Central South Island Region News
Graeme Hughes

Recent snowfalls have receded to the upper slopes however the winter season is showing no sign of relenting. The weather gods have strung a few good frosts together and in the mid and high country all tarns and lagoons including some of the smaller lakes  have iced over. Consequently the attraction of winter fishing appears to have waned.

On a recent aerial Canada Goose count it was pleasing to see multiple redds and trout on redds in rivers throughout the region.. Brown trout have about completed their spawning effort and Rainbows are moving into known spawning waters.

With the salmon spawning over for another year the good salmon spawning observations and  reports provide anticipation for the seasons ahead.

Last month I received correspondence asking “Who registered  the first salmon caught in New Zealand?” Dates on ova imports, hatchery construction and subsequent releases are well known when you live a few minutes from the historic site  however the name of the angler who caught the first salmon did not spring to mind.  Delving into many copied pages from historical fisheries  books and reports I have collected over the years some new information came to hand, information which gives rise to more questions than it does answers.

Hatchery staff attend to their fish trap on the Hakataramea river
near its confluence with the Waitaki River during the early 1900's

Beginning in 1875 until 1880, Chinook Salmon  or Quinnat Salmon, as they were called then, and still are by many anglers,  were released the length and breadth of the country,  from areas in the  Auckland Acclimatisation Society district to waters in Southland Society, not forgetting also  West Coast rivers of the South Island.

Hatchery Manager and assistants with returning Waitaki River salmon
sometime in the early 1900's.

“The Field” of 20th July 1895 contained an account of 4 fish caught in the Waitaki River which were sent from the Waitaki Acclimatisation Society to the Editor who passed them on to Dr Gunther and Mr Boulenger. Numbers 1,2, and 3 were identified as Salmo fario (Brown trout). Number 4 fish which weighed 9.75 lbs (4.4kg) was not identified as a Brown trout or an Atlantic Salmon “but undoubtedly an American species, but which one has not been decided.”

The following week in  “The Field” of 27th July 1895, Dr Gunther amongst other things said that the specimen differed so much from the others from the same consignment, (in shape and  colouration), “it is certainly not “Salmo salar” (Atlantic salmon)  neither is it Salmo quinnat  which has a many rayed anal fin, and is easily recognised. Being told that Californian Salmonoids had been introduced into the Waitaki River, I consider it probable that the specimen might represent one of the numerous species of Salmo  of the west coast of America with which I am very imperfectly acquainted.”

However in on 21st August 1895 despite the non-identification of the species,  the “North Otago Times” congratulated Mr George Dennison of Hilderthorpe who had caught and provided the fish for identification, on being the first angler to capture “a properly identified true salmon in New Zealand waters”.

Of course the question remains, if it wasn’t a Quinnat what was it? The catch one would guess was about the time of the first report July, which today would be considered too late in the year to be catching sea run salmon. The only  other American “Salmo” species released into the Waitaki catchment were Sockeye salmon and American Brook char. Both of these species in their  New Zealand habitats have been rather small and  nowhere near 4.4kg. Rainbow trout received little mention until the early 1900’s where it was said that river populations were “not doing much good” but in the lakes “doing very well indeed”.  It is unlikely Sir James would not know a Rainbow trout if presented with one.  Subsequently these early salmon releases were regarded as “failed experiments”.

The Hakataramea River hatchery was established in 1901 and in 1902 the first Qunnat salmon, yearlings, were released into tributaries of the Waitaki River. Releases continued in 1903 and in 1905. In 1905 a fish caught in the Waitaki, angler unknown, and identified by Sir James Hector as “a true salmon grilse, (a young salmon) probably belonging to Onchorhynchus quinnat” (the names changes about a bit but I’m sure we are talking about the same species) He was “unable to determine the species with any certainty  at that early stage”.

Charles Ayson, Hakataramea Hatchery manager, claims the first sea run salmon to return to the Hakataramea River and caught at the hatchery’s salmon trap appeared in 1905. It weighed 5.5kg.

On the 6th June 1906 Sir James Hector received a fish from the Hakataramea River, (sender unidentified), of which he wrote “The fish sent is a true Pacific Salmon (Onchoryhchus  quinnat), being a female of about 16lbs weight”.
 On the 29th of June he reported on 3 more fish from the same river. (no identification of the sender) He thought it probable, although the fish were in bad condition when received, that all 3 fish, 6lb, 5.1/2 lb and 1.1/2 lb  were O.quinnat”.  At that time fish reported to be salmon were being caught in the Waitaki River and the Oamaru harbour which indicated  “that naturalisation of the species had been secured”.

I’m unsure if a fishing season continued into June, I would think not. The first licence issued in Canterbury in 1875 closed in March, in 1876 the season closed at the end of February. This indicates that the fishery managers were being very cautious and protective.  I suspect the fish were in poor condition because by the end of June many salmon would have finished spawning and may have been dead or dying  when collected. So they were probably not taken on a rod and reel and therefore do not qualify as the first salmon caught by an angler.

Finding out who was the first angler to take a Chinook or Quinnat, salmon in New Zealand may be a bit of a quest. If it wasn’t Mr Dennison of Hilderthorpe (just north of Oamaru on the road to the Waitaki River) the mystery remains.

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