The weather improved as I made my way down the South Island, but most of the rivers I passed were still swollen with dark tinted water. I also checked out some spring creeks, but they also had too much and cold water without any action. While traveling around I met several other anglers, and nobody seemed to have any success. Some of the guides in the area even took a small holiday waiting for the water levels to fall and temperatures to rise. While waiting for more optimal conditions in the rivers I decided to check out some backwaters up in the central highlands. The area in question was supposed to be more sheltered from the rain and hopefully the temperatures in the backwaters would be higher than in the rivers. The wind was blowing quite hard as I arrived there and it was very hard to spot fish. After a beer or two the wind settled down and large shapes started to appear in the lagoon below.