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Trout Fishing in Southland
Rain and or wind have been constant companions for the last few weeks and as a result trout have had little dialogue with anglers, but will have had a feast on creatures evicted from silken burrows by floods. An eviction notice sent by low pressure weather systems cannot be appealed and former tenants swept into streams have only good fortune to rely on to find another possible home.
While some will, many will have run out of luck and will end up as a weight gain for trout and other fish. One such trout was brought to me this morning. A fine specimen from a high country stream, 3.6 kg and only 55cm long. It had a condition factor of 79. Analysis of his corpulent state revealed a belly full of worms and caterpillars. Once excised of his feast the trout resumed much more average proportions. No doubt however, if left to grow the worms would have turned to muscle and to more trout next year.
Never the less for every trout like this one there will be nine others still alive, and feasting in the muddy waters swollen by rain and hapless refugees that would rather be adding to their own genetic pool, and not that of the brown trout or large black eels.
Of all the rivers of the region that are above normal and not easily fishable the Waiau is the largest. This week the waters of Fiordland have filled the lakes nearly to overflowing. The gates of the Mararoa Weir, properly known as the Manapouri Lake Control, but to some as that damn dam, have been lifted high to allow as much water as possible to flow out. The original flow of around 460 cumecs is at present galloping down the river. At the new Whare Creek access, constructed by the Waiau Trust, great standing waves prance midstream, like giant biceps; flexing.
This river is a grand sight and all those who knew it as it was before the dam was constructed should go there and watch in awe. At the weir gates, muddy water from the fiesty Mararoa is squeezed over to the side by a vast tide of lake water that roars through and in swirls momentarily in a fierce haka before racing seawards..
It will be several weeks, if not more, before the Waiau is restored to its minimum flow of 16 cumecs, which although minuscule by comparison has been providing excellent fishing for medium sized rainbows. The minimum flows do in fact provide good trout habitat and the reports seem to support that. At its present flow fishing would be limited to the edge and back waters, and access to the river would be more difficult. That is not to say it would be worse. Just different, and the 16 cumecs does fill the river nicely with more gentle, trout bearing water.
Maurice Rodway
Southland, New Zealand E-mail: fishgame@southnet.co.nz Article ©1997 Maurice Rodway, All Rights Reserved.
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