Weekly fishing report from Southland Fish & Game

Above normal river flows will be a feature of Southland’s rivers this Easter break so those who were looking forward to some nice dry fly fishing may have to change their plans. There is a chance that the lower Mataura could still be Ok. Often mayflies will hatch and the trout will rise when this river is above normal, which it is at present but it is not too high so it will be worth checking out. Northerly winds don’t seem to suit the mayflies that much so if there is a souwesterly or westerly the fishing there should be good. It will be cold but that shouldn’t put any good keen angler off.

The Oreti and the Aparima will be moderately high and in the middle reaches this should produce some excellent spin fishing conditions. There will be some trout there migrating from the lower reaches and maybe even the sea. These will be nice and silvery and in good condition. Often these migrating fish are not that large, having spent maybe only a year or so in coastal waters where they have grown quickly to boost their strength as a springboard for growth and their lives in the upper reaches where they will eventually spawn.

Lake tributaries such as the Upukerora, the Whitestone and Mararoa will have migrants in from the lakes. At this time of the year the Upukerora in particular gets several hundred brown trout moving upstream to spawn. These trout will not all be feeding and many will just be loafing around in the deeper pools. Some however will find a nice hatch of afternoon mayflies too much to resist and will be easy to catch on a well placed dry fly. It’s likely that the best of this fishing will occur towards the end of the Easter break. While these streams are still above normal spin fishing will be the best option, just as it is in the lowland rivers. Fishing with spinners and lures where the streams flow into the lakes will also be a productive method over the next week.

An exception will be the Mararoa where trout numbers appear to have been adversely affected by didymo and are at low levels. Fishing in the lower reaches recently has been pretty frustrating with large amounts of didymo drifting in the current. Maybe the latest fresh will have improved things there.

The near winter weather has put a bit of new life into the Southland rivers, making them pretty high at the moment. Fishing won’t be that good for a day or two in the lower reaches. However in the middle and upper reaches there will be good spin fishing over the weekend, when the weather is predicted to be fine and calm.

The best fishing will be available in the Oreti upstream of about Centre Bush and the Aparima from Wreys Bush upstream. There should also be some good fishing in the river mouths around the lake edges. The Upukerora for example, just north of Te Anau should be good. Another good spot is the Staircase Creek just north of Kingston on the road to Queenstown. There is a nice picnic ground there so if you are not in a hurry to get to Queenstown or the kids are getting a bit scratchy in the car, stop off there for a few minutes and fish into the rip where the stream flows into the lake. The rest will do you good and you might catch a trout. It’s a good place for little kids to fish as the beach is safe and there is a good chance of catching something.

The middle reaches of the Oreti and the Aparima will be coloured and reasonably high. The Aparima should be the best but the Oreti, especially around Mossburn, should be in ideal spin fishing condition. The best lures are rapalas that look like small trout – with dark vertical bars over a light background. You can use the floating ones which allow you to drift them into good trouty locations before you retrieve them, or the sinking ones that will fish a bit deeper. However these are expensive at around $16 each so if you don’t want to pay for these try black and gold toby lures which are only a third of the price. Use ones that have single hooks as these can be extracted easily from small fish and those that you want to release because you already have enough for tea.

The lower Waiau has had a smaller fresh in it too so will be fishing well. There have been some reports of good fishing near the mouth lately. The lures mentioned above will work fine there too.

There is a reason that Southland is one of the best trout fishing regions in the country and that is the weather. It’s cool and damp for much of the time – especially in the summer. The rivers keep flowing and nothing gets too hot or too dry.

This summer has been no exception. In February temperatures have hardly ever got above 18-19 degrees and rain has been a frequent companion. The Mataura and Waikaia rivers got a bit low in late January and early February and here was quite a lot of algal growth in the lower reaches of the Mataura River, but there was been a nice fresh this week to clean things up a bit.

The other rivers remained clear of algae right throughout the “summer” period providing good fishing for the whole of the time.

The Waiau has had its didymo cleaned out by high summer flows and now is in excellent order. It will provide good numbers of brown and rainbow trout and a few salmon to those anglers who are prepared to get out there and wet a line. Taking salmon from the Waiau up to the Mararoa Weir is now legal so with the clean river there is no excuse for you not to have a go.

