Reel Life January 2026 - Southland

Happy New Year and we trust you’ve managed to enjoy fishing during the holiday period.

Anglers are currently experiencing low and clear conditions typical of mid-summer which can make fishing difficult and unforgiving.

The general rule is to go smaller and lighter with your offerings, whether this is with your flies, lures and/or soft baits. Also, the thickness and suppleness of your line can also be worth downsizing as well for a more natural presentation.

The willow grubbing is in full swing, and the larger terrestrials such as blowflies and cicadas are coming on!

Backcountry Adventure

Luke Febery and his family decided to go on a one-night micro adventure to a DOC hut and he caught his biggest trout so far.  A strong downstream wind couldn’t prevent his soft bait landing 2m upstream of the fish, which hit it immediately. 

A warm hut and a beautiful area have made some special memories.

Image above: Aidan and Luke Febery having success on a backcountry micro-adventure.

Boat-based Soft-baiting 

For many lake anglers, trolling is the go-to method, but it’s not the only way to cover water—or keep things interesting. If the trolling rods have been quiet or the routine is starting to feel a bit stale, softbaiting from a boat along the shoreline is well worth a crack.

It’s an active, hands-on way of fishing that lets you target likely fishy areas. Use wind direction to your advantage by drifting quietly along the edge, or ease along slowly under power, casting softbaits back towards the shoreline, fallen timber, or other snags. It’s a more involved approach, but that extra effort often pays off.

Focus your attention on areas where fish like to hunt, such as the mouths of tributaries flowing into the lake, or shallow margins with macrophyte growth and cover where small fish live and hide.

Keep your gear light—jigheads from 1/12oz up to 1/6oz are ideal—and try paddle-tail softbaits that swim as they sink. Let the softbait drop for a short time, depending on depth, then retrieve with a steady wind and the occasional sharp flick to add extra life to the softbait. A depth sounder is a handy tool here; there’s little point fishing water deeper than about five meters, as lightweight softbaits are most effective in the top layers.

If you get a strike, cast again straight away — fish will often come back for a second go. And if you feel a hit without a hookup, try stopping the retrieve for a couple of seconds; that brief pause can be enough to convince a following fish that its prey is stunned and ready to eat.

 A flick towards the bricks gets results.

Summer Compliance

Southland Fish & Game field officers were kept busy over the summer period carrying out compliance ranging across the Fiordland lakes, with bouts of fine weather and high angler numbers adding to a packed season on the water. Around 50 boats were checked as part of routine compliance, with the majority of anglers happy to produce a valid sports fishing licence and share positive reports on their day’s fishing.

Unfortunately, several infringement notices were issued for fishing without a licence or for using two rods, with “not knowing the rules” a familiar refrain. While regulations can differ across regions, it remains the responsibility of each angler to understand the rules that apply to waterbodies fished, and Southland Fish & Game has gone to considerable lengths to simplify regulations to make compliance as straightforward as possible for visiting anglers.

From a fishing perspective, feedback from anglers and observations by officers painted a very encouraging picture. Rainbow trout in particular were in excellent condition throughout the lakes, with a number of solid brown trout also seen among the mix, suggesting the fisheries are tracking well. While Fish & Game officers do not enforce life jacket rules on the water, we continue to strongly support their use, and it was pleasing to see the vast majority of anglers wearing them. Field officers will be continuing with ranging across Fiordland's lakes this season and hope to meet many more anglers and hear their tales of success in the months to come.

Compliance - Out Spinning Yarns 

One of the highlights of the compliance work that we do is of course meeting keen anglers, characters and some of the yarns that get spun at the same time. One yarn we "had on the fly" this year came about after an encounter with a young chap called Toby whilst out on Lake Te Anau. He said he had days earlier caught the same brown trout, in the same spot on the lake, on the same fly, as he had a year prior. And he supplied the photos to prove it... The only difference was that the fish was a little bigger...

