Wildside - Salmon Fishing

Salmon epitomises a lifestyle
 

© Zane Mirfin, Wildside Column, Salmon Epitomises a lifestyle, Nelson Mail, 25 April 2009

More than a meal: Neil Goldie with the salmon Zane caught on the Waimakariri.

Salmon are a magnificent fish in every regard. Large, powerful and sleek, they ascend many South Island rivers in late summer and autumn to spawn and die in their natal high-country rivers.

Living most of their life at sea, they are ocean-going nomads that feast on the bounty of the tides, growing large and strong for their return to fresh water to complete the circle of life.

Fishing the Wairau River over the past few months has got me excited about salmon again. While it is not legal to fish for salmon above Marlborough’s Wash Bridge, I have observed very good numbers of salmon while pursuing trout. Not usually considered a good salmon river, the Wairau appears to be getting better year after year.

Apparently, a Fish and Game count observed 800 salmon last season and it will be interesting to know what the annual helicopter survey comes up with this year.

I can’t remember ever seeing multiple pools with large, strong fish in residence in the upper river. Seeing a black mass of salmon is exciting and watching up to 30 salmon chasing around the pool sure doesn’t help the trout fishing but makes for a great visual highcountry treat. Let’s hope the salmon make the most of it before proposed hydro-electric development and canals ruin the river. Maybe the pending Environment Court case will help the salmon of the Wairau.

Salmon are largely a phenomenon of the eastern South Island, although good runs have now become established in Westland on rivers such as the Taramakau and Hokitika.

Further south, the South Westland lakes of Mapourika and Paringa have produced good salmon this season for boat anglers trolling lures. Lester Higgins, of Brightwater, has put in the hours there this season and taken six salmon of 3 kilograms to 4.5kg.

Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are an introduced gamefish from the West Coast of
North America. Commonly known in New Zealand as quinnat salmon, they should more correctly be known as chinook salmon. While the New Zealand populations have never been able to emulate those in their home waters, until recently we have had the only successful transplanted runs in the southern hemisphere. South American populations of
chinook have now become established, mostly from escapees from commercial sea cage operations.

In my trips to British Columbia in Canada in the mid-1990s, the runs of salmon were incredible. Multiple salmon species jammed the river and watching them spawn was simply awesome. It also made for great fishing, as target species such
as rainbows, steelhead and dolly varden char lined up behind the spawning salmon to gorge on eggs.

In Colorado, I had great years of fishing for landlocked kokanee salmon ascending the Gunnison river, and it was possible to catch fish until your arm fell off.

Here in New Zealand, we used to take annual trips to the highcountry waters of North Canterbury in April to experience a ‘‘mini - Alaska’’ on the spring creeks of the Rakaia and Rangitata, catching chubby rainbow trout up to 4.5kg that were feeding heavily on eggs behind the spawning salmon. Sadly, Fish and Game has closed these streams to fishing, citing the spread of the invasive alga didymo.

Commercial pen raising of salmon has become big business.  Freshwater raising happens around the country and an interesting phenomenon occurs when surplus feed drifts beyond the salmon cages to fatten outsize rainbow and brown
trout, which have at times grown to 20kg.

Closer to home, I’ve taken nieces fishing at a salmon farm in Canterbury where the fish are paid for by the kilo. Not a pristine wilderness experience but for a first fishing experience for youngsters, it sure was a lot of fun.

Salmon in New Zealand face many threats, including tough ocean conditions, ending up as commercial by-catch at sea and running the gauntlet of recreational anglers in fresh water. Perhaps the biggest threat is the damage to their habitat due to lack of water through hydroelectric developments and irrigation schemes. Many salmon smolt heading downriver to the sea are diverted into irrigation canals and end their short lives flapping on pastureland. Possibly some of the new up-and-coming fisheries with protected headwaters, such as the Westland populations and those of the Wairau, may become increasingly important to the sustainability of wild self-sustaining populations of salmon in the future.

Most salmon are caught with metal hardware, the