Reel Life March 2026 - Nelson Marlborough

Autumn Fishing

After a great month of fishing, when trout fed actively on abundant insect life, we now enter April, which is characterised by calm but cooler conditions.  This month is still a great time to fish; trout are gearing up for spawning and feeding vigorously to put on weight for their breeding duties. 

For fly fishing aficionados, Autumn means the dominance of the mayfly as the abundance of terrestrial insects, such as cicadas and vine hoppers, subsides.  Fantastic daytime hatches can occur, and your local lowland river is a high-percentage option in the middle of the day to catch the hatch. Trout can also become less selective and, in many cases, more catchable as fishing pressure eases.

On cicadas, one local angler had a ball on the Motueka recently.  After fishing to a line-up of fish which were nymphing and rising to passionvine hoppers (and exhausting his allotment of suitable imitations of these) and getting nothing but refusals, he switched to a cicada pattern and had immediate success, hooking a bunch of fish and resurrecting his day after a bad start.

As we always say this time of year, but it remains true: get out and make the most of one of the best months in the calendar!

Image above: Nardene Reid. Caption: Nardene Reid with a solid Motueka autumn trout.

Motueka Fly Fishing Workshop a Success

On Sunday, 8 March, we held our second Motueka River Fly Fishing Workshop, thanks to the Jim Ring donation. The event was attended by close to 30 anglers who absorbed the wisdom and information from Mot River gurus, Don & Weesang.

Flies, indicators, best weather and water conditions, and reading the water were the key topics covered.

Our main message was that by using high-percentage flies in high-percentage water on favourable days, you will catch fish. This was quickly proven by a brief demonstration from Weesang and Don, which resulted in fish being caught immediately.

It was pleasing to hear of two anglers who went out afterwards and caught a bunch of fish using this simple method. One had fished the same spot a few days later and caught 5 fish in the morning; another had headed downstream immediately after the event, found a nice ripple, and extracted 3 fish in a couple of hours.

One of the said anglers was regional Manager Rhys Barrier, who, while helping on the day, absorbed the content and had immediate success on the Motueka afterwards. Prior to this, his success was average at best; so the in-house joke about the manager never catching fish has now been dispelled.

Thanks to everyone who came along, and especially to Weesang and Don for their expert advice. We will be holding this event again next year: if you fish the Mot and other rivers regularly but don't catch many fish, make sure you get along.

Don Clementson Mot FF day. Caption: Don Clementson is pictured running through fly rigs and how to fish them on the Motueka River.

Regulation Changes 2026/27

Your Council are considering regulation changes for the 2026/27 fishing season.  One proposal is to remove the junior-only status on the Taylor River for the 2026/27 angling season, allowing adult licence-holders to fish the area. 

This regulation change is designed to improve access and encourage the use of this fishery by all license-holders and for caregiver/mentor participation in fishing the Taylor River.

If you wish to provide feedback on this or make any other suggestions for regulations change for the 2026/27 season, click here.  Please provide your feedback by 10 April.

Drift Dive Update

Our annual drift dive program is nearing conclusion as we head through Autumn.  Since the last update, we have dived the Rai, Pelorus, Owen, Fyfe, Anatoki and Motueka rivers.  The Rai/Pelorus rivers were again disappointing, and it has been a shame to see these rivers in steady decline over the past few years, particularly the Rai. The Owen was decent, despite a huge flood in October that did significant damage to farmland.  For this site, it was evident that stable parts of the river with good cover and structure supported higher fish numbers, while the unstable reach held fewer.

The Motueka was surveyed on 10 March using 8 divers, which showed a 42% decrease in medium/large fish and a 90% reduction in small fish when compared to the previous years. For this year’s count, a total of 312 large, 543 mediums and 75 smalls were seen over the 5.8 km length (5 separate sites).  This was in line with what we were expecting based on our observations and angler feedback.  That said, in light of the two major floods in June and July, many of us were expecting worse for this season, and there are still decent numbers present in the main-stem reach to interest anglers.

Blenheim Introduction to Fly Fishing Course 

Over the past three Monday evenings, we have held an Introduction to Fly Fishing Course in Blenheim.  Local angler Josh Ponder has been leading the course, assisted by Lee Crosswell and members of the Marlborough Freshwater Anglers Club.  The course has been a success, with new anglers learning about fly fishing, and culminating in a trip to the Taylor River in search of trout.

We will be looking to hold more of these courses in the future, both in Marlborough and Tasman.  Register your interest here for future courses.

Casting practice on the Taylor River.

Fish Releases Coming Up

After Lake Argyle was dewatered for maintenance, Fish & Game staff will look to restock the lake, as well as Waimea Park, before Easter. We also recently released rainbows into the lower Leatham River, and they are expected to move downstream into the Branch River (below the Leatham confluence), so this could be a good option for anyone wanting a river-fishing experience.