Stunning Weather Greets High Country Anglers

Beautiful weather greeted the thousand-odd anglers who celebrated the Canterbury High Country fishery opening at the weekend.

The calm conditions that greeted anglers enjoying the high country's stunning scenery also enabled easy fish spotting.

On Saturday afternoon, around 300 anglers attended the annual North Canterbury Fish & Game Lake Coleridge Fishing Competition prizegiving.

North Canterbury Fish & Game Officer Emily Craig said, "it was great to see so many families out fishing together for the day. There was plenty of excitement when the junior anglers brought their fish in for weighing."

"Just over a third of fish entered were caught by junior anglers. One junior angler had the biggest salmon caught on the day, and other junior anglers gave the adults a run for their money, catching some reasonable fish as well."

With over $7500 in prizes, some anglers were out fishing at midnight to ensure they had the best chance of catching a fish in the competition.

However, there was also a spot prize draw, which meant anglers only had to present their fishing licence to go into the draw generously sponsored by the three Canterbury Hunting and Fishing stores-Christchurch, North Canterbury and Ashburton.

Ninety fish were weighed in, and the heaviest fish was a brown trout from Lake Selfe weighing 3.41 kgs.

The heaviest 25 fish were either brown or rainbow trout, and exactly half of the fish weighed in were salmon, followed by 24 rainbows and then 21 browns.

Kaiapoi angler Adrian Staal was up before dawn to be one of the first anglers casting out onto Lake Georgina as the sun rose over the mountains.

Lincoln angler Glenn Pratley caught a beautifully coloured brown trout from Lake Georgina on the fly rod.

With there being lots of fish activity on the water, Glenn changed from a dry fly to a streamer, and two casts later, caught the second heaviest fish of the day, weighing in at 2.73 kg.

The three Lloyd sisters, Hannah (left), Charlotte (middle) and Lucy (right) from Rangiora, each caught a fish whilst out trolling on Lake Coleridge and came to weigh them in, all dressed in matching T-shirts.

Many more anglers were out enjoying the opening of the fishery, with plenty of fish around to tempt anglers.

Craig Says, "With the long weekend coming, it's a great time for a high-country fishing trip, with the bonus that the conditions for sea-run salmon are coming right for the weekend as well."

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