Fishing report for the North Canterbury Region Friday 19th October 2018

Hello and welcome to the North Canterbury region fishing report, it’s the first long weekend of the fishing season coming up and the weather looks to be playing along for once. 

Saturday will have some reasonably strong westerlies in the high country, these will ease on Sunday, while Monday looks to be the best day of all. 

The temperatures will also be a lot warmer than the first half of October.

Above Right: Oakley Batton, aged four and a bit with a two pound rainbow trout caught at Groynes Childrens Fishing Lakes when his Rangiora grandad Peter took him fishing.- Photo: Chris Aldous.

All rivers will be clear and fishable this weekend. 

There was a small fresh during the last week which added some much needed flow. 

It has been a long time since there was a flood which will mean the rivers are very stable with lots of algae and invertebrates. 

This is a rare treat for this time of year, fish will be actively feeding in stable clear water. 

Lowland and foothill streams are still flowing well after a bit of rain last week so make the most of these flows.

The Groynes is now fishing well thanks to a huge effort by the Christchurch City Council and Environment Canterbury staff who have been controlling and removing weed out of the fishing ponds. 

This allowed a successful Take a Kid Fishing Day to take place last weekend. 

As usual there will be fish left over from the stocks that were released for the event -remember it is junior fishers only.

The 3^rd of November this year is the opening of the high country lakes. 

Lake Coleridge Competition

The Lake Coleridge Competition is on again this year, on the first Saturday in November.

As usual Fish & Game will be celebrating this event with its annual fishing competition held at Ryton Bay, Lake Coleridge. 

Anglers can weigh in their catches from 9am to 1pm, with the prizes drawn around 1.30pm.

All fish must be caught in Lake Coleridge or the nearby surrounding lakes. 

The fish must be weighed whole and not gutted. 

There is a great prize pool which is generously sponsored by Hunting & Fishing NZ. 

You don’t have to catch a fish to get a prize just show up with your licence during the weigh in times and go into the draw for spot prizes. 

Entry is free!

Glenthorne Station has generously allowed us the use of their paddock at Ryton Bay. 

This will be available for camping on the weekend of the 3^rd/4^th and the 10^th/11^th of November. 

The gate will be locked for the week in between. 

There has been a new toilet installed at Ryton Bay courtesy of the Selwyn District Council with help from Glenthorne Station. 

The toilet is located near the lake, so Fish & Game will be providing a portaloo in the paddock for the two weekends that it is available.

Please observe the rules for camping in this area which are:

No dogs

No fires

Nothing to be left behind between the two weekends

All rubbish is to be collected and taken away

I was extremely disappointed last year when I turned up and saw that people had dogs running around. 

If that happens again this year, you will put the running of this event in jeopardy. 

The land is private and it is lambing time so please be respectful of this. 

The last two years, staff at Glenthorne have had to clean up peoples rubbish and faeces after the event. 

This is absolutely unacceptable and won’t be tolerated this year.

Now I have had my grumble.  Get out there this weekend because it is going to be a good one

Tight lines.

Tony Hawker

Fish and Game Officer

North Canterbury Fish and Game Council