Opening day, Waitaki Valley
Graeme Hughes , Fish and Game Officer.

The new season began on a Monday but with the large number of anglers about one may have thought it was a Saturday. The day was not wonderful, barometric pressure was low with the prevalent norwester blasting down the valley.  Given the opportunity I would have probably gone out, being opening day, but due to the conditions I would not be expecting a huge day in terms of number of fish caught. By midday the air temperature had lifted and the sun shone however the wind had not abated. For the morning I had seen 19 anglers on the Waitaki River between the mouth of the Hakataramea River and the Awakino River, of these 11 were interviewed. Of the 8 anglers that had been fishing since early morning, (3 were checked as they were starting their fishing for the day) only 13 trout had been landed. You would naturally think that although not hugely successful at least on average each angler had a fish. However when I tell you that 9 of these were landed by just one angler it changes the entire picture. The next question obviously is what was this guy using? Of course I asked the same question and found he was using spin gear which was very similar to everyone else, but that’s fishing.

The fish killed were in good “early season” condition and gut contents showed a diet of predominantly snails with some net building caddis.  Dobson fly larvae, common early in the season, had also been consumed. 

Given the state of the Waitaki River substrate, choked with “didymo”, it is somewhat surprising that this diversity of invertebrates is still available to Waitaki River trout, if you can call one species of mollusc and two species of aquatic invertebrate larvae diverse! It will be interesting to see the impact of didymo on trout condition factors as the season progresses.

A run up the Hakataramea Valley revealed no one fishing.  This will be the first year since the change to the regulations I have not seen or had a complaint about someone starting the season a month early. It has taken a while but it seems that all anglers are now aware that this river along with the Maerewhenua (and others) is closed until the first Saturday in November. The first Saturday this year it is 3rd of November not the 4th as printed in the South Island Sports Fishing Regulations 2007-2008. It appears some one may have been reading a 2006 calendar.

“Didymo” continues to invade the Waitaki River.
Didymosphenia geminata has flourished during the winter months and an inspection from a jet boat on opening weekend showed the upstream colonisation has advanced as far as the Awakino River mouth.  Although the upstream movement is considerably slower than downstream colonisation, didymo has claimed a further kilometre of riverbed during the  closed season. Observations below the Kurow bridges, an area 1 km below the Hakataramea River mouth revealed  vigorous re-growth. The infestation is similar to the blooms first seen near the Otiake River mouth in January 2006. One can see where large mats of didymo have been uprooted from the substrate, reminiscent of early colonisation days. Shoreline anglers were more affected by didymo compared with those who fished from boats. Boat anglers said they soon learned where not to fish if they wanted to avoid continual cleaning of didymo from hooks and lines.

Climatic conditions unfavourable.
Three weeks on and the new fishing season has endured continual “scruffy” weather with wind, rain and snow. While the Waitaki is unaffected by the rain, other waters have had considerable changes in levels. A “spring clean” is not all bad and the floods were not the kind which will have damaged redds or affected survival of incubating ova or hatched fry. With another good fall of rain 10mm at Kurow (17.10.07) and reports of double this on the coast, smaller rivers have received another boost in flows. The Hakataramea is now running at 11.4 cumecs, Maerewhenua 3.5 cumecs, Kakanui 10 cumecs and the  Waihao 4.1 cumecs. Inland the Ahuriri River is running at 38 cumecs and although clearing, discolouration of the Ahuriri Arm of Lake Benmore will remain for a few days yet.

With most of the local fishing effort spent on the Waitaki River, talking with those who have braved the elements or have had the luxury of picking a time when conditions have been “angler friendly”, the catch rate appears to have gradually picked up over the last three weeks. There have been reports of fish rising to mayfly and even some evening activity from caddis flies.

Sea run “browns” slow to appear.
Whitebait runs are light however good smelt populations are showing up and as a result “sea runs” should appear as they follow this large and available food source. The bush telegraph has been silent on this seasonal occurrence so I’m guessing that in the Waitaki nothing much is moving as yet.

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