North Canterbury Fishing Report - 20th November 2025

Kickstarting Your Season: Why Now Is the Time to Level Up Your Fishing Game

Over the Anniversary weekend, Fish & Game Field Officers Harry Graham-Samson and Emily Craig ventured into a range of remote areas in search of anglers. Here is Harry looking over the lake margins of Lake Hawdon.

Canterbury Anniversary Weekend delivered a snapshot of the season so far… unpredictable.

Fast-changing weather that kept everyone guessing. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned this year, it’s that Canterbury anglers don’t back down. Despite the shifting skies, they hit the water with real intent.

Lake Coleridge was buzzing over the long weekend, with our rangers checking more than 50 licences on Sunday alone. Catch rates were strong, spirits were high, and once again, we saw a huge variety of methods in play, soft baits, trolling, and a rapidly growing wave of anglers fine-tuning their jigging skills. Coleridge continues to reward those who come prepared.

Mason Daniel (7) with a nice brown trout caught from the boat on Lake Coleridge over the Canterbury Anniversary weekend, where he spent the time with his parents, Amanda and Alex Daniel.

And that’s the message this week: the more tools in your kit, the more fish you’ll catch.

Yes, picking up new gear can come with a cost, but you’d be surprised how far your current spin rod and reel can take you when paired with a few clever upgrades. If you’re based around Christchurch, you’re spoiled for choice—our local tackle shops are full of passionate, knowledgeable staff who can help you diversify your approach without blowing the budget.

But gearing up is only half the story. The real gains come from learning.

We are living in the best era in history to become a better angler. YouTube is bursting with content—yes, anglers keep a few secrets close to their chest, but if you watch carefully, the clues are all there. Look at how they work a pool with soft baits, or note the leader length in certain conditions. Even if they’re fishing on the other side of the world, there’s something to learn.

Don’t box yourself in. Don’t just watch videos, read books, or follow reports from your home waters and beyond. The more diverse your knowledge, the more adaptable and ultimately more successful you’ll become. Take Lake Taupō, for example. Jigging is huge there, and the way those anglers read their fish finders is directly transferable to many of our lakes here in Canterbury.

Every magazine article, every blog, every fishing report—yes, even this one—holds a lesson if you’re willing to look for it.

And with modern technology at your fingertips, there’s no excuse not to level up.

So this week, make it a goal:
Explore more. Learn more. Try something new. Get the family involved. Pick up that licence and your rod, get outside, and become that angler.

Because the fish are out there just waiting for the anglers who put in the effort.

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Video Fishing Report From Last Week

Lake Coleridge was blue and still over the past long weekend. More than 50 anglers spent time in search of success on the lake.

With Canterbury Anniversary Day last week and a long weekend, many Cantabrians were making the most of the extra day to get out for a fish.

In the video, Harry shares what he packs for a full day on the water, a handy rundown of gear that keeps him prepared when he’s fishing away from the vehicle. Check out the video below for some great tips that might just make your next day trip more successful.

If you’re heading out around the region (or further afield), remember to be courteous to fellow anglers. A quick chat can go a long way in ensuring everyone enjoys their day. Displaying a Fish & Game upstream/downstream card in your vehicle window is also a simple way to help others know where you’re fishing. If you don’t have one, a quick handwritten note with your name, date, and direction works just as well. Cards are available from the North Canterbury Fish & Game office during normal opening hours

Click the image below to watch the video from last week.

Tackle Tip Of The Week

Different styles and brands are available from a range of stores. Find one that suits your needs best.

Community Corner 

Persistent dirty flows in North Canterbury’s large braided rivers continue to challenge anglers this season.

With only limited windows to access these rivers, we know there are plenty of itchy-footed anglers waiting for the chance to bolt for the banks. But it’s important to remember that the region’s fishing opportunities are far from restricted to the big braided rivers.

High-country lakes have delivered an exceptionally strong start to the season, with anglers finding great success both from boats and along the shoreline. Meanwhile, spring creeks and smaller streams—less affected by recent weather—have become hotspots as trout move in to escape the discoloured main rivers.

For those willing to put in the time and explore, there has been no shortage of rewarding fishing. The trout are there—you just have to go find them.

Stories this week! 

Casting in Style: Pink Lures, Taylor Swift, and a Day on Lakes Selfe & Georgina

By Leanne Kingsbury

A purple rod poised over Lake Georgina, sporting a flashy Tazzie Devil, ready to tempt a trout.

In mid-November, we headed out to Georgina and Selfe armed with fishing rods and four spirited 9-year-olds. My daughters Ruby and Pearl, and two of their friends, who had never fished before. 

From the start, every attempt at stealth was drowned out by the girls' laughter, sending fish scurrying for cover. My day devolved into unhooking snags and searching for the sparkliest pink lures, all while Taylor Swift provided our playlist. Despite all this effort, the fish evidently weren’t fans of the pop star and stayed hidden.

