| Fish type |
Brown
trout |
| Location |
1 hour from Nelson; 25 minutes
from Motueka town. |
| Setting |
A beautiful
crystal clear river rising in the Mount Arthur range and flowing
over a stone and gravel bed providing a range of fishing opportunities
from the easy to the remote wilderness experiences sought by
the more adventurous angler. |
| Maps |
Access
map
Access
map with topography
LINZ
topographic maps: 1:50,000 (260
series)
|
| Check conditions |
View graphs
at the Tasman District Council website of recent:
- Wangapeka
river flow
- Wangapeka
rainfall
View MetService
weather forecast for Motueka. |
| F&G pamphlet |
Motueka River access pamphlet
>>> |
| Description |
The clear water and large fish
make this a very special river. Mostly wadeable with the clear
water allowing the angler to spot and stalk fish which can reach
impressive sizes. Excellent dry fly and nymph waters though
other forms of fishing such as spinning are permitted and work
well, especially near the confluence with the Motueka or when
the river is running high. |
| Fish numbers and size |
Fish numbers
are average when compared to the Motueka though the size of
the fish more than compensates as they average around 4lb and
can grow to trophy sizes. |
| Ease of fishing |
The river is relatively easy
to fish in its lower reaches as the river crosses open farmland
for about 10 kilometers. The middle reaches hold bigger fish
and are more difficult to access and fish this section
offers challenging fishing for large fish in pristine water..
|
| Access |
Access
in the lower reaches is easy as the Tapawera-Glenhope road
runs along its length and there are several well sign posted
access points for anglers (turn off SH61 at Tapawera).
The middle reaches can also be accessed
by car from Tapawera on small backcountry roads though land
owners permission is required for most of this section. The
upper reaches can only be accessed by walking the Wangapeka
Track but offers kilometers of fishing waters.
See the access
map.
Wangapeka track condition
As at 10 Dec 2008, the whole of the Wangapeka
Track had been cleared after storms in July. However there
were were still fallen trees on side tracks off the Wangapeka
- please check with the DOC visitor centre in Nelson.
|
| Recommended lures |
Nymphs:
Pheasants
Tails (and variants), Hare
and Copper, Stone
fly nymph patterns
Dry flies:
Adams, Greenwell's
Glory, March
Brown with Beetle
patterns in early Summer and cicada
patterns from mid summer.
Wet flies:
Any small green or brown "wee wet" such as a March
Brown, Kakahi
Queen or Greenwell's
Glory works well fished just subsurface during the evening.
Spinners: Small
and dark colours such as a small toby
or green veltic.
|
| Regulations |
| Applicable to |
The Wangapeka River |
| Region |
Nelson Marlborough >>> |
| Season |
1 October
to 30 April |
| Methods |
Artificial fly and spinner |
| Bag limit |
2 (with only one fish exceeding
500mm in length) |
| Size limit (cm) |
No minimum size |
