Fishing Reports

 

The fishing like the weather has been a mixed bag, with some excellent catches of trout and saltwater species and periods of inactivity particularly in the salmon rivers. SALMON The end of January is traditionally the beginning of the main run of salmon in our region, with consistent catches expected at all the major rivers. However only the Waimakariri has been producing reasonable results with around 5 to 10 fish caught a day and a biggest reported catch at the mouth of 18 fish. The rest of the rivers have been incredibly disappointing with few fish and only a scattering of anglers. The question is being asked "where have all the salmon gone?" No one is really coming up with satisfying answers. It is to be hoped that there will be a late run of fish into February and March, a time that was the usual run in the 60's and 70's. The size and condition of the fish that are being caught is pleasing with fish averaging around 7kg and the odd salmon up to 12kg. I would expect the outflow of Tentburn just north of the Rakaia river to fire well in the next few weeks. The salmon farm on this stream released a lot of salmon two years ago and they will be returning this year. All other major hatchery releases have been shut down compounding the problem of poor returns. TROUT Trout fishing in the region continues to be exceptional, not so much in numbers but in size. The headwaters of rivers that flow from beech forest are producing more double figure fish than I have ever heard of in my 33 years of fly fishing. These fish are hard to catch because they are well fed with mice and reluctant to move far for flies, however with good technique, long leaders, small nymphs especially tungsten beadheads, or terrestrial type dries they can be caught. The backcountry lakes are also fishing well with nicely conditioned fish taking flies and spinners. The extreme winds of the last few weeks has kept anglers away from the backcountry, so the fish are unhassled compared to normal for this time of year. When fishing conditions are good, quality fish are being caught. In the lower reaches of the major rivers sea run fish are still around in reasonable numbers and of a good size. Many anglers are saying that the season seems much later than usual so maybe the salmon will come in later too. The Rakaia and Rangitata are fishing best for sea runners particularly after dark. SALTWATER The Kingfish have showed up around Banks Peninsula with fish up to 20kg being caught. These are generally caught from a boat trolling with the likes of a CD18 Rapala, or live baiting under a balloon, although they can be caught landbased from headlands around the peninsula, from Taylors Mistake to Tumbledown Bay. Kahawai numbers seem up this year with large shoals at the major rivermouths ready to take all sorts of lures and bait. There have also been large numbers of cod around Canterbury beaches with blue cod being taken on salmon ticers at the Hurunui river mouth and many red cod on salmon gear in the Rangitata mouth.

 

From steve Smith

Report type: Saltwater and Freshwater

Report date: 30 January 01