New Zealand Trip + Transporting Rods

[AlbertW]

Morning Raiders,

On the 2nd of July I’ll be leaving for New Zealand and I’ll be staying for 9 days and I’ll be leaving on the 11th. I’ll arrive on the South Island, Christchurch for two days then leave for Queenstown for the rest of the trip.The trip is more ski orientated but I’ll have a few days to wet a line. I’m writing this up for recommendations on where to fish and what lures/bait to use and fishing methods. I’ve never been to New Zealand before so I’m going to blind and all tips and trick are appreciated.

<Gear>

light 2-4kg rod with a nasci 2500 with 4lb braid and 8lb leader

3-6 medium rod with 16-14 braid and 8lb line 

 

 

<Transporting Rods>
As previously mentioned, I’ll be going to new Zealand by plane, so I have a few questions about transporting my rods, I have a 20kg under carriage luggage and 7kg carry aboard. I have two rod carriers as recommended by @DerekD and I’ll be bringing by fishing bag as carry aboard with my reels in them. Should I ziptie my carriers together or are they fine by themselves?

https://www.ottostackleworld.com.au/seahorse-rod-tubes Rod carriers 

Cheers,

Albert

[Croydon]

I think you may not be able to take your reels as carry on luggage.  Might want to check first.

Dave

[Little_Flatty]

I don’t take reels, line and hooks in carry on but have carried rods in a tube, both checked and hand carried on both domestic and international flights. A cheap travel rod  in a tube is a life saver. Check with the airline for length restrictions. Most are pretty good with long items for checked baggage, but in carry on, nothing longer than a four piece travel rod will get on. I would strap the tubes together for checked baggage, that way you only have one item rather than two (again check regulations).

There are definitely fish in Queenstown but I’m not sure of the regulations. I’ve spotted trout right in the middle of town, both in the little streams and also off the main boardwalk. When I spotted one in the stream, I needed to do a double take…it was literally on our walk between the pub and dinner, at least 500m from the lake! As to how to catch them, I’m not sure.

Often a good guided trip will be the most time efficient if you can’t spare a lot of time to fish and don’t have a lot of experience with trout. That’s what I’d do.

[AlbertW]

20 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

I don’t take reels, line and hooks in carry on but have carried rods in a tube, both checked and hand carried on both domestic and international flights. A cheap travel rod  in a tube is a life saver. Check with the airline for length restrictions. Most are pretty good with long items for checked baggage, but in carry on, nothing longer than a four piece travel rod will get on. I would strap the tubes together for checked baggage, that way you only have one item rather than two (again check regulations).

There are definitely fish in Queenstown but I’m not sure of the regulations. I’ve spotted trout right in the middle of town, both in the little streams and also off the main boardwalk. When I spotted one in the stream, I needed to do a double take…it was literally on our walk between the pub and dinner, at least 500m from the lake! As to how to catch them, I’m not sure.

Often a good guided trip will be the most time efficient if you can’t spare a lot of time to fish and don’t have a lot of experience with trout. That’s what I’d do.

Yeah I’m flying with Qantas and jetstar and the height limits are pretty good.

[AlbertW]

40 minutes ago, Croydon said:

I think you may not be able to take your reels as carry on luggage.  Might want to check first.

Dave

Ahh okay I’ll make sure to check with them at the airport 

[dirvin21]

They won't let you tske fishing line with carry on 

Apparently it's a potential weapon 

[Little_Flatty]

3 minutes ago, dirvin21 said:

They won't let you tske fishing line with carry on 

Apparently it's a potential weapon 

Yep it is considered a weapon. I just wrap reels in clothes and pack into my luggage. Safest to check everything in. Less to worry about in the airport terminal anyway!

Enjoy your trip!

[Volitan]

Fishing in the big rivers and lakes of the South Island is difficult in ways you don’t expect. I’ve done 6 or so freshwater fly fishing trips to NZ in past years but only a couple to the South Island. Latest one about 5 years ago. I found local knowledge essential and without that it can be very confusing - the fish are there but it’s hard to know where, the rivers are empty of people and you rarely run into another angler so it’s hard to reality check your methods. I was fishing solo and felt like I was bumbling around in the dark. I underestimated the size and power of the rivers and my weighted flies were not heavy enough to get down to where the fish were so i spent the whole time fishing too shallow but not really understanding this till the end. It took about 4 days to work out how to fish the place and by that time I had to go home. If I went back to the same rivers with what I learnt about them I think I would be very successful but it takes time to acquire that knowledge on your own. 

