Unseasonal weather encourages winter fishing.

Graeme Hughes, Fish and Game Officer

Winter has arrived after several weeks of unusually mild weather. Winter fishing has been easy, no frosts, no ice! But that’s now just a pleasant memory. Temperatures in the Waitaki Valley have on some nights dropped to minus 6 degrees and a little further up the valley plunged to a bone chilling minus 9. On a sunny day several boats can be seen on Lake Benmore however speaking to one angler 2 days ago I was told the fish were lethargic with minimal results. 2 salmon and one trout for three rods on a short winters day is hard fishing. Information on winter fishing success on rivers open below State Highway 1 is scarce, however a Christchurch angler trying his luck in the Ahuriri River ran out of luck when we crossed the bridge. Out of season, no licence, no excuse.

In the last issue of Reel Life I reported on the surprising appearance of Chinook salmon in the Waitaki River. The late but most welcome arrivals continued right up until the season closed. The early closing, on the last day of March, undoubtedly spared many salmon and hopefully their progeny is now developing in gravels up and down the Waitaki River.

Good visibility in the Waitaki River enabled us to complete an aerial salmon redd count on the Waitaki River including the Hakataramea River in late May. Salmon were observed from Kurow to about State Highway 1 bridge. During the flight redds were easily seen especially in areas where “didymo” was prevalent. Salmon excavated redds in affected areas where suitable gravels existed. The obvious question remains, how do they know when they can’t see beneath the blanket of algae? It was most encouraging to see good numbers of salmon along the length and breadth of the river.

Fish and Game Officer Mark Webb has provided the following summary of salmon spawning counts in the region.

We have a pretty good idea of how this year’s salmon runs will stack up although final spawning surveys are yet to be completed for most fisheries. For the Rangitata the annual ground counts of salmon redds will be undertaken on 6 June for Deep Stream (Mesopotamia) and 9 June for Deep Creek (Mt Potts). We need a few more volunteers to join the band of 10 to 15 regulars so if you have one of these days spare and would like a day in the high country please give Hamish at F&G a call.

Rangitata: Final spawning count for Deep Stream and Deep Creek will likely be between 1,500 and 2,000 fish. With an estimated 950 fish caught by anglers that’s a total run of 2,500 to 3,000 fish and its been eight years since we were last at that level.

Opihi: A catchment wide redd count was completed on 24 May yielding 240 redds. Angler harvest has been estimated at just under 200 fish suggesting a total run into the river of 500 to 800 fish. This is still below average for the last 20 years of record.

Waitaki: Salmon spawning in the lower Waitaki River from the Dam to the sea plus the Hakataramea River was surveyed from the air on 25 May. This is the first time a complete count of salmon redds has been undertaken since the mid 1980’s. The reason we have had to return to the earlier technique is the demise of the Haka run that until about 2002 provided an index of total Waitaki spawning. The May redd count turned up 1014 redds in the Waitaki and combined with estimated angler catch of just under 500 fish indicates a total run into the Waitaki of perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 fish. We can’t be any more accurate than this because salmon redd counts do not translate to an absolute number of salmon without a lot of other information being known.

Across all of our salmon fisheries total salmon catch for the season is estimated at about 1,600. Council’s target for maintenance of the recreational fishery is 3,650 fish. While there is still some way for the fishery to go, this year has provided hope and the freshest taste of salmon for quite a few years.

Although I have stated in the past that I’m not a huge fan of winter fishing I have to admit that the un-seasonal climate encouraged me to wet a line. The knowledge that night fishing for trout at river mouths in the hydro lakes has been rewarding for those who can handle fishing in the dark also helped. An old fishing acquaintance visited a river mouth on a Waitaki Valley lake on a regular basis while the temperatures were sensible and averaged 8 fish per outing. When ice build up in the rings prevented him from casting a good length his nocturnal visits understandably came to a halt.

From personal experience 7.30pm to about 11.00pm any night, moonlit or not, has produced good numbers of brown and rainbow trout. 6 browns landed and one lost in 2 hours is good fishing. On my last visit to the lake edge, with the moon showing through the "norwest" driven cloud I left the luminous patterns normally used in the box. I tied up a tandem rig, a small red and black “Fuzzy Wuzzy” followed by a yellow “Mrs Simpson”. The red and black was working well until a fish departed with my rig, a result of my knot tying rather than the size of the unsighted fish. A change to another small red and black pattern, a “Hairy Dog”, and I continued to catch fish. Most of the catch was a little over 1 kg with the occasional larger specimen landed but no record breakers to date. There is something exciting about fishing at night and I think it is the expectation that if there is a “lunker” hiding in the depths of the lake this is the time that you have a good chance of catching him.

Time flies when fish are active. Even if the fish are a bit “slow” you expect them to “switch on” at any time and arriving home later than one expected is the norm. The down side is that the morning alarm sounds earlier and much louder following night time forays to the lakes. Fred Streever, whom I know absolutely nothing about, summed it up fairly accurately when he said “There are two reasons for the proverbial persistence of anglers. The first is that the fish are biting; the second is that they are not. Either is sufficient justification for fishing a little longer”.

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