Weekly Fishing Report – Central South Island- 26-09-19

Welcome to the 2019-2020 fishing season and another series of 30 back-to-back weekly fishing reports.    

We’ll do our best to keep you educated, informed, entertained and interested from now through to April.

As always, if you want to get in touch with any questions or pass on your fishing report, feel free to email me: radams@fishandgame.org.nz.

Opening day this year falls next Tuesday the 1^st of October, which happens to be in the school holidays.

Right: The Opihi River looking enticing to fish a few days before the opening of the new season.

If you haven't yet secured your new 2019-2020 licence, get a wriggle on.

It's easy to get it online, you can use the email receipt as proof of purchase until the proper credit-card style licence arrives in the post.

It’s a bit far out to predict the weather and river flows for opening day but its safe to say the weather will be a bit unsettled through to Tuesday with some cold winds and rain predicted for all areas at times.

Lowland rivers are generally flowing moderate to low currently with not a lot a heavy rain of late and are likely to provide some excellent sight fishing opportunities.

Rivers draining the snow-clad mountains and the main divide like the Rangitata, Orari and Ashburton could be affected by snow melt and some Westerly rain predicted.

The Waitaki flow is dependant on the flow released from the Waitaki Dam and needs to be checked before fishing and during your outing.

The level of flow is based on power demand and the management of water levels in the greater Waitaki hydro scheme.

Waitaki flows less than 300 cumecs are best for fishing, flows between 300 and 350 offer some good opportunities, and its best to fish the upper river around Kurow when the flows exceed 350 cumecs.

Check out these short YouTube videos we filmed on Opening day 2018 down the Waitaki, and one of our Waitaki trout tagging project we need your help with.   

Its best to keep a close eye on the Environment Canterbury river flow website and make an educated decision on where to spend your precious opening day.

Here is the link to the ECan flow page.

A Waitaki River brown trout

Before heading out this season be sure to review your new 2019-2020 regulation guide as there has been a few regulation changes relating to trout, salmon and coarse fisheries.

The regulations guide has a new layout too, hopefully quicker for you to read.

An online version of the 2019-2020 regulation guide can be found here.

The most notable regulation changes made are in relation to sea-run salmon fishing.

The sea-run salmon fishery is at a point where we need to ensure that enough wild salmon are making a successful run up the rivers to spawn and maintain viable fisheries.  

Regulations introduced this season aim to reduce the number or percentage of salmon being harvested by anglers.

In summary, the following changes have been made in the Central South Island Region to reduce sea-run salmon harvest:

• The sea-run salmon season length has been reduced to 1 December to 31 March.
• The daily bag limit for sea-run salmon has been reduced to 1.
• Night fishing for sea-run salmon prohibited.
• Winter season closed for sea-run salmon fishing.

The above information is summarised so please read the 2019-2020 regulations guide.   

Notice board - Dates to help you plan your fishing:

Labour Day public holiday – Monday October 28

High country opening - Saturday November 2 (first Saturday in November)

Canal clean-up – Saturday November 9

Sea-run salmon season opening - 1 December

Upper Ahuriri River and Lagoons opening - Saturday December 7 (first Saturday in December)

Twizel Kids Salmon Fishing Day – date to be advised

Tight Lines

Rhys Adams, Central South Island Fish & Game Officer