Weekly Fishing Report — Central South Island — 30/12/2021 – Holiday Edition #1

It’s time to explore the wonderful sports fishing opportunities on offer throughout the Central South Island Region.

Feature Image - Grab a licence, rod and lure and go explore- credit Richie Cosgrove

Where, how and when to fish? 

Fish & Game have a ton of helpful information online to support your fishing activities during these summer holidays.

Fishing locations and access

If you are new to the Central South Island Fish & Game Region (CSI) or just looking to fish a bit further afield then you may find our “Fishing locations and access” webpage valuable.

The information covers: Ashburton Catchment, Rangitata River, Waitaki River, popular river fisheries, popular lake fisheries and the hydro canals.

For some of these fisheries a downloadable pdf brochure is available including a map to aid access.

Click here to visit the CSI fishing locations and access page.

An easy ‘click’ for fishing tips and tricks

Check out the Fish and Game NZ YouTube channel here to view a ton of videos that the Fish & Game team have put together to help you catch more trout, salmon and perch.

Here are the direct links to a few of our favourites – just click on the video name.

• Spin fishing tips video
• Lake trolling tips video
• Soft baiting tips video

Waterway and weather conditions

• Keep a close eye on river and lake levels at Environment Canterbury’s River Flow Website here and rainfall website here.
• If live stream webcams are your thing, you can pay to view many of Canterbury’s favourite fishing spots at Outdoor Access NZ.
• There are some great weather forecasting website available like Metvuw, Metservice and YR.NO.

First things first – licencing and regulations

Every person needs a licence to fish for sports fish in freshwater. Children under the age of 12 get them for free. For junior an adult anglers there are many licencing options to suit your plans whether that be for the day, a short trip, or the rest of the season.

All the licencing info you need and purchasing options are available here at the Fish and Game NZ website.

Breaching the sports fishing regulations is a criminal offence

Here at CSI Fish & Game we have a team of 11 local rangers and further support from rangers from neighbouring regions that fish here in CSI. We love to meet fellow anglers and share fishing tips and catch reports.

The primary role of our rangers is to ensure that all anglers are licenced and adhering to the regulations. Our rangers are a collection of staff and volunteers motivated to protect our fishery by ensuring no one takes more than their fair share and that all anglers contribute financially to the management of the fishery by buying a licence.

Last season our ranging team issued offence notices to 42 anglers. By far the most common offence detected was fishing without a licence and often occurred at the hydro canals.

Do read your regulations guide supplied with your licence or find it online here.

If you need clarification of any of the regulations get in touch with us: email - csi@fishandgame.org.nz or phone 03 6158400 (CSI’s Temuka Office)

Check, Clean and Dry

Invasive aquatic organisms are scattered around New Zealand’s waterways, let’s do our bit to stop them spreading any further.

For example, lakes Benmore and Aviemore have an infestation the aquatic weed Lagarosiphon major (oxygen weed) and there is a huge cost to keep it at suppressed levels.

Over 1 million dollars gets spent each year to control Lagarosiphon in Benmore and Aviemore for the benefit of recreational users, biodiversity and power generation.

There are other nasties out there too, and the only way to ensure none are spread around is to always check, clean and dry before going to a new waterway.

This helpful Check Clean Dry pocket guide gives you great information on how to clean all types of equipment.

Notice Board

Want to catch a sea run salmon? 

New regulations and requirements apply for sea run salmon in the CSI and North Canterbury Regions.

Click here for all the information you need.

Tekapo River spill flow advisory

Genesis Energy are currently spilling water to the Tekapo River via the Lake George Scott Weir.

Spilling is likely to occur over the holiday season.

Tekapo River flows may rise rapidly during spilling and all river users are urged to take extreme caution to avoid rising river flows.   

Spill flows can be viewed at the Genesis website here.

Tekapo River flows in the lower river, downstream of the Mary Burn confluence, can be view on the ECan website here.” 

Caught a tagged trout?

We have tagged and released hundreds of tagged trout into the Tekapo Canal and we want your catch report.

Find out more here.

Tight Lines,

Rhys Adams

Central South Island Fish & Game Officer