Fishing report for the North Canterbury Region Friday 9th April 2021

Over the last week, we have seen the main rivers rise and fall following continued periodic nor-west rain in the alps, with further rain and high waters due to come through from the headwaters over the weekend.

River conditions for salmon fishing will likely deteriorate over the weekend and remain poor through to Thursday when the rivers are likely to show some short reprieve in the headwaters.

The best chance for a catch will likely be over the next two days before the coming fresh.

The weather forecast for the weekend is not great for fly anglers, with wind and scattered rain forecast throughout the region both days and fly anglers may find tomorrow and early Saturday the best bet for a quick fish before conditions deteriorate.

On the salmon fishing front, things remain quiet in the main rivers, with consistent high flows and dirty water limiting angler opportunities.

Early in the season it is good to hear of a few well-conditioned salmon seen and caught in the Rakaia, and similar reports emerging in the Kaiapoi River.

Things are shaping up well to be one of the best early season salmon runs in years.

With weather remaining turbulent for the next seven days, anglers will need to pay close attention to the ECan rain and flow sites, to pick at windows where flows and turbidity are conducive to salmon fishing

As the fishing conditions improve, we are receiving more queries and feedback around the new Sea Run Salmon harvest regulations.

Common queries relate to the previous daily bag limit regulation.

Under the current regulations there is no daily bag limit as this has been replaced by the season bag limit.

It is up to the individual angler to choose whether they harvest 1 or 2 fish in a day with the season limit of 2 fish.  

On the trout fishing front, most of our high-country lakes continue to fish well, with good reports coming from Lake Sumner, where several rainbow trout have been caught, with reports of salmon out of Lake Coleridge.

The rivers flowing into the high-country lakes opened on December 1, with good fishing to be expected in the Ryton and Harper Rivers

The coming weeks should see good brown and green beetle hatches and provide great opportunities for fly anglers.

As a feel good Friday we have big thankyou to Mark in Oxford this morning for alerting us to three large long finned eels landlocked in a rapidly drying up pool far from other water sources.

Thanks to marks report we were able to get a officer down with nets and tanks to relocate the eels.

 Tight Lines 

The team at North Canterbury Fish & Game