Reel Life December 2023

Merry Fishmas to all our anglers! 

The coming holiday season is looking like there will be plenty of opportunities for you to get out and enjoy a bit of fishing. 

On our regional links above we have some great advice check them out as they can quite often help out your planning for a day’s fishing. 

There are some great family fishing tips from the team at Southland Fish and Game including a handy bait fishing video that will help the younger family members get onto some fish. 

The Wellington Fish and Game team tell us that bugs abound and we should match our efforts to what is out there in nature. 

If you’ve ever wondered how adaptable trout are, the news from Hawkes Bay is showing there are good numbers of two-three pound fish in the region. 

The best value licence for an angler is the family licence enabling a family to fish together as cheaply and as often as possible.

Once you have everything set up for your holiday click here to learn where you can quickly go in the North and South Islands for a fish. 

Paul Jack entered this photo of deep in the middle of nowhere, a big brown trout evades the net.

When you are out fishing, don’t forget to get some photos, and enter your images in our monthly fishing licence photo competition and go in the draw to win a $250 Kilwell voucher. 

Plus if you are the monthly winner, have a one in four chance of winning the overall competition and winning an additional $1000 Kilwell voucher.

In January you can also enter our Wild Kai photo Competition click here to learn more and be ready to enter your Wild Kai photos in the draw. 

Buyer Beware Alert 

ALERT NOTICE for anyone intending to purchase a fishing licence – Quite a few anglers have been misled by a website that appeared in early December offering to help them purchase a new season fishing licence. 

This fish assistant website is unauthorised by Fish & Game NZ, and use of this website comes at a significantly higher cost to the user than purchasing through the Fish & Game website. 

Unfortunately, some anglers have paid more than double for their fishing licence and also have not had the correct licences purchased. 

There is only one authorised place to purchase your Fishing Licence online: through the Fish & Game NZ website. 

You can also purchase a licence in-store at one of our many retail partners throughout the country. 

Please let your angling buddies know that either in-store or through the Fish & Game website is the only way to get your licence. 

Arrival of Sea-Run Salmon

Our Canterbury based Fish & Game regions have alerted us to the arrival of the sea-run salmon in their regions. 

Over 12,000 anglers purchased a sea-run salmon licence and harvest card last season, and this sign before the holiday season bodes well for those anglers wanting to try their hand at catching one of these elusive silver bullets. 

Rhys and Nico Adams making the most of the early-season spring fishing conditions in the Opihi Catchment

Kiwis hooked on angling - new survey 

Every seven years Fish & Game contracts NIWA to undertake our National Anglers Survey, the team at NIWA has done the number crunching and has released the latest survey results in December. 

You can learn more here and also download a copy of the survey.

Once again Merry Fishmas and a Happy New Year from the team at Fish & Game.