Plenty of fresh and saltwater options

Just as a lot of folks headed back to work for 2025, low and behold the weather has started to improve! We had a very average period of weather for the holiday period but the last couple of weeks have helped the angler with a lot more settled conditions and warmer days.

Freshwater

I touched on it in the last report, but it really is a great time of year to be working our high-country lakes and fishing with bigger dry flies. Terrestrial patterns like cicadas are exciting to fish (and it helps clumsy casters like me, as presentation isn’t critical!), but from chat through the store the green beetle hatch appears to be in full swing. Surface sight fishing around these lake margins is not only a thrilling way to approach trout at this time of year but can also be very rewarding when you get it right. The canals are somewhere that can be overlooked at this time of year with people shying away because they think that a lot of others will be there through the holidays, which is true, but by now a lot are back at work, but fishing can be great. What a way to spend a McKenzie Country evening, watching the sunset while trying your luck for a trout or salmon.

I focus on two areas to fish during these warmer months, either around the cages or ‘fishbowl’ to target the fish that are actively feeding on surplus pellets from the cages – here all methods will work, but I would typically start with drifting an egg or in the bowl or with lower flows a soft bait - or move myself away from the cage areas, and hopefully some other anglers and look for trout cruising the edges where I like to present a fly, typically a small nymph or dry if I see them feeding from the surface. I have even seen people driving along spotting trout then hopping out and applying this method! Unfortunately, I still do not have anything super positive to share on the salmon front – the next fresh we see in our rivers, and they really could do with one, will tell the story, I think.

Saltwater

The improved weather has had an immediate effect here, simply the ability to get out has made the difference. Bluefin isn’t electric, yet, but boats have been out. Albacore have been caught out of Kaikoura and Jackson’s Bay, bluefin further south around Fiordland waters, but not lots, and reports of a striped marlin being hooked out of Jackson’s has kept the gamefishing chat high!

'Puka and the other usual suspects have been on the chew off the Peninsula, and with a settled sea the kingies appear to be in force in Pegasus Bay, too. Lots of reports of big numbers of rat kings at the moment, but the bigger boys will be there. Surface fishing with stickbaits is not only the most entertaining way to catch these critters but also seems to be the most effective currently. Target anything floating on the surface by retrieving your lure past it, as close as you can without hooking up the object and you will hopefully be pleasantly surprised by what hurtles out from under it!

The calmer seas have been welcomed by the local surfcasters as well. It feels like a later-than-usual burst of elephant fish being caught but this could be that the anglers haven’t had the opportunity to get at them either!

Lucy McMillan with a prized elephant fish.

Gurnard and rig are the other tasty target species off the beach at this time of year. With the influx of gurnard, we are seeing a lot of people adding a second rod to their kit. Rig and elephant fish will both happily take a shellfish bait (prawn, crab, crayfish, mussel) but the gurnard really like a fish bait (fresh kahawai has been good, but any oily fish like bonito or I have recently seen success with sanma), so with an extra rod out you can be targeting different species.

We have a very active team of keen anglers in our Fishing Department, so please fire any questions our way and we will point you in the right direction to keep you on the fish. Please check out our Facebook page for more info on what we are up to in Canterbury.

Simon McMillan

Christchurch Hunting and Fishing New Zealand

75 Clarence Street, Addington, Christchurch

03 3430212

https://www.facebook.com/ballingershf.co.nz

www.huntingandfishing.co.nz