North Canterbury Fishing report 28th October 2021

With less rain in the headwaters, the big braided rivers are now flowing clear and the lower reaches are definitely worth a look this week.

There should be some sea run brown trout around, which are always worth chasing. 

We reported last week that the Ellesmere/ Te Waihora tributaries were fishing well and an angler emailed in to say he had taken that advice and caught and released four great condition browns in the 7-10lb range!

All with an old school black and gold tassie devil.

Lake Coleridge Fishing Competition

Fish & Game are currently looking into what to do about the Lake Coleridge Fishing Competition given the recent covid cases in Christchurch.

We will be making a decision on whether to delay it early next week.

We will advertise that decision on the next fishing report and also on the North Canterbury Fish & Game Facebook page.

Lake Forsyth/ Wairewa

The perch fishery really ramps up in November in Wairewa because the lake become a bit warmer and these warm-water fish become more active.

Access is pretty easy from the northwest side where you can fish off the rocks.

Also, there are very scenic quieter little bays near the boat club. For those wishing to make a little more effort, you can walk down the Okana and then the Takiritawai River and then fish from the mouth.

There is legal access along this route, click here for the map.

You might need to wade out a bit from the mouth or use a boat as it’s a bit shallow here.

The lake was open to the sea recently and dropped to 0.58 of a metre, however it has been closed since October 4 and has now risen to 0.72 and will hopefully increase a bit more with good river flows and groundwater levels.

The lake opening brought with it some tasty sea run brown trout.

Some people ask if it is safe to eat fish from this lake and we can confirm that it is as long as you remove all the organs and wash the fish well in clean water.

In terms of tackle….soft-baits are great for perch fishing.

As are spinners which can be good for casting out further.

Give it a bit of a jiggle on the way in to catch the eye of the fish in this somewhat murky water.  

As with most spin fishing have a go with one lure and if that’s not working just try another.

Snake Creek Report

In 2017 Fish & Game received funding to restore Snake Creek, a tributary of the Selwyn Waikirikiri River.

This project has wound up now, but a report on what we did and the key findings can be viewed here: https://fishandgame.org.nz/dmsdocument/1952

New North Canterbury Fish & Game Council

The newly elected Fish & Game councillors have taken up their office from 26 Oct onwards and the first meeting is set for 11 November (see NCFG website for details)

For election results see this link - https://fishandgame.org.nz/about/elections/2021-fish-and-game-election-results/

Tight lines,

Emily Arthur

Fish & Game Officer & mum to two fish crazy boys