Reel Life September 2025 - Nelson Marlborough

2025-26 Trout Season is Nearly Here

After a rather wet winter, Spring has well and truly sprung, and we are only a couple of weeks out from the start of the new season. The key talking point over winter has been the record floods that belted the top of the south, particularly the Motueka/Golden catchments.  However, we are pleased to report that fish are still in the river, and, in fact, some decent fishing has been had over the winter months following the floods.  Read on to find out more about this and all the other news, including our big year of fish releases, learning opportunities and the winners of our thermometer giveaway.

Image above: A happy angler with a 6lb rainbow from Waimea Park. Photo: Rhys Barrier

Grab your New Season licence here

Select here to buy licence.

Trout Releases this Season

We know many of you love our trout release programme, so we have some great news for you. Thanks to a generous donation of fish food, we have been able to increase the number of fish for release this season and now have over 6,000 growing nicely, which will be liberated over the season at Lake Argyle, Waimea Park, and in the Branch/Leatham area.  However, anglers take note, due to a month-long period of turbid water from the floods (which slowed growth rates), fish will be slightly smaller than our planned target of 1kg by October.  They catch up quickly once the water warms up, and before you know it, we will be releasing fish weighing over 1.5 kg into our waterways.  We will also be releasing a bunch of double-digit beauties into Lake Argyle in time for the season (some lucky anglers may already have caught some of these over recent months that we’ve been slipping into the lake too).

Fishing Workshops This Summer

After the success of last season’s fishing workshops, we are excited to bring you more soft bait and fly fishing events this summer.  We will be holding four soft bait workshops with local guru, Josh Ponder before Christmas (at Lake Argyle, Wairau River, Waimea Park & Motueka River – dates TBC), and plan to bring you some practical fly fishing sessions and Women on The Fly events with other local experts who have a passion to help people succeed in fly fishing.  Register your details here, and we will keep you in the loop with upcoming events. Note: If you registered last year, we have your details on file, so there is no need to register again.

Select here to register for events

The Sports Fishing for Youth Trust will also be holding a run of kids' fishing events before Christmas (dates announced soon).  Keep an eye out for the dates and make a booking for your children here: https://youthfishing.org.nz/

These workshops are made possible by a generous bequest from Jim & Fleur Ring.  You can read about this fishing duo in the latest Fish & Game magazine, or online here.

Josh Ponder delivering some on-point tips on soft bait fishing at Lake Argyle.

About to hit the water at a Women on The Fly event last season. Photo: Gebhard Krewitt.

The Floods and What They Mean For your Fishing

The June and July floods were massive and significant events in the period since trout have been in our rivers for some of our fisheries.  But how will your favourite fishing area shape up?

Murchison/Maruia – this area was much less affected by the floods, so we expect decent fishing in the many rivers around here.

Motueka catchment – better than expected survival from winter fishing reports, however we do expect the trout population to have taken a hit. The good news is that there were plenty of fish in the river before the floods, so there should still be reasonable numbers for this coming season (the big ones will also get bigger with more food available).  It’s great to hear that the fish have been found in decent condition and have survived the floods well.  As one Motueka fishing guru said, “Have faith in the Mot!”

Rai/Pelorus – largely unaffected by the floods, so we expect normal fishing here

Wairau catchment – the same rain event caused a significant flood for the main-stem Wairau River; however, we’ve been hearing reports of some decent winter fishing, and the Branch/Leatham rivers were much less affected.

Considering the scale of the event, it will be an intriguing time for staff as we monitor fish numbers through drift dives and electric fishing surveys.  It will also be an interesting time for anglers as they relearn ‘new’ rivers, which have undergone significant morphological changes due to the floods.

Sophie Reed with a winter brownie caught after the floods. Photo: Don Clementson

Anglers Helping Farmers

In the wake of the floods, trout anglers have been pitching in and helping those affected.  During the months that followed, anglers – mostly members of the Nelson Trout Fishing Club – dedicated close to 700 volunteer hours to working on a dozen properties, clearing and reinstating fences, removing rubbish and flood debris, and bringing a smile to landowners who had been severely affected. As we wrap up our effort, we would like to thank all the legends who helped, some who were there for a day or two, and others who were there every step of the way.
Select here to view fence cleaning video.

