December 2018 Otago Lakes Fishing Report

The wild weather continues for the first week of December, and then hopefully it might settle down. 

High rainfall has seen catchments to the North, East and South of Wanaka blown out with floods, and many rivers will not be fishable for several weeks. Some levels were 100X the usual level for this time of year, so expect some changes when they are next fishable!

The backcountry rivers around Wanaka came right in the last week of November, and were fishing well in the lower reaches - it appears up higher the trout hadn’t had a chance to repopulate yet after getting washed back to the lakes by floods.

Areas to look at in the next week or so would be the Wanaka and Hawea lake margins, Canals up in Tekapo area, or the high lakes such as Onslow or Poolburn. Some smaller local creeks that clear quickly will still have spawning rainbows in them.

Trout are starting to come up for dries nicely, and blowfly imitations are a good general pattern. If you can find some weedy margins, there are damsel nymphs around, which the trout are actively feeding on  - there were some good hatches last week.

While I have seen a few green manuka beetles, the Kanuka hasn’t started to flower yet too strongly. I have seen good numbers of brown beetles around, and trout are coming up to them well. 

Bully patterns also work well on the lake margins, especially on rougher days as the wave action brings the bully hunting trout in close.

Enjoy the start of summer - it will arrive!

Above is a nice backcountry brown from a couple of days ago, taken on an adams irresistible by keen Aussie Andy.

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