Reel Life October 2021

TARGET THE RIVER MOUTHS FOR TROUT

The whitebait season is in full swing, and now is the perfect time to fish the lower parts of our rivers for trout.

Of course, it’s not just river mouth areas that are worth checking out, but the lower few kilometres should all have trout that are keyed into whitebait and smelt that are abundant at the moment.

Added to this, after the big July floods, the lower parts of our main rivers and estuarine areas may have also provided some refuge from floodwaters, so there may, in fact, be better numbers of fish here than further upstream.

For spin anglers, try using soft plastics (especially ones with paddle-tails).

The action of soft baits are extremely lifelike, and trout cannot resist them.

For fly anglers, swinging traditional feather lures such as the grey ghost work well, though, for a more realistic imitation, the Black Magic ‘jellybean’ lures are made to cast on a fly rod and can be simply deadly.

Insert: Winter_Motueka. Caption: Weesang Paaka with a lower Motueka ‘jelly bean’ eater.

WAIMEA PARK FAMILY/ADULT POND ALL GO

After considerable time and planning, we are pleased to inform you the new pond at Waimea Park will be ready for fishing on October 1.

The educational fishing ponds have been created with junior anglers, new anglers, families or older anglers in mind.

Please remember the following:

• The ponds are not exclusively for trout anglers, this is a public area, and others may be using the ponds for recreation.
• Fish & Game will try to keep ponds stocked, however fish numbers will fluctuate and releases will depend on numbers of available fish.

Staff and voluntary rangers will try to be at the ponds on a regular basis, and if the reader happens to see anything untoward going on, please ring the Fish & Game office or a staff member.

Insert: Waimea Park. Caption: Before and after pictures of the new pond

UPCOMING FISH RELEASES

We will be releasing ~1kg rainbow trout into Lake Argyle and the new Waimea Park family/adult pond in time for the new season, then at reasonably frequent intervals afterwards.

An aerial release of rainbow trout will take place into the Branch and Leatham rivers in late November or early December.

READ THE FISHERIES REPORT

Have a read of our 2020-21 Annual Fisheries Report, which you can view here.

Tight Lines

Jacob Lucas, Nellson Marlborough Fish & Game Officer.