F&G has completed its annual drift dive counts of trout in the Aparima, Oreti and upper Mataura rivers and there are plenty of trout in all three. The Aparima actually has the highest density of fish and the lowest density of anglers.

The fresh has brought some bright sea run trout up to the middle reaches of the Oreti River so any calm sunny day over the next few weeks will be delightful to experience on this river.

There has been a relative scarcity of anglers on most of the rivers – with the exception of the Waikaia, the mid and upper Mataura and the upper Oreti so you are unlikely to be crowded out, especially if you avoid the popular areas.

The unsightly algae in the lower Mataura will have been mostly removed by the fresh so it should improve over the next few weeks too. Autumn is the best time for the lower Mataura mayfly hatches and the spectacular mad Mataura rise, so it will be a difficult decision for anglers – just which of the marvellous angling opportunities in Southland to sample.

The Lower Waiau River has been high all January as a result of high rainfall events in the west. By contrast the Mataura is very low, and its lower reaches are heavily infested with algae. It needs a good fresh to clean it up a bit.

The Waiau has dropped to its normal summer flow so anglers wanting a clean river and some productive trout fishing should head to the Waiau. The Waiau has good numbers of small to medium sized rainbows and plenty of large if, rather slender browns. The small rainbows are very pretty fish with a silvery sheen, pink cheeks and generally a lovely plump shape. They take a spinning lure readily making the Waiau an excellent place to introduce young anglers to the sport.

Spin fishing is probably the most productive method but a drifted worm or other natural bait is also very effective. Fly anglers will also catch their share but the large size of the Waiau does not favour this method. Trout are also a bit hard to spot in the river so blind fishing down ripples and runs is needed. This can be interesting especially when a bright coloured dry fly is used. A small nymph should be added to this as the trout are more likely to take a sub surface fly. However cicadas are starting to appear so a large bushy dry fly could be of some interest to the fish there over the next few weeks.

Night fishing with large dry flies or floating spin lures will produce large brown trout as the summer proceeds. There may be a few mice around soon, as there was a good beech flowering last spring.

Chinook salmon will also be appearing in the lower reaches of the river by now although a fresh will be needed to get them well distributed throughout the river. Salmon can be taken in all parts of the Lower Waiau now – up to the Mararoa Weir – as long as you don’t fish within 100 m of the weir and its fish pass. Salmon fishing in the Mararoa however is still not permitted.

Maurice Rodway

Southland Fish & Gam

The Waikaia River is one of Southland’s, and the world’s finest brown trout fisheries. There is a large population of good sized trout – usually around 1-2kg there and the river is easily accessible. The land is farmed throughout most of the catchment with a relatively low stocking rate. There are problems with faecal bacteria in the river, likely caused by stock access to it. However this does not affect the trout population. But anglers and other river users are advised not to drink the water where sheep and cattle have direct access to the river.

The headwaters of the river flow from high country with vast areas of swamps and tussock land ensuring that the water is cool and clear when it arrives on the plains. The trees along the river’s margins are well managed to provide good shade and shelter. There are plenty of clear reaches also where anglers can get to the river and fish for the abundant stocks of fish that it holds.

While there are lots of good sized trout they are not easy to catch when the river is low and clear, as it is at the moment. Spin and bait anglers are likely to spend a large proportion of their time without much success and even fly anglers will be lucky to come home with one or two trout.

In the late summer the trout are extremely wary and can spend large periods of the day not doing much eating. They are easily frightened, even by the most delicate cast, and often are content to sit out in deeper water, waiting until there is a glut of food on the water, such as a mayfly hatch or willow grub fall, before they start feeding.

Even when they are feeding the fly anglers imitation has to be a close replica of the real thing for the trout to bite at it. And then when the fish is hooked they are so strong that they often scamper to the shelter of overhanging and submerged willows where they break off the line and leave the angler with nothing more than a good story to tell.

Any angler who manages to overcome these challenges and bring a trout to the bank should be well pleased with the handsome colour of the fish and, if they decide to take it home to eat, will be impressed by its fine table qualities with its rich, moist, orange meat.

Maurice Rodway

Southland Fish & Game

As summer advances regular patterns of wildlife activity mark the season’s progress. The end of the whitebait season has arrived. Those fish that have survived the whitebait nets now live in small side streams and the shallow margins of the main rivers growing to maturity over the summer. Smelt migrations bring countless thousands of silvery fish into the tidal parts of the rivers. Elvers and young bullies, both recently in from the sea, seek new places to grow and live in the lower reaches of the rivers.

