Gareth Pearce caught this 25lb (11.40kg) salmon near the Waitaki River SH1 Bridge.

This list of previous winning fish weights makes interesting reading.

You can see that weights dropped away in 1986 and didn't return to these levels until the mid 90's. Then dropped away again in the late 90's. The worst years being 1987 and 2000. As yet the big fish have still not returned.

These results from the Waitaki Salmon Fishing Contest have been seen across the salmon fishery as a whole throughout this period, with the Waimakariri, Rakaia and Rangitata also following a similar curve. Also during the years when the fish are smaller, they are also fewer in number. Waitaki River fish are always the heaviest on average.

Return to Waitaki River Salmon Fishing pages.