With stunning weather, the 9-year-olds fished in summer gear and jammed out to Taylor Swift without a care in the world.

Things took a hilarious turn when Ruby accidentally cast her line backward, hooking an unsuspecting Ukrainian fisherman. Thankfully, he found it amusing, and mortified, I retrieved the lure that looked like a pink Christmas tree ornament from him. 

Lake Selfe put on a show of its own, with a light breeze drifting Taylor Swift’s music across the water.

What stood out that day wasn’t the lack of fish but the memories made under the sun together. Every angler starts somewhere, fumbling with hooks and tangled lines, and we were no different. Of course, had to purchase fish and chips on the way home! 

When the Rivers Blow Out: Trusting Your Gut on a Spring Creek Brown

By Marc Jensen

Marc holds a ripper spring creek brown trout before releasing it back for the next angler.

When every major river in the region is pumping brown, angry floodwater, you’ve got two choices:

1. Stay home and reorganise your fly boxes for the 47th time, or

2. Go hunting for that magic—clear water, spooky trout, and the kind of fishing that forces you to earn every take.

We chose door number two.

Hunting for Clarity in a Sea of Chocolate Milk

With the main rivers in full peak flood, our only hope was a spring creek—something small, stable, and fed by the sort of magical underground plumbing that ignores the weather entirely.

What we found was exactly that: a ribbon of glass winding through farmland, clear enough to study every dangling bit of weed, every suspending bubble, every sideways glance of a trout that had already seen more flies this season than a butcher’s window.

Sight fishing gold.

Marc casting to a brown trout on the far side of the spring creek.

Indicators? Not Today. Leaders Long Enough to Flag a Plane.

The trout were wary—properly wary. The kind that slide sideways at the soft clink of a split shot, or flare a gill plate when your indicator shadow drifts overhead.

So we went full stealth mode:

• Long leaders

• No indicators

• Maximum patience

• Minimum ego

It was frustrating. Humbling. Character building. And we loved every second of it.

Eventually, perseverance paid off and a few fish met the bank. But the highlight of the day came in a deep pool—dark, still, and guarded by a brown that looked carved from the riverbed itself.

A Fish That Refused to Blink

There it was. Sitting deep between strips of weed and patches of clean gravel, barely shifting except for a lazy, occasional tilt and a subtle mouth flash that said, “Yes, I’m eating. No, you’re not invited.”

A challenge issued. Challenge accepted.

I crept into position and tied on a size 14 double-tungsten lead fly—one of those patterns that looks like everything and nothing at once. The sort of nymph that has no business working, except that sometimes it absolutely does.

A soft upstream mend, a gentle drop into the seam, then another mend to stack tippet and get the fly plummeting through the fast surface flow. Line off the water. Tight-line meets dead-drift. Trying to thread a tungsten needle through 1.5 to 2 metres of swirling hydraulics.

Boom. Mark's fishing buddy Caleb hooks into a brown trout, which takes an almighty leap while he attempts to reel it in. 

No Flash. No Swing. No Take. No Problem?

I couldn’t see my fly. Not a clue. The line was slack. The fish hadn’t twitched. Not a tilt. Not a shift. Not even a passive-aggressive glance.

Nothing.

But in that quiet pocket of time, I traced the imagined path in my mind—visualising the currents, the sink rate, the drift. The fly should have passed right across its nose.

Should have.

Probably.

Maybe.

The fish hadn’t moved… but something in my brain—intuition, instinct, dumb luck, dyslexic superpower—whispered one word:

Strike.

So I did.

Chaos, Carnage, and a Whole Lot of Luck

The pool detonated.

A brown of seriously respectable proportions launched itself skyward like a depth charge gone rogue. Line shot everywhere. Weed wrapped around my leader. Grass snagged at my guides. Water flying, heart racing, both of us yelling “keep tight!” even though neither of us was actually listening.

I got the line onto the reel. Applied side pressure. Prayed a bit. And eventually steered that crafty, stubborn slab of trout into Caleb’s waiting net.

Silence.
Staring.
Two grown men trying not to giggle like schoolkids.

Caleb looked at me and asked, “How did you know to strike?”

I shrugged.

“I didn’t. I just did.”

Marc admires the brown caught on the waters edge.

Sometimes You Don’t Need a Reason

Call it intuition. Call it dumb luck. Call it a miracle of dyslexic spatial awareness. Call it whatever you want.

All I know is: the trout was mine, and the grin on my face said everything that needed saying.

When the big rivers blow out, go find a spring creek.
Trust your eyes. Trust your gut.
And when in doubt?

Strike.

You never know what might explode out of the depths.

