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Covering the majority of the East Coast of the South Island of New Zealand is the Canterbury Region an outstanding sports fishing region offering anglers trophy rainbow and brown trout and sea-run salmon.
The Rakaia, Waimakariri, Hurunui and Waiau Rivers present exceptional sea-run salmon fishing between the Summer and early Autumn months (November to March). February is the optimum month to fish when river flows have settled after the Southern Alps Winter thaw.
The same rivers provide excellent sea-run trout fishing in the lower reaches. Large numbers of brown trout make their run to the ocean converging on the same tidal areas as the salmon offering excellent opportunities to eager anglers.
Heavy spinning tackle is used to land the majority of salmon up river or at the river mouth where the rivers spills out into the Pacific Ocean. The average size of the salmon landed around 8kg (17 lbs) making this one of the most highly sort after game fish in New Zealand.
The Canterbury region also offers great fishing for other species with over thirty high country lakes home to landlocked salmon, brown trout, rainbow trout, mackinaw and splake. The headwaters of the braided rivers in the region offer high quality brown and rainbow trout with trophy fish potential.
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