Central South Island Weekly Fishing Report - 6 February 2025

Harry Doherr with a gorgeous brown trout.

One Seriously Hungry Trout

Big Angry Fish! CreS Monaghan.

Steve Monaghan sent in this report of a hungry trout spotted while fishing recently at Lake Benmore Dam.

“A brown trout was flat out chasing a smaller salmon until after a period of about 10 minutes it caught it, and it swallowed the fish whole. The brown trout was about 400mm-500mm in length and the smaller fish would have been around 200mm long”, mentioned Steve

“Maybe my softbait that I was using was a wee bit small!” Steve joked.

How to Safely Release a Caught Fish

Blake gently releases a beautiful 4lb brown trout.

Use these careful catch-and-release techniques:

• Cool your hands and landing net by wetting them before touching the fish.
• Keep the fish in the water while removing the hook.
• Do not squeeze the fish and never touch the gills.
• Photograph the fish in or over the water. Do this quickly as the fish should'nt be out of the water for more than 5 seconds.
• Revive the fish facing into the current until it regains swimming strength.

How are sea-run salmon doing?

Last season’s ‘2023/2024 Central South Island Sea-run Salmon Returns’ report has been published and is available to read in full here.

Some key findings from the report are the following:

Salmon Licences and Harvest:

• The 2023/24 season saw a total of 11,622 sea-run salmon licences issued.
• We estimate a harvest of 517 salmon across the North Canterbury and Central South Island regions.

Salmon Runs and Spawning:

• Combined wild spawning estimates for the Waimakariri, Rakaia, and Rangitata rivers totaled 1,452 salmon, with the overall run estimated at 1,875 salmon—the lowest recorded in the 30-season monitoring history.
• Escapement to spawning grounds improved, with 70–83% of salmon successfully reaching spawning areas, contributing to population sustainability.

River-Specific Insights:

• The Rakaia River recorded the highest harvest (186 salmon), followed by the Waimakariri (143), and the Rangitata and Waitaki rivers (94 each).
• The Ōrāri and Ashburton rivers showed minimal activity, with less than 10 salmon in total runs.

Management Strategy:

• The fishery remains in the "low health" band under the management strategy, retaining a two-salmon season bag limit to encourage higher spawning proportions.

Hatchery Contributions:

• McKinnons Creek hatchery saw 14 returning to McKinnons Hatchery. No hatchery-origin salmon (fin-clipped) were reported in angler harvest.

This report reflects ongoing efforts to balance angler opportunities with long-term fishery sustainability.

Weather and Water Outlook

• 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 and Metvuw.

Notice Board

Grey Willow control at the Ashburton Lakes – Department of Conservation

Aerial spot spraying of grey willow in the Ashburton Lakes area at Maori Lakes and Clearwater west wetlands is scheduled to take place between 11^th Feb and 14^th March.

Signs will be out in areas when the operation takes place. Please contact DOC Geraldine if you’d like to know more.

Hunting Stand Ballots open

We are accepting applications to enter the ballot to hunt stands on CSI wetlands that we administer for the opening weekend of the 2025 game bird season.

For more information click here. 

Central South Island Fish & Game are now on Facebook and Instagram.

Search for csifishgame on Instagram and Central South Island Fish & Game on Facebook. Please like and follow us to keep right up to date with everything we’re up to at CSI Fish & Game.

Any questions are still best directed towards csi@fishandgame.org.nzor calling 03 615 8400. 

Please remember to share your angling experiences with us, it helps make our reports more engaging and inspiring for everyone! Please email your reports to Jase, here