Report For South Canterbury January 2008

Salmon fever seems to have afflicted many South Canterbury anglers lately. Some days more than 30 fish have been taken from the mouth of the Rangitata and no news spreads like salmon news it seems. It has to be kept in mind though that there are very big numbers of anglers out there and that on some days just a handful of fish are caught. This is a well known characteristic of the Rangitata, but persistence should produce results. Keep in mind too that the bulk of the fish are being caught in the surf and that surf fishing requires specialised equipment and considerable skill.

A steady trickle of fish is moving up-river but many anglers have found it hard to intercept them this season. Reports have come in of fish being caught well above the gorge and these have mostly been in very good condition, indicating that they have moved up quickly, probably using the recent small freshes to provide the incentive. Daytime water temperatures have been alarmingly high some days. It has been quite comfortable wading wet lately and some veteran anglers are claiming that the warm water is making the salmon less inclined to strike.

The Opihi gut is running almost parallel to the beach for a long distance still and this is not encouraging many fish to run the gauntlet into the lagoon and up-river it seems, though a few are being caught in the surf. The Waitaki, which is traditionally later than the other rivers, is just starting to produce but probably won’t come into its own until March.

A noticeable increase in surface feeding activity in the Ashburton and Opihi rivers lately has coincided with good hatches of very small mayflies. With low water conditions and high temperatures many anglers are restricting their activities to the cool of the evening with very good results. Small nymphs fished right into the fast water will take fish all day though these tend to be mainly smaller fish. Occasional surprises are in store too.

 Perhaps the most exciting trout news though is that some very good fish are starting to show up in the Rangitata and Waitaki. As soon as the cicadas and other terrestrials appear in numbers these often large fish can be targeted with big dry flies such as the Humpy, Stimulator and Royal Wulff. Every keen fly fisher should also carry a few blowfly patterns such as the Black Gnat or Humphreys Blowfly. Lake fishermen turn to green beetle patterns and a few Loves Lures in various sizes should figure in fly boxes. As long as the wind is not excessive the high country lakes have a charm all of their own at this time of year.

Hot tip. Reduce tippet thickness. A number of anglers have been experiencing difficulty with browns during the bright summer days lately. I firmly believe that thinner tippets and fluorocarbon mono will help. Part of the problem of summer fishing though relates to the fact that the fish become fixated on a single insect phase and size. In the smaller streams the food of choice is likely to be a miniscule mayfly or willow grub, both of which can be very difficult to imitate.

Graeme Marshall is an independent fishing guide; his reports are not officially representative of Fish & Game NZ

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