I was there last winter (August) and day tripped over from Wanaka while the family skied.

I visited Hunting & Fishing Wanaka for a licence and some sinkers for egg drifting, having researched via YouTube vids and NZ Fishing News articles. I took down my squid fishing rod, and a light spin reel with light fluorocarbon and jigheads as well (for trying softbaiting).

I went to the Ohau system and while slowly cruising canal side I recognised Mike Davis (H&F Rotorua owner and occasional author, fishing show guest etc). I pulled over and it turns out he was part of a group doing a gear testing trip with Shimano, led by a local woman who presumably knows the area well. They were fishing opposite a salmon farm cage zone, using eggs/sinker rigs. 

I gave them a bit of space and rigged up. Long story short, I only caught a small rainbow for my efforts. But they had a tough time of it too. I think they might have hooked one big one, but not much else. It wasn't like they were hooking fish after fish. They fished for hours without much to show for it, like me. I tried a softbait for a while, but wasn't getting far enough over - by what the others were saying you needed to be swinging the softbait right under the edge of the cage, and my casts were falling a little short.

to be honest, I found it pretty average. It's not exactly scenic, being down a canal bank with the salmon cages etc. And the monotony of walking up and down drifting eggs, stumbling over uneven ground, is pretty mind-numbing if you're not catching a 30lber!!

I think a guide is a good idea, as there are miles of canals and no real obvious reason for fish to be in one place versus another. You could spend hours fishing an area that doesn't have any fish. Once I knew the Shimano team had focused on that area, I figured I might as well stay there. Their guide would have taken them to a hot spot to try to get them good footage for their promo vid.

Another local turned up who seemed to know what he was doing, and caught a decent fish. He was using a two fly rig of a big Woolly Bugger and an egg above it, and said it gives the fish a couple of looks - rather than just eggs which they see over and over.

A guide will know areas for salmon, versus areas for trout; and have intel about current flow, and where fish have been located recently. I've seen vids of guys catching in a completely featureless zone without a salmon cage in sight, while other times the cages seem to be the hot spot. Also, there's a spot where people fish off a high dam wall, into swirling deep water, but that looks pretty unappealing to me. 

The backdrop of snowy mountains is nice, but ultimately, I think canal fishing is an acquired taste. I prefer natural rivers, and the action of fly fishing the Tongariro for example. I would have loved to hook a monster, but it was probably unrealistic to expect that across 1.5 days of trying in a completely unfamiliar place.

Overall it's a shadow of its former glory, the days when you could go with the kids and reliably catch a couple salmon every day just by having a bait in the water are gone. Too much pressure, and the farms are better at holding on to their salmon! 

Still it's a great fishery overall, and there's lake fishing as well which can be great if you have a little dinghy or find a good spot where they come in close, and it's a beautiful part of the country. 

In terms of methods it totally depends on the day. After an unsuccessful day I took my son to the fish farm, where you can pay to catch a salmon. That was a very educational 40 minutes, which was how long it took to hook one of the 150 salmon in a smallish netted off pond! We kept on changing lures and colours and eventually I got one to bite, and my son landed it. It was eye opening to see them simply ignore lure after lure. The water was a bit low on oxygen and they close their mouths. 

Best advice I can give is decide what you want to achieve. Memorable trip and fish caught? Go to the farm, feed the salmon and pay to catch one. You will probably end up ahead financially and the daughter will have fun. 

Otherwise just spend a day at the canals, fish slow and deep, and try a combination of lures, colours and methods. Light gear fished deep usually works, but sometimes a spinner in the mid water will catch when nothing else does. There's probably about one trophy fish (think 30lb or more) every 100m but they do move around a bit. The salmon especially school, so if there's nothing happening where you are, don't be afraid to move. On the other hand, right place right time and it's the best fishing you will ever have. 

I've caught plenty of big fish there, but been skunked a lot as well.