Hi all, first post after reading for some time.
I'm getting started with fishing the Canterbury rivers, having spent a time over the past couple of seasons, mainly lower selwyn and harts creek. Mix of spin and fly. I have tried to access the harts creek mouth, but when walking straight past the bird Hyde turn off I can only get so far, then the bush becomes quite thick at a certain point and I can't see how to go any further. It doesn't appear like I'm at the mouth, as the river has widened but hasn't opened to the lake. Any tips on how to get to the mouth proper - is it a bush bash?Also, I've tried the middle reaches of the rakaia recently (with the lower reaches closed), off Te Pirita road, looking for deeper runs of water using zed spinners and black and gold tobies (looking for trout). Found a few holes, but only seen one small trout. Is it worth fishing the middle reaches in October / November? How far up will the sea runs go? Was hoping to take my father in law somewhere for productive fishing in early November, but didn't really want to battle the crowds at the gut/mouth and not sure where to find out where it's located at any one time anyway (have done the BIG walk before, when it was right up north and I started south). Dobbins the best bet? I'm guessing the salmon won't be working at that early date.
I'm looking forward to getting into Salmon season, and I'm keen to have a really good look on the Rakaia. For productive fishing, should I be hitting the lower reaches / gut / mouth, or are the middle reaches just as good?
Any tips much appreciated, looking forward to hooking my first Canterbury trout/salmon!