Notice Board

News

North Canterbury Annual Public Meeting 2025

North Canterbury Fish and Game will be holding our Annual Public Meeting (APM) at 6.30 pm on Wednesday, the 26th of November at the 595 Johns Road office. The APM will begin after the bi-monthly council meeting, which will begin at 3.30 pm. We invite members of the public to join us as we review and look back on our region's success in the last financial year. 

Controlled Fishery on the North and South Branches of the Upper Hurunui River Enters Second Season of Trial

Many anglers would be aware that both the sections of the North and South branches of the Upper Hurunui River are under a Trial Controlled Fishery for a two-season trial. The beginning of last season saw some early challenges with the booking software; however, we expect the system will operate as it did at the conclusion of last season.
For information or to make a booking, please click here​​​​​​.

Check, Clean, and Dry To Stop Freshwater Pests!

Whether you’re out fishing, hunting, kayaking, paddleboarding, jet skiing or boating on Canterbury’s freshwater lakes and rivers this summer, the threat of freshwater pests spreading and invading is very real. 

Freshwater pests can ruin valuable ecosystems by stopping the growth of native water plants and reducing habitats for many types of fish. 

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 

Environment Canterbury Stopbank Spraying Operations

Notice directly from Environment Canterbury

Environment Canterbury is about to commence our ground-based spraying operations for the 25/26 spray season.

The extent of these operations is our stopbank network, selected berms, fairway sites and access tracks on the Waikirikiri Selwyn, Rakaia, Hakatere Ashburton and Hekeao Hinds rivers (see attached maps below for the North Canterbury Region).

Above: Waikirikiri Selwyn (works shown in red)

Above: Rakaia River (works shown in red)

This work is undertaken annually and involves the ground-based application of approved herbicides using either a knapsack or truck-mounted pressurised spray unit.

The spraying targets noxious weeds such as gorse, broom and willow, as unmanaged growth can compromise the integrity of the stopbank network and river systems.

Spraying operations will be completed in accordance with our permitted activity rules under the Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan, or where required in accordance with our spray consent CRC222040.

Spray operations will commence in November and will continue through the summer period. It is hard to provide a precise estimate of when the spraying work will commence and for how long, as it is highly dependent on weather conditions and the growth of weeds throughout the year.

Please contact Environment Canterbury with any questions: 0800 324 636

Environment Canterbury Rakaia River Planned Works 

Notice directly from Environment Canterbury

Due to recent high flow events in the Rakaia River, we have had some new erosion of flood protection vegetation occur downstream of SH1 on the South bank of the Rakaia and on the South Bank of Rakaia Island. 

We are planning to undertake some slotted tree protection works at the site below SH1 and open up a high-flow braid upstream to help take pressure off the site. 

The site on Rakaia Island will need 1 additional slotted tree, backfill and recover existing works. We have decided that a full diversion of the river braid at this site would be more disruptive to the site and down river habitats than undertaking some of the work in the water with a small gravel bund at the top of the site to reduce the flow rate through the site. The works will be timed to align with lower flows to reduce the amount of sediment being deposited in the waterway during works. We want to undertake these works as soon as possible to stop further trees from eroding and entering the river fairway.

Please contact Environment Canterbury with any questions: 0800 324 636

Weather Outlook

Christchurch

Rakaia

Waipara

Culverden

Hanmer Springs

Arthurs Pass

Lewis Pass

River Flows

Waiau Uwha at Malings Pass: 8.93

Waiau Uwha at Marble Point: 96.781

Hurunui River at No.2 Hut: 15.463

Hurunui River at SH1 Bridge: 63.772

Ashley River at Lees Valley: 1.845

Ashley River at SH1 Bridge: 2.168

Waimakariri River at Below Otarama: 128.837

Waimakariri River at Old Highway Bridge: 181.813

Selwyn River at Whitecliffs: 1.817

Selwyn River at Coes Ford: 0.034

Halswell River at Ryans Bridge: 1.103

Harts Creek at Timber Yard Road: 2.517

Rakaia River at Fighting Hill: 393.486

To help you plan your fishing adventures, be sure to check the following resources:

• E-Can River Flows: River Flow Data
• Outdoor Access Live Cameras: Live Cameras (subscription required)
• MetService Weather Warnings: Weather Warnings
• Windy: Wind Radar
• Yr Weather Service (most accurate for High Country): Yr Website
• Canterbury Weather Updates: Webcams and Website

Stay safe out there!

Please note: This weather update is current at the time of publishing. We recommend checking the latest forecasts, river flows and road conditions before heading out.

Click the licence below to get your licence today!

Next Video Report: 27th November 2025 (Facebook, YouTube and Instagram)
Next Written Report: 4th December 2025 (Email and Website)

Tight Lines,

Jackson Meecham, North Canterbury Fish & Game Officer & the whole North Canterbury Team.