Well we ended up trolling various lures ( inc tas devils ) from the surface down to around 15m , cast lures , jigged lures , used bait ( worms & power bait at various depths from the surface to 30m depth ) and finally in frustration I even tried a small popper as we had a fish snatch a Santa Claus off the surface and another swipe at a bubble that was rising from the bottom - didn’t even get a follow or lose a bait .
I don’t recall ever fishing so hard for zip! Went up the Eucumbene river which used to be river pebble bottom but for some reason it is now mostly mud which isn’t good for trout breeding. Of all the other boats we seen , I didn’t see a bent rod or hear of anything being caught , other than fly fishing I don’t know if there was anything more I could have done .
With winter approaching I think the next trip will be north coast luderick!
The weather was great up until midday when a stiff NW breeze hit town .