Southland - May 2010

Flooded high-country lakes fish well

Corrine Wright caught this lovely rainbow at Lake Dunstan, despite the didymo.

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With the arrival of the equinox we had wind and rain, which did wonders for the high-country lakes.

Reid and Diamond fish well after a downpour, when trout are up in the flooded margins. The dirty water stays in the area of the river outlet for a good day or three, giving plenty of time to fish.

Although it has been very dry in the upper catchments, it has been colder than usual with less wind – not good for cicada fishing on lakes such as Poolburn, Onslow and Manorburn. Other methods have been more successful and the fish have been in good condition.

Lake Dunstan is high from all the rain, and the extra flow brought a large amount of didymo down the Upper Clutha into the lake. There is a large patch around the Bendigo Ramp. It hasn’t appeared to have hurt the fish much, with many rising in the area where the Clutha flows into the lake, and those that are caught appear in good condition. But didymo plays havoc with anglers’ line, especially around the knots, and some flies become ruined by the covering of sticky white snot.

The season is closed for the non-tidal sections of the lowland rivers. These lower waters have had a nice fresh, giving them a good clean out. It is still worth trying the tidal margins on the incoming tides.
Tuna were still around until the equinox weather change. The weather has improved since, and the sea should warm up, so hopefully they will be back. The first weekend in May is always the best time to pick up a southern bluefin tuna.

The water temperature in Foveaux Strait appears to be slightly colder than past years. Cod landed are in good condition with plenty of fat. They are still not around in numbers, but those caught are on the larger size, with less smaller fish than this time last year.

Trumpeter have just not appeared in any sort of quantity this summer, but those caught were around 3-4kg.
Oyster season is well underway, with the early season shellfish fat and some very large ones about. There is talk of revisiting the commercial take during the oyster season – I wonder if the non-commercial take will be revisited at the same time?

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