Fishing the Canals

[AlbertW]

Hey Raiders,

I've decided to fish the NZ South island hydro canals and have been doing some research on driftfishing lures and bait and I've just been wondering if any of you raiders have had success with bait or lures and what methods you have used at the hydro canals. I know that you have to work soft plastics slowly as the big trout are used to drifting food and I have a basic understanding of how it works as you follow the lure down the flow of the canal. Anyways all info is appreciated.

Cheers,

Albert

 

[Volitan]

I haven’t fished it personally but if I was going there I would make sure I was equipped to competently do at least 2 methods and one would be ‘egg drifting’ . Being winter the trout are feeding less but being winter then spawning is occurring so there will be a lot of loose eggs drifting about, so typically a fish egg imitation will outfish anything else. At spawning time trout will smash eggs not so much for food but to deny competitors the chance to perpetuate their genes.

Having fished big spawning rivers in NZ I reckon most of those big winter-time fish are caught on egg imitations, they are just so deadly. I also think many of the successful anglers may be a bit reluctant to reveal this fact.

Also remember that rivers in NZ are usually much bigger and clearer then in Australia, so if the advice is to get down deep them make sure you are able to do so and still present your bait in a natural manner. Trout typically are wary and nothing puts them off faster then an object drifting unnaturally. Trial your rigs and practise your methods somewhere at home rather then trying to get it all working once you get there.

The only other advice I can offer is that the biology of those trout is nothing like what we are familiar with around Sydney (or probably anywhere else in the world) - so be wary of trying to fit fishing for them into a familiar paradigm. You have to be a bit zen about it, got to free your mind from all previous assumptions.

[AlbertW]

9 minutes ago, Volitan said:

I haven’t fished it personally but if I was going there I would make sure I was equipped to competently do at least 2 methods and one would be ‘egg drifting’ . Being winter the trout are feeding less but being winter then spawning is occurring so there will be a lot of loose eggs drifting about, so typically a fish egg imitation will outfish anything else. At spawning time trout will smash eggs not so much for food but to deny competitors the chance to perpetuate their genes.

Having fished big spawning rivers in NZ I reckon most of those big winter-time fish are caught on egg imitations, they are just so deadly. I also think many of the successful anglers may be a bit reluctant to reveal this fact.

Also remember that rivers in NZ are usually much bigger and clearer then in Australia, so if the advice is to get down deep them make sure you are able to do so and still present your bait in a natural manner. Trout typically are wary and nothing puts them off faster then an object drifting unnaturally. Trial your rigs and practise your methods somewhere at home rather then trying to get it all working once you get there.

The only other advice I can offer is that the biology of those trout is nothing like what we are familiar with around Sydney (or probably anywhere else in the world) - so be wary of trying to fit fishing for them into a familiar paradigm. You have to be a bit zen about it, got to free your mind from all previous assumptions.

Ah alright Volitan, I'll try to ask around at a tackle store at new zealand and I have seen one or two videos on egg drifting so I'll know what to ask about, thanks.

[AlbertW]

14 minutes ago, Volitan said:

I haven’t fished it personally but if I was going there I would make sure I was equipped to competently do at least 2 methods and one would be ‘egg drifting’ . Being winter the trout are feeding less but being winter then spawning is occurring so there will be a lot of loose eggs drifting about, so typically a fish egg imitation will outfish anything else. At spawning time trout will smash eggs not so much for food but to deny competitors the chance to perpetuate their genes.

Having fished big spawning rivers in NZ I reckon most of those big winter-time fish are caught on egg imitations, they are just so deadly. I also think many of the successful anglers may be a bit reluctant to reveal this fact.

Also remember that rivers in NZ are usually much bigger and clearer then in Australia, so if the advice is to get down deep them make sure you are able to do so and still present your bait in a natural manner. Trout typically are wary and nothing puts them off faster then an object drifting unnaturally. Trial your rigs and practise your methods somewhere at home rather then trying to get it all working once you get there.

The only other advice I can offer is that the biology of those trout is nothing like what we are familiar with around Sydney (or probably anywhere else in the world) - so be wary of trying to fit fishing for them into a familiar paradigm. You have to be a bit zen about it, got to free your mind from all previous assumptions.

Do you think I can switch between bait and lures on a single rod? I'm going to buy a single rod combo and gear in new zealand as it's a hassle to clean it before I go to different rivers and I don't want to clean and risk damaging the gear i have right now.

[Jiggy]

If you go onto Youtube search for fishing the Twizel Canal, there is a bit of  information on targeting trout and salmon there. Sounds like a very interesting place where a 9 kilo trout is no big deal!

Cheers

Rob