Central South Island Reel Life November 2018

Dry to deluge

October was very dry, and November was very wet, what a change in the feel of the fishing season!

In between flood flows and strong winds, the fishing has been awesome this November.

Above Right: Nine year-old Jack Gillespie with his brown trout caught on his grandad's fly rod at Lake Benmore (Photo A Gillespie).

Our various lakes and canals have remained fishable in all but the worst of conditions.

If this rough weather continues into December, our best piece of advice is to become intimately familiarised with online weather forecasting and the ECan river flows website.

Keen anglers that have the forecasting sussed, river levels dialled, a day up their sleeve and a full tank of fuel will struggle not to find fishable water in the Central South Island Region.

One thing's for sure though, summer low flows will be delayed by all this rain so enjoy the spring-like conditions while they linger.

December the best fishing month?

Imagine you were into every aspects of sports fishing… would December be the best fishing month?

December is a great month to target sea-run trout and there are no white baiters to negotiate.

The occasional sea-run salmon gets caught in December, mostly in the Rangitata.

All our open waters are in season now since the upper Ahuriri River and associated lagoons open on the first Saturday in December.

Coarse fish become more active as water temperatures increase.

Post spawning trout have put on condition and are in great condition for harvesting.

People are busy with life admin like Christmas parties and gift shopping which reduces traffic at popular fishing spots.

The list goes on… so is December the best month?

Waitaggy trout tagging

Joe Nidd's tagged brown trout caught in November Credit Joe Nidd

In total, we have now had seven tagged trout caught in the Waitaki and 14 in the Hakaramea.

Since being trapped in the lower Hakataramea over winter and early spring, the tagged fish have been caught as far downstream as Duntroon in the Waitaki and over 50 km up the Hakataramea.

Some of the bright yellow tags have been covered in a thin film of algae making them hard to detect at a glance.

If you do fish the Haka or anywhere in the lower Waitaki River Catchment this season, please keep a keen eye out for these tagged trout.

The tags are a strip of yellow plastic positioned near the dorsal fin.

Please contact our office with the tag number, capture location, and tell us if you kept or released it.

Phone 03-6158400 or email: csi@fishandgame.org.nz

New CSI Chairman

Your newly elected Central South Island Fish and Game Council met for the first time in November.

David De Joux was elected Chairman. Daniel Isbister was elected as the New Zealand Council appointee.

The next bi-monthly council meeting and Annual Public Meeting will be held in December but the dates are yet to be confirmed.

Council meeting dates are posted on the Central South Island regional home page of the Fish & Game website once they've been confirmed.

All licenceholders and members of the public are welcome to attend council meetings.

A list of Councillors can be found here.

Kids salmon fishing day a success

Isabella Firman presents her prized catch credit Mark Webb

Nearly 180 kids turned out and managed to land around 40 salmon.

A huge THANK YOU goes out to Mt Cook Alpine Salmon who donated the salmon for the event. Their generosity made the event possible!

We also had support from these kind folks: Jakes Hardware, Southern Alps Outdoors, Meridian Energy, Downer and Lady Bird Hill.

All licenced anglers can now fish at Loch Cameron and have a chance of catching one of these prime salmon.

Please read the 2018-2019 sports fishing regulation guide before fishing at Loch Cameron.

Happy fishing!

Rhys Adams, Central South Island Fish & Game Officer

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