I know you are not fly fishing and that may make it a bit easier but my point is either:

- regard your first trip as just a recce to learn the spots and the methods.

- or better still, hire a guide or hook up with someone local who knows what they are doing.

 

Nonetheless, Google Ohau Canal or Tekapo Canals or Hydro canals. These are the man made canals that link the hydro power facilities. There are salmon and trout farms in the canals and there are lots of huge wild fish (trout and salmon) that live in the canals feasting on the excess food from the farms - the stuff that just drifts out of the wire cages. These fish grow huge - great fat lazy things that don’t have much natural wariness and have never had to work hard for food. 20lb trout not uncommon. A lot of people look down on this type of fishing because they’re not natural fish and they require no great skill, but they are a great novelty and as a holiday thing why not?
 

have a look here https://fishingmag.co.nz/south-island/central-south-island-fish-and-game-region/twizel-canals-fishing-tips-ohau-pukaki-tekapo?amp . Please understand that this is an abnormal situation and trout like this are rarely encountered in the natural lakes and rivers in NZ or anywhere else in the world - despite the tendency of some local guides and operators to lure in foreign clients by letting them believe fish like that can be found anywhere in NZ.

In the Hydro canals, unlike what I said at the start, which applies to the natural rivers and lakes, I don’t think there would be need for local knowledge or specialised skills. Some places you can even use bait.

Check for closed seasons.

 

[noelm]

Best to call the airline for real restrictions, they vary according to aircraft, and on some, anything longer than a certain length is not going, I think it's the A320 that has a very tight restriction, on the check in counter there is two little fins sticking up, if your rod tube doesn't fit through them, it's staying home, no exceptions, trust me on how I know this........you can guess and hope, but, talking to the airline is your only real method.

[mrsswordfisherman]

2 hours ago, AlbertW said:

Morning Raiders,

On the 2nd of July I’ll be leaving for New Zealand and I’ll be staying for 9 days and I’ll be leaving on the 11th. I’ll arrive on the South Island, Christchurch for two days then leave for Queenstown for the rest of the trip.The trip is more ski orientated but I’ll have a few days to wet a line. I’m writing this up for recommendations on where to fish and what lures/bait to use and fishing methods. I’ve never been to New Zealand before so I’m going to blind and all tips and trick are appreciated.

<Gear>

light 2-4kg rod with a nasci 2500 with 4lb braid and 8lb leader

3-6 medium rod with 16-14 braid and 8lb line 

 

 

<Transporting Rods>
As previously mentioned, I’ll be going to new Zealand by plane, so I have a few questions about transporting my rods, I have a 20kg under carriage luggage and 7kg carry aboard. I have two rod carriers as recommended by @DerekD and I’ll be bringing by fishing bag as carry aboard with my reels in them. Should I ziptie my carriers together or are they fine by themselves?

https://www.ottostackleworld.com.au/seahorse-rod-tubes Rod carriers 

Cheers,

Albert

Here is a link to Qantas rules https://www.qantas.com/au/en/travel-info/baggage/sporting-equipment.html#:~:text=To be accepted for carriage,109in) on Qantas operated services. 

We normally use a FLAMBEAU BAZUKA travel rod tube case to hold rods. All the reels, spools tackle etc go into a tackle bag. As others have said you may not carry any of this onboard. 
The rod tube and tackle bag are put into Checked Baggage/Oversized Baggage. Check on the link above for purchasing additional baggage allowance in advance. You can do that via "Manage Booking" 
Check the Jetstar link. 

Have a great holiday and we will be interested in your trip report

[Little_Flatty]

I was in New Zealand for a couple of weeks work a while ago and my boss at the time offered to allow me to stay for the weekend between the two weeks. I was even told I could expense a guided trip on the water over that weekend. I stupidly said no and came back to Sydney! Rack that up as a life regret! 🤣

[AlbertW]

Thank you all so much, I would've been going in blind without you raiders! I've decided that I'll do a bit more research on the open and close seasons of trout and salmon on the south island and I'll also look into the diesease and algae bit such as didymo and how to prevent them from being spread across waters as @DerekD has informed me about over a phone call. This is not the final plan as I'm going to discuss with my friend's family Im going with about the trip but the rough plan is that I'll purchase a new rod, gear and find some info with the locals at a New Zealand tackle shop as checking and cleaning my gear is going to be a hassle and I don't want to risk anything. I might also be going on a guide or tour (if anyone has had a good experience on one please recommend it me)

Thanks again,

Albert