No fish were harmed in the making of this article.

The final day of my summer break was beautifully sunny, so I decided to explore further up the Pākuratahi River. A tributary of the Hutt River, the Pākuratahi is relatively small, and more suited to early season fishing. I decided that rules are meant to be broken and resident trout would still be awaiting my arrival.

It turns out that that wasn’t the only fishing ‘rule’ I would break on the day.

The Pākuratahi weaves its way through the Kaitoke area, north of Upper Hutt. Today I had decided to bike 7km up the Remutaka Incline trail to access new water. The trail itself is rightly popular with walkers, runners and cyclists – one of the 22 Great Rides of New Zealand. It features a gentle incline that once enabled trains to travel this way and even if you’re not out for a fish, it is well worth a visit. For most visitors, the river is just part of the view, and there are very few access points, one of which I grabbed.

After stashing my bike amongst bushes and locking it to the cycle rack (a tree), the pedalling adventure ended and the search for fish began.

Rule: Move upstream when nymphing.

For the newbies, trout generally face upstream in moving water. Doing anything other than approaching from behind them is akin to sneaking up on a kid with a water balloon while they’re looking straight at you. It doesn’t work.

Unfortunately, my entry spot to the river left me above the fishy water. I decided to sneak downstream and try to circumvent any trout spotted.

Now, Wellington is renowned for its spooky fishies, so it was ridiculous to flout the fishing imperatives in this way. Especially in a small river where wading is typically the only option!

Nevertheless, I spotted a feeding target and stopped under the cover of shade to set up my rod. A few minutes later I was ready to go, slowly stood up, looked to check on the fish, only to realise it had meandered up towards me while I was tying knots.

I may as well have been in clown shoes as I was spotted, and the fish scattered.

Rule: Fish your feet first

After watching countless online videos of long casts, it can be tempting to chuck something immediately at the bank opposite; in the narrow Pākuratahi that bank is hittable with a peashooter. Contrary to this, it is well known that the local browns will often sit ridiculously close to the river’s edge…

By this stage I was moving back upstream, so was back on track. Eyeing up a beautiful run into a small pool near the far bank, a 5lb + specimen skedaddled from right in front of me. It had clearly seen me earlier and ‘gone stiff’, but realised it was about to be stood on and had no choice but to break cover and go. Dumb, again!

After spooking another, hidden close behind rocks, it was time to hightail it home, tail between the legs. A beautiful day out, and a reminder that ignoring basic rules borne of decades of expert trial is often a route to fishing failure.