Weekly Fishing Report – Central South Island - 19-03-2020

If you are heading to the canals this weekend and hope to catch a salmon, I suggest you try the Tekapo Canal around the Stilling Basin and salmon farms.

Jayde Couper was ranging up there last Friday and encountered a few anglers catching salmon around 460-500mm in length.

The successful anglers were bait fishing with fish as bait.

Please take note, if fish is used for bait it must be whole and fully intact.

It is an offence to cut up a fish into portions and use it for bait.

See definition of “bait” on page 7 of the 2019-2020 sports fishing regulation guide.

Genesis Energy got in touch to inform anglers that the spilling to the Tekapo River from the George Scott Spill Weir is reducing and predicted to cease from Thursday afternoon.

Right: Fishing the Tekapo River is a great day out Credit R Adams

Keep an eye on the spill weir flows here and the Tekapo River flows near Mary Burn here.

When the river flows return to their normal levels the river will be well-worth fishing.

Spilling has been occurring for the last couple of months making the river unfishable but as a bonus knocking all the annoying didymo off the rocks.

Jayde Couper flew the river this week counting spawning sockeye salmon and said the lower river was looking “dynamite” for trout fishing being clean of algae and holding some good-sized trout in the braids.

Normally I’d advise that flows below 14 cumecs are best for fishing the Tekapo River but that might be slightly elevated as the recent high flows would have cleared out a lot of the nuisance weed and algae.

Jayde has been surveying large areas of the sockeye range and reckons it’s another large run this year.

One notable observation this year is the number and distribution of sockeye through the Otematata River system, including some large fish in a year where the sockeye are conspicuously small.

If you have any sockeye sightings to report from the Lake Ohau tributaries Jayde would like to hear from you, email jcouper@fishandgame.org.nz or phone our Temuka office at 03 6158400.

There are only two weekends left in the sea-run salmon season.

The Waitaki River near Kurow offers some of the most reliable access for fishing at flow above 350 cumecs-Credit R Adams

The Rangitata river is at low and fishable flows currently and I have some optimism that the Waitaki flows may be in the “whole-river” fishable range this weekend.

The Waitaki dropped to just under 350 cumecs for a period on both Saturday and Sunday last weekend.

I was at the Waitaki River near Kurow on Wednesday and up there, it was fishable at a few access points at 480 cumecs although not ideal.

The Waitaki River fishes best, and access is much better at flows below 350 cumecs.

The weather is a mixed bag this weekend with good potential for some time on the water.

I’ll suggest you check the weather forecast and ECan river flows website yourself prior to going fishing this weekend and pick your best window of opportunity.

Keep an eye on the Westerly front hitting the main divide on Saturday as it may add to the flows of river draining the main divide.

The final tips of this report is to target the river and stream mouth of our large glacial lakes like Ohau, Pukaki and Tekapo.

These lakes are still holding colour after the major rain events of previous months.

Fish & Game Ranger Alan Gillespie was in that area recently and caught some nice trout fishing the clear-water stream mouths in the lakes.

He fly-fished using flies like a jack sprat that imitate prey fish like bullies and juvenile trout.   

Notice board

Tekapo riverbed weed spraying

ECan are planning to undertake ground-based riverbed spraying of the Tekapo Riverbed to help manage the flood carrying capacity of the river.

The spraying may occur during the week of from 23-27 March.

The spraying is unlikely to affect your fishing however you may contact ECan staff member for further information: Sam Kidner 027 304 4255.

Jet Boat Racing - Waitaki River

The New Zealand Jet Boat River Racing association are holding a race on the Waitaki river on the 24^th of March.

The racing will occur over the section of river from SH1 to Kurow from 9am to 3:30pm

For more information visit https://www.nzjbrra.co.nz/

Lake Benmore Lagarosiphon spraying

LINZ are planning aerial spraying of Lagarosiphon at Lake Benmore using the herbicide diquat.

Spraying is planned to commence from Monday 23^rd March 2020 and may continue intermittently until Tuesday June 30^th 2020. This work is dependent on suitable weed, water and weather conditions.

Treatment is planned at the following sites: The Neck, Ahuriri Arm, Ahuriri Delta. 

As a precaution users are recommended not to swim in, consume or take water from the vicinity of the treatment areas until 24 hours after treatment has been completed.

If you have any questions in relation to this work, please feel free to call us on 0800 638 943 or keep up to date on the LINZ website. 

Tight Lines

Rhys Adams, Central South Island Fish & Game Officer