Reel Life February 2025 - Central South Island

Lake Alexandrina produces great catches.

Lake Alexandrina has produced some great catches this month.

Toby Harwood landed this nice conditioned brown, pictured above, while fishing with friends at Lake Alexandrina recently.

The trout weighed in at just over six pounds and the successful fly was a pheasant tail nymph.

Barrie Wood also sent in his story of an eight-pound rainbow trout, pictured below, that succumbed to his size 6 Mrs Simpson fly.

Photo above: Toby Harwood and his beautiful 6 pound brown caught on fly at Lake Alexandrina.’ Photo by Mark Suckling

Barrie says he was thrilled to see how big it was when he finally got it to the net, but he wasn’t surprised as the fish had taken him well out into his backing line three times and it took two hands to lift the net (containing the fish) into his dingy.

Lake Alexandrina regular angler Allan Gillespie reports that wooly bugger flies are producing results too when fished during the day but he suggests fishing them deeper as the lake edges are a bit warm at this time of year.

He says to fish the lake edge, it’s best to try after dark.

Spin anglers are recommended to use the black and gold tobys, hex wobbler or Tasmanian devil lures.

Barrie Wood shows off his eight-pound rainbow trout caught at Lake Alexandrina this month.

Sockeye spawning regulations start 1st March

Sockeye Salmon (440mm) caught in Lake Benmore recently that has just begun it’s transformation to spawning mode, made evident by the bronzing. Photo credit Kevin O’Hanlon

It’s that time of year again when tens of thousands of sockeye salmon make their spawning run into tributary streams of the Waitaki Lakes, notably lakes Benmore, Ōhau and Pūkaki.

Check out our recent social media post to see the transformation that sockeye undergo to produce offspring and when they’re best eating.

From 1 March to 30 April, it is an offence to fish for sockeye salmon in any stream or river where they are present. See Note 1.10 in the second schedule of the 24/25 sports fishing regulation guide.   

An open season for trout fishing in these same waters remains in place until 30 April.

In summary, stick to the lakes and canals if you want to target sockeye during that period.

The sockeye salmon population of the Waitaki lakes is the only self-sustaining sockeye population in the Southern Hemisphere.

The sockeye salmon run usually peaks around mid-March and provides for interesting viewing – the SH8 Bridge over the Twizel River is usually a good spot to go and observe the phenomenon.

The influx of this number of hormone-charged sockeye can make trout fishing difficult as they can spook and disturb large stretches of river.

Canal Fishery’s ‘Top- 5’ Projects Revised

Garmins Harry Curley trials LiveScope sonar technology on the Tekapo Canal.

Central South Island Fish & Game have revised the “top five” projects as priorities for progressing the management of the hydro canal fishery over the next three years.

Canal fishery management projects are enabled through our annual operational work plans.

To proactively develop our understanding and management of the canal fishery our strategy is: 1, to commit to having at least two “top five” priority projects underway in each annual work plan and 2, to revise our top five priority projects every three years.

 Our “top five” projects for the 2025 – 2027 period are:

• Trialling the use of modern sonar technology for annual fish population surveys.

• Investigating resourcing required for undertaking an annual angler use and catch survey.
• Investigating the feasibility of a put-and-take salmon stocking programme.
• A coordinated, multi-media campaign advocating best practice catch and release.
• Develop ranging protocols targeting potential unlawful salmon harvest during short periods of high salmon abundance.

The “top five” projects, along with canal fishery management achievements from the 2021 to 2024 period, and an extensive schedule of project options are presented in the recently published 2025 - 2027 Hydro Canal Fishery Management Strategy.

Sea-run Salmon update

Last season’s ‘2023/2024 Central South Island Sea-run Salmon Returns’ report has been published and is available to read in full here.

From salmon bag card returns and the telephone survey we estimated a total harvest of 517 sea-run salmon (salmon) across North Canterbury and CSI.

The combined live salmon spawning estimate for the Rakaia, Rangitata/Rakitata and Waimakariri was 1,452 salmon and places the status of the fishery in the ‘low health’ management band.

As a result, the North Canterbury and CSI Fish and Game councils resolved to retain the season bag limit of two salmon.

The combined total wild run for the three indicator rivers (Waimakariri, Rakaia and Rangitata) in the 2023/24 season is 1875 salmon.

Prior to the introduction of the management strategy, the proportion of the salmon run escaping anglers and reaching the spawning grounds had been low.

This season, the ‘big three’ rivers achieved 70% (Waimak), 73% (Rangitata) and 83% (Rakaia) of the run reaching the spawning grounds, which is considered successful.

Annual General Meeting - Waitaki Riparian Enhancement Society

The Annual General Meeting of the Waitaki Riparian Enhancement Society (WRES) or better known as the Waitaki Voluntary Salmon Hatchery is to be held on the 25^th of next March at the Glenavy Hall.

WRES are a voluntary organisation who aim to increase the wild sea-run salmon population of the Waitaki River. For more information check out their web page or head along to the meeting.

Date: 25 March
Time: 7pm
Place: Glenavy Hall

Tight lines,

Nikki Dellaway,
CSI Fish and Game Officer