On the land, insects associated with freshwaters are now more abundant and active. Some, such as the brown grass grub beetles, while not intending to have anything to do with the water will end up in it.

Trout of course are eating these fish and bugs so anglers need to know who is moving in on whom to catch them.

Bait anglers can do no better than using a dead smelt, perhaps preserved after being caught while they were white baiting. All that is needed is a thread line rod, a couple of hooks to secure the bait and a light sinker to get it all out there in the river where the trout are. A four wheel drive vehicle is also handy so you can park right beside the river and sit in comfort while the trout bite.

Spin anglers need small, realistic lures to fish amongst the shoals of bait fish. Evening or very early morning is best. On any estuary you will find trout pursuing these little silveries. To save some of them you need to cast amongst the action and retrieve your lure across the noses of the hungry trout.

Fly anglers need to be out just on dusk with a large bodied dry fly. Hearing quiet slurps near the bank signals a likely catch. A cast to drift your beetle imitation close to the slurps will bring a trout to the shore as well. You might need to fish on in the dark – keep the trout rise between you and the sunset and you will still be able to see the rings of a disappeared beetle well into the darkness.

Maurice Rodway

Southland Fish & Game

The main rivers of the region are in excellent condition for spin fishing at the moment. They are a bit high for ideal fly fishing and the extra water and slight tinge of colour makes perfect for spin fishing. Many serious anglers retire their spin fishing gear after their first few years of trout fishing to take up fly fishing because it is more complex, challenging and generally more successful than spin fishing. However modern spin fishing equipment, long slender rods and delightful lightweight reels, with a diverse array of lures, have shifted the level of sophistication so that it is possible to become a highly successful and technical spin angler.

Slightly discoloured water helps because trout are less wary in these conditions. And modern lures made from soft plastic or with complex, lifelike painted finishes look and behave realistically enough to fool a trout.

It is important to fish spinning lures in ways that trout will see them and in places where they are likely to be. Large brown trout have a liking for overhanging banks so getting the lure to swim close to these is a productive technique. Casting the lure upstream and winding it back downstream just a bit faster than the current will also produce results. Here the lure needs to be going fast enough to produce a lifelike action and be close to the bed of the river. Fishing along lines of changing current in the river, for example, at the edge of a backwater, or close to a line of willows, where the water is at least a metre deep are always hotspots. It’s important to keep back from the river’s edge too. Using a light line – about 2.5kg breaking strain - will allow long casts. The softness of such line will not interfere with the lure’s movement.

Good spinning rods and reels are not expensive, although some lures are. However regular $5 black and gold toby lures are hard to beat so spin fishing in the right locations in the right river conditions will very often produce a nice trout for the table.

Maurice Rodway

Southland Fish & Game

The weather makes a great deal of difference to an angler’s chance of success when fishing for trout. It is no coincidence that crowds of anglers will be found when the weather is fine and sunny. The stream insects they mainly feed on are active in these conditions so trout are too.

However the weather is not always nice, especially in the spring so to get some fishing anglers must go out when the weather is less than ideal.

Provided rivers are not too high and muddy trout fishing can be good in gale force winds or in overcast and gloomy conditions. Just not as pleasant. But then we are real southern men and women aren’t we?

Fishing in a gale is trying. You have to have warm clothes and steady feet. Casting a fly is especially difficult. But on the other hand fish are less wary, it seems. Also on a sunny day in the wind you can see into the water quite well. Fish cannot see out as much as they can when it is calm. Using the wind to advantage is possible with short casts. Even dapping the fly on the water is easier in a good strong wind. I must confess that I have heard of others doing this successfully but I have never had much luck with it – except perhaps once on the Orauea when trout were chasing damsel flies. And then the fish only went for the fly when it was sitting on the water – and it got away.

Overcast conditions make trout hard to see in a river so it’s hard to fish for individual fish, which is the ideal situation for a fly angler. Trout still can be seen weaving and feeding in the water column, but instead of a clear impression of a fish all you see is a grey shape, indistinct and blurry. But the golden rule of stalking trout is that it’s better to fish over a shape that turns out to be a stone than to ignore a shape that turns out to be a trout!

Maurice Rodway

Southland Fish & Game