Ōhau River Spring Season ballots to open on 15 July

Central South Island Fish & Game (CSIFG) has set up a ballot system (lottery) to limit angler numbers at the Ōhau River between lakes Ōhau and Ruataniwha.
Limiting angler numbers on the Ōhau River will maintain the high-country fishery aesthetics during the increasingly popular September and October “Spring Season.”
Three separate ballot draws will be held to ensure that the limited number of highly sought-after controlled period licences are issued randomly and fairly to anglers.
Controlled period licences enable anglers to fish for a specified 2–3-day fishing allocation only.
Above: Lance Gill caught this stunning rainbow trout during the 2021 Spring Season on the Ōhau River.
Fishing the Ōhau River without a valid controlled period licence is a criminal offence and will be enforced.
The Ōhau River Spring Season offers a one-of-a-kind high-country trophy trout fishery that opens two months earlier than traditional high-country river fisheries.
The Ōhau River was formerly a regionally significant trout fishery before being dewatered during the construction of the Waitaki hydroelectricity scheme in the 1980s. Its productive summertime fishery never returned after controlled flows were reinstated to provide a recreational fishery.
The Spring Season returns a prized fishery to the Ōhau River by allowing anglers to access the later part of the rainbow trout spawning run.
Spawning surveys undertaken by CSIFG have revealed that all brown trout and two-thirds of rainbow trout spawning is completed by early September and that spawning during September and October is unlikely to add appreciably to annual spawning production.
The long-term sustainability of the Ōhau River and its interconnected trout fisheries are supported by CSIFG with the help of Meridian Energy.
Creating artificial gravel spawning beds provides a significant addition to the poor spawning habitat naturally available.
Annual spawning surveys of both redds (egg nests) and numbers of spawning trout provide information on spawning effort and the spawning population, while Spring Season angling surveys will monitor angler catch and harvest.
Entries for the first of three ballots open on 15 July and close on 1 August, for more information and to access the online ballot entry form, click here.
Resources: Link to Ōhau River controlled backcountry fishery website – click here
Categories
Archive
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- December 2013
- March 2013
- September 2012
- July 2012