the point off the fly hook by taking my back cast too far back and dropping the fly to bang it on stones behind. Then it happened a second time. Some chaps are