Reel Life - November 2016
Can it be after all that rain…summer is finally about to arrive?
Time to give serious thought to some of the great freshwater fishing that's on offer between Bluff and Cape Reinga.
All legally fishable lakes, rivers and streams are now open, so you've got plenty of options to see you and the family right over the summer holidays.
A wet spring did us no favours – it seems that if it wasn't raining it was blowing a gale, not exactly conducive to casting a line out. But we're glass half-full folks – conditions are improving.
Around the country rivers running cloudy after heavy rains are starting to run clear with the better weather. The first cicadas have been heard and it's time to get out those flies that imitate green and brown beetles.
In the South Island, heaps of rain brought some flow back to rivers that hadn't seen much for the last couple of years. It pushed anglers towards lake fishing.
There have been unconfirmed reports of a couple of salmon caught in the Rangitata, and as soon as we know for sure we'll update anglers through the Central South Island and North Canterbury fishing reports.
They go out on Friday in time for you to plan your weekend's fishing mission; you'll find them on each region's home page.
Boaties…now's the time to widen your horizons and give the snapper a break – a family licence is a great way to get everyone out to fish the country's lakes.
Make the most of your summer holiday break and may your lines be tight!
P.S. - This month's photo is Peter Innes from Arrowtown with a nice brown from the Acheron River.
P.P.S - If you think you've got a freshwater fishing image worthy of featuring on our 'cover', email it to Richard Cosgrove for consideration.
The Federation of Feshwater Anglers has welcomed Fish & Game's victory in the Oreti River valley cycle trail row. We went to the Environment Court to oppose the Around the Mountains Cycle Trail's planned route through the valley, a world renowned trout fishing location. NZFFA spokesman David Haynes says the valley was not the "them and us” that some potrayed it as – a number of others including hunters, horse riders and trampers use the Oreti Valley.
Good news for Hawke's Bay rivers left under a cloud by the controversial Ruataniwha Water Storage Scheme plans. The Hawke's Bay Regional Council is commissioning an independent review of the project. The review will consider economic and environmental elements of the scheme. Fish & Game welcomes the decision. Click 
Fish & Game is asking anglers to keep the heads of brown trout caught in Otago rivers open to the sea, in support of an Otago University study into sea-run brown trout migration patterns. Russian fishery scientist Pavel Mikheev is leading the study aimed at identifying sea trout spawning grounds and understanding movement between catchments. Rivers of interest include the Shag, Waikouaiti, Lower Taieri River and tributaries, and Lower Clutha River and tributaries. Click 
Guitar legend Eric Clapton, is pretty good with a fly rod too. On one of his annual fly fishing trips to Iceland this past winter, Clapton landed a 28-pound salmon, setting the record for landing the biggest salmon of the summer. Clapton's love for fly fishing apparently goes back decades – from learning to fish on the Wey River in his hometown Surrey, England. Read more 
