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Waimakariri River Water Colour for Salmon and Trout Fishing

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Feathered Trout Fishing Lures

with Allan Burgess

The Waimakariri River at the SH1 motorway bridge, on the afternoon of 31 December 2010, is running discoloured at approx. 198 cubic metres per second. The flow is still dropping - see chart below. The river is still a greyish brown colour. Water visibility is just 50mm at best. Within another 48 hours it will be fishable for searun trout. The best patterns to use are Yellow Rabbits which the trout will find easier to spot.

The river flow peaked on the afternoon of the 28 th of December 2010 at 2,472 cubic metres of water per second. At that stage the river was almost bank to bank. You can see where the mighty torrent has carried bushes and other vegetation downstream, some of which has been caught by fence posts and power poles, to be left stranded as the flow receded back into the main channel. It is amazing how so much water can come down these braided rivers in such a short time!

This chart from the Environment Canterbury website shows the sudden flood peak of 2,472 cumecs (cubic metres per second) recorded on Tuesday 28 December 2010. It also shows just how quickly the river flow returns to normal once rain in its upriver catchment stops falling. The small bumps on the graph are caused by tidal influence. The sea is approximately 5km downstream from the SH1 Bridge.

The Best Time to Fish for Salmon

The best time to fish for salmon is when the river has cleared sufficiently so that you can see your toes when standing in knee-deep water. That measurement is about 500mm of water visibility. However it is worth fishing for both searun trout and salmon as soon as water visibility is about half that – 250mm.

The best time to fish for salmon is as the river is clearing to about half a metre of visibility. At which time the river colour will be changing from grey towards green. This is usually about 7 days after the peak flow.

Lovely looking warm blue water isn't very good at all from a salmon fishing perspective. The goal of returning salmon is to get upstream to the headwaters to spawn. If the water is blue that means it will be shallow which is not good for salmon swimming upstream as they could become stranded. Salmon will wait around either at sea or, as is the case with the Waimakariri River, in the lower tidal zone of the river waiting for a flood before continuing their journey upstream.

A survey of salmon anglers conducted for North Canterbury Fish and Game showed that the most popular flows for anglers salmon fishing in the Waimakariri River are between 60 and 69 cumecs at the SH1 bridge.

Your best chance of catching a salmon is when the river is clearing; not after it has cleared! So keep an eye of the river and head down with your rod sooner rather than later.

For Environmnt Canterbury River Flow Reports (updated twice daily), and the River Report 24-hour Infoline (you can even get river flow reports by text message) see the Environment Canterbury website.