Central South Island Weekly Fishing Report - 1 January 2026

Happy New Year and Welcome to our Holiday Edition of the Weekly Report

Hamish Tiffen (15yo) from Timaru, landed this stunning 7¼lbs rainbow trout while spin fishing using a black and green Hex Ticer lure, from the shore at Lake Alexandrina. Hamish was holidaying with his uncle Don and after a frustrating few days of hooking and losing fish, Hamish more than made up for it with this absolute beauty.

Big thanks to Don Tilson for sending in this report about his nephew Hamish. If you’ve had a memorable fishing experience this holiday season, we’d love to hear about it!

Whether it’s you PB fish, first fish, the one that got away or even a recipe, every photo and report helps inspire and engage the CSI angler community.
Please email Jase at jvanbeers@fishandgame.org.nz with anything you feel will be of interest.

If you’ve been holding off getting your 2025/2026 fishing licence until the summer you can easily buy your licence online through the Fish & Game NZ website, here, or from your local licence agent in-store.

Make sure to review the latest CSI Sports Fishing Regulations 2025/26, here to familiarise yourself during your holiday

Exploring Regulatory Changes To Increase Sea-Run Salmon Spawning – Your Feedback Is Sought

F&G are seeking your feedback to support future decision-making regarding sea-run salmon.

Update: survey now available for all anglers and members of the public to complete 

Salmon populations are at critically low levels currently requiring the Central South Island and North Canterbury Fish and Game Councils to explore further regulation options, in addition to the season bag limit, that enable a greater proportion of the run to spawn. Changes to the regulations may impact your fishing activities and your sea-run salmon fishery values, so we are seeking your feedback to support future decision making. 

What is Fish & Game Seeking Feedback On?

Fish & Game is seeking your feedback on a variety of potential regulatory changes to the sea-run salmon fishery within the current management framework, including:

• Reducing season length
• Limiting fishing areas
• Implementing a catch-and-release fishery (0-season bag limit)
• Implementing a temporary season closure

How and when can I provide feedback?

You can provide feedback via our online survey.  The survey will be emailed to sea-run salmon licence holders and be available on the Fish & Game website for everyone else. There will be a staged release of the survey as follows:

• 1 December 2025: A randomised subset of sea-run salmon licence holders will be emailed, inviting them to complete the survey.
• 1 January 2026: A survey link will be emailed to all sea-run salmon licence holders who did not participate in the random survey. Additionally, the survey link will be available on our website for any angler or member of the public to complete.
• 31 January 2026: The survey period closes.  All submissions must be made by 11:59 pm NZDT.

For more information, to review our information pack, and to complete the survey visit our website here.

An Easy ‘Click’ for Fishing Tips and Tricks

Check out the Fish & Game YouTube Channel.

If you sitting back relaxing why not check out the Fish and Game NZ YouTube channel here, and watch a ton of videos that the Fish & Game team have put together over the years to help you out.

Here are the direct links to a few of our favourites – just click on the video name.

• Spin fishing tips video
• Lake trolling tips video
• Soft baiting tips video
• 5 Tips for lake fishing, here.

Easy Spots to Have a Cast

Bruce Quirey with a lakeside brown trout caught from Lake Opuha.

Lake Opuha Has multiple access options, shore fishing and formed boat ramps at Bennets and Hays Roads.  The North and South Opuha rivers are the lake's main source of water and offer small river fishing options.

Lake Tekapo Trout and salmon fishing with breathtaking views of the Southern Alps.  Target the stream mouths.  Spin anglers should try casting silver lures like hex wobblers and ticers around 14 grams. 

Lake Hood A park-like lake offering great perch fishing and the chance to catch brown and rainbow trout. Just a quick detour from State Highway 1.

Tekapo Canal Roadside access and all legal methods are permitted.  It is renowned for its scenic setting and trophy trout.  The canal has brown and rainbow trout of all sizes, with many reaching over 4kg and a few over 15kg. 

Pūkaki Canal This canal provides relaxing roadside access, and all legal methods are permitted. The canal supports brown and rainbow trout of all sizes, with many reaching over 4kg.  Occasionally, salmon are caught here too.

And remember the most up to date way to find a fishing spot is to use the F&G Central South Island Region Access Map, here.  We suggest creating a shortcut to this map on your phone. This will allow you to quickly access the map and view nearby locations while you're on the go.

A Message to Boatie Anglers

The Thelning Family out fishing on Lake Aviemore. Credit: R. Adams.

CSI Fish & Game Rangers will be out on the water across Waitaki Lakes this holiday period and two key pieces of advice to anglers from rangers regarding compliance are:

• Have your sports fishing licence with you on the boat (not in your wallet back at the tent).
• Know your Fish & Game regional boundaries before purchasing a local area licence.  The Waitaki valley and lakes such as Aviemore are part of the Central South Island Fish & Game Region. Our southernmost boundary runs from Shag Point/Matakaea along the mountain ranges to the Lindis Pass. Check out your local area, here.