 Anglers put in a huge effort helping farmers in the wake of the June and July floods. Photo: Gebhard Krewitt

Nelson Trout Club Going Great Guns

The Nelson Trout Fishing Club is going from strength to strength and has been growing its membership in recent years, thanks to its positive culture, informative monthly meetings, technical workshops, and river mentor days.  The Club has a great mix of youth and experienced, as well as growing, female membership. Club members are engaged in significant conservation initiatives, such as building traps for a local catchment group, running a trap-line in the Baton Valley, holding river clean-up days, and have recently played a significant role in the flood clean-up in the Motueka catchment. Their River Mentor Days are very popular, where you can fish with some of the best anglers in the country. 

You can join this fantastic fishing club here. It’s simple and even free for students up to the end of secondary school, and while you’re at it, take a read of their latest monthly magazine or this humorous short story by Club President, Don Clementson.

Select here to view trap building video

Nelson Trout Fishing Club made over 200 traps for a local catchment group.

Watch Video: Next Season's Trout

Check out this short video of next season's rainbow trout releases, you can see eyed ova (fertilised eggs) and a few alevin that have just hatched.  It’s hard to imagine many of you will be locked into a battle with these as 1kg plus fish next season!

Josh Ponders Top 7 Soft Bait Tips

If you’re into softbait fishing but can’t make it along to any of our upcoming soft bait events, check out Josh Ponder’s top 7 tips:

1. Ditch the swivel; it kills the soft bait action and looks unnatural.
2. Use light gear, look for rods in the 7-9ft range, with a fast action and a casting weight of around 2-15g and reels from 1000-3000. 
3. Use a good braid (6-10lb) to maximize sensitivity and casting distance and a 6-10lb fluorocarbon leader a rod length long. 
4. Minimise braid tangles by always winding the braid under tension. When the wind catches your braid while casting, lower your braid to the water and wind in the slack under tension.
5. Use the right jig head weight for the conditions. Go as light as you can in any given situation. A 1/8th is a good place to start. 
6. Make sure the soft bait is rigged correctly, sitting as straight as possible on the jig head, with the hookup and no kinks or twists in the soft bait.
7. Let your soft bait SINK and SLOW down the retrieve. Make sure to throw in plenty of small twitches and pauses to add life to the soft bait.

Soft bait fishing for trout is deadly when done well. Photo: Josh Ponder.

Thermometer Giveaway - Winners Announced

Last year, anglers had the opportunity to put their name in the draw to win one of ten thermometers.  Thermometers are a valuable tool for any angler to measure water temperature, allowing you to learn more about the optimal temperatures for catching trout.  Congratulations to the following people who entered and won a top-of-the-line Fishpond thermometer:

• Tony Barnett
• Pam Boyden
• Stephen Caunter
• Wayne McDonald
• Graham Spicer
• Bruce Lines
• Patric Lorandi
• Alan Ross Heath
• Frank MaKay
• Michael Rogers

Please call into the Richmond office, or email Jacob Lucas to arrange delivery

Fish and Game Magazine - One of NZ's Best

You have hopefully received your copy of the Fish & Game magazine, which has just been ranked in the top 10 in the latest Roy Morgan readership survey. The magazine has claimed 4th place for total cross-platform audience and 6th place for print readership – an outstanding achievement in a market that is tough to crack.  Our latest edition is one for the ages, packed with a heap of fantastic features regional updates.  Take a read of the magazine here.

Online Resources

Fish & Game have a stack of fantastic online resources. Check some of them out below:

Online map of Fishing Access Points

New to fishing? Check out Trout Fishing Made Easy.

Your one-stop shop for River Flow

How to Fish. Check out dozens of great videos here.

 

From your Nelson Marlborough Fish & Game team – tight lines for the new season!