| 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: (260 Map Series,
1:50,000)
M28
Wangapeka
N27
Moutere for the confluence with the Motueka |
| 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 whn
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 **** road runs along its
length and there are several well sign posted access points
for anglers.
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. |
| 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 |