Go-To Baits

• Prawn and cocktail shrimp – these crustaceans would surely win the award for the most popular bait in the Mackenzie Basin canals.   Fish them whole or trim them to suit your hook size.
• Huhu grub - dig these insects out of a rotten log. They stay on the hook best if you hook them through the mouth.
• Anchovy - a portion of fish may now be used as fish bait, excluding trout, salmon and any fish eggs. This means you can now cut an anchovy into pieces to use for bait, but it remains illegal to use portions of salmon and trout and remains illegal to use fish eggs.
• Scented soft baits – these come in all shapes, sizes and scents and can be fished in all sorts of ways.
• Worms – dig them up from your garden bed or, better yet, around a cattle yard.  A favourite of brown trout, incredibly successful when rivers are up in flow a little after a rain event.

Catch – Bleed – Clean and Chill

Sockeye salmon fillets ready to be smoked and devoured while camping at Lake Benmore.

Sports fish are a special food resource – only sports fishing licence holders have the privilege of harvesting wild sports fish in freshwater.

Here are the four key steps we recommend for getting the absolute best flavour and flesh texture from your special catch.

Step 1 – after landing, dispatch your fish ASAP with a firm strike to the top of the head above its eyes with a rock or stick or an ‘iki’ spike to its brain.

Step 2 – Once dispatched, immediately bleed the fish by cutting from the bottom of its gills into its gills – when cut correctly, there will be a lot of blood loss.

Step 3 – when bleeding has ceased, remove the gills, stomach contents and kidneys (dark strips along the backbone in the gut cavity).

Step 4 – Chill fish ASAP. It's best done in a chilly bin with ice.  Alternatively, to keep it cool, you may need to bury it deep in cold-wetted sand or keep it in the river water in the shade of a tree, etc.

Catch and Release Quick 5 tips

Rhys Adams prepares to release a healthy Ahuriri brownie.

Taking a fish home for dinner is a fundamental part of sports fishing; however, there will be times, either by choice or by legal requirement, when you will release fish. Careful catch and release is a skill you must learn to ensure any fish you intend to release doesn’t come to harm.

Here are our ‘Quick 5’ tips for handling fish with care:

1. Cool your hands and landing net by wetting them before touching the fish.
2. Keep the fish in the water while removing the hook.
3. Do not squeeze the fish and never touch the gills.
4. Photograph the fish in or over the water and make it quick - the fish should not be out of the water for more than 5 seconds.
5. Revive the fish facing into the current long enough for it to regain its swimming strength.

In the unfortunate instance that a fish you intended to release does end up bleeding from the gills, so long as you can legally take that fish, you should keep it as part of your bag limit and utilise it. 

This short video demonstrates good fish handling skills, click here to view.

Fish Strandings

With the summer dry setting in fish strandings are a possibility.

If you report a fish stranding to us there are some key pieces of information we will need as we triage the urgency to attend versus other important work at hand.

1. Exact location.
2. How many live fish, their sizes, and species.
3. How deep the water is in the pools (we can only recover using electric fishing in knee deep or less).
4. Is there water flowing into the pool where they are stranded?

Contact us at our Temuka Office, phone - 03 615 8400 or email - csi@fishandgame.org.nz

Check, Clean, Check, Dry

Patrice Hammond the Clean, Check, Dry ambassador for South Canterbury for the summer season is currently active and is visiting some popular fishing spots around Omarama, Twizel and Takapō to engage with the public and give away some free cleaning resources.

The invasion of freshwater pests is a direct result of human activity, so if you plan on going to a lake, river, stream or wetland this summer and move to another within 48 hours, you must clean all your gear that has been wet using the 'Check, Clean, Dry' method.

For more information, visit here.

Contact Environment Canterbury on 0800 324 636 or email biosecurity@ecan.govt.nz

How to ‘Check Clean Dry’ your boat and gear – South Island video, here.

Weather and Water Outlook

Please always check the weather and waterway conditions yourself before heading out to ensure an enjoyable day on the water, click on the links below to the weather and water condition forecast providers we use.

• Keep a close eye on river and lake levels at Environment Canterbury’s River Flow Website here and rainfall website here.
• Outdoor Access NZ offer high quality live stream webcams of some of Canterbury’s favourite fishing spots. This is a subscription-based service, but they do offer a 30-day free trial.
• There are some great weather forecasting websites available, we use YR.NO, Metvuw and NIWA Weather

NOTICE BOARD

Return Your Sea-Run Salmon Bag Card

If you are finished sea-run salmon fishing for the season, please remember to return the details of your salmon bag card to us.

Even if you didn’t go fishing, or catch or keep any sea-run salmon, your information is still important.

You can do this online by clicking here, give us a call on 03 615 8400, email csi@fishandgame.org.nz or post the card to us at P.O Box 150 Temuka 7948. 

Meridian Energy Limited

For any information on controlled releases of Lake Pūkaki

Updates will be made via the Meridian Energy Ltd Facebook page, here.

Genesis Energy Limited

For any information on controlled releases of Lake Takapō/Tekapo.

Updates will be made via the Genesis website, here.

Remember every story helps inspire and engage the CSI angler community.  Please email Jase at jvanbeers@fishandgame.org.nz with your own angling reports.

Click here for Central South Island Fish & Game on Facebook

For any questions, please email csi@fishandgame.org.nz or call 03 615 8400.