Toby writes "I first caught this fish on the 24th of December 2024 (the photo of me in the T-shirt), and then caught it again on the 21st of December 2025 (wearing jersey). Both times it was caught fly fishing off the boat, right at the same stream mouth. It even took the same fly which was a big size 8 Humpy and was awesome to watch it eat off the surface again.

At the time, I thought there was a chance it was the same fish because it was a good size and sitting in the exact same spot. It wasn’t until I got home and compared the spots that I realised it was definitely the same one."

A great yarn it was, and the evidence is concrete! Look for the triangular arrangement of spots on the gill plate, the double spot behind the gill plate just below the lateral line, and further back along the lateral line, a pair of three in-line spots with another triangular arrangement above. Thanks Toby – that's one fish I'm sure you won't forget, and a tale we will be telling for a while yet!

Toby's Brown Trout he caught in December 2024

Toby caught the same Brown Trout again in December 2025

The Te Anau Club Fishing Competition

The annual Te Anau Club fishing competition, held from 9–11 January, once again delivered a fantastic weekend of community spirit centered around fishing. Behind the scenes, organisers and volunteers spend the entire year fundraising and planning to ensure the competition continues to be a relaxed, community-focused occasion that welcomes anglers of all ages and abilities. Their dedication was clearly on display over the weekend, with easy registration, a friendly atmosphere, and plenty of good-natured storytelling as fish were brought to the scales. In the end 114 fish were weighed in over the weekend, including a very large rainbow and brown trout that drew plenty of attention from those gathered.

One of the highlights was seeing a constant stream of kids arriving with fish in hand, proudly passing them over to the weigh master — a great sign for the future of fishing in Southland. A clear theme this summer, and one reinforced during the weigh-ins, was the outstanding condition of the local rainbow trout, which are not only fishing well but also proving to be top eating.

One of the many draw cards for the event, and one the Te Anau Club continues to stand by, is offering free registration for the competition. This year a $10 bar voucher as well as free sausages and patties were also handed out to anglers weighing in fish. This generosity and commitment keeps the event thriving year after year, reinforcing the strong connection between fishing and community in Southland. Anglers looking for a relaxed, family-friendly event would do well to keep this competition in mind and pencil it into the calendar for next year.

Proud as punch – Two Brown trout and two happy Lads!

DOC – Upcoming Poison Drop for feral cats – Upper Oreti & Eyre Creek

The Department of Conservation is developing a new predator bait for targeting feral cats and stoats. The bait is an 18g meat sausage laced with sodium fluoroacetate (1080) – think ‘poisonous cheerio’.

Proterma Predator Bait to be used in this trial

 They are planning a field trial of the bait to occur this summer/autumn in the Upper Oreti valley and Eyre Creek valley centred around Shepherds Creek hut.

Bait will be aerially applied over two treatment blocks totaling a 7584ha treatment area. 

Non-toxic baiting is planned to occur from the 1st of February and toxic baiting to happen 7-10 days after, these operations both require fine weather.

Immediately prior to the toxin being deployed, DOC will place warning signs at key beat signs/trailheads, information sheets at visitor centres, and online warnings.

Sodium fluoroacetate is poisonous to animals with dogs being particularly susceptible. Whilst warning signs are in place always remember:

• DO NOT touch or eat the bait
• WATCH CHILDREN at all times
• DO NOT EAT animals from this area
• Toxic baits and carcasses are DEADLY to DOGS.

If you have any questions about the trial please contact the National Eradication Team, DOC Invercargill on 0800 362 468 .

What this means for anglers – avoid taking your dog with you when fishing either the Ashton Burn Beat, the Upper Oreti Hut Beat or if you access the upper reaches of the Eyre Creek. If you take your dog, keep him/her under control and consider utilising a muzzle.

With the roar coming up, please also tell anyone you know who may hunt these areas with a dog.

For more information and detailed maps, please download the information sheet available here.

 

If you have any photos or fishy stories that you think other anglers might like to see or read about in next month’s Reel Life, then email them to southland@fishandgame.org.nz

All the best,

From the team at Southland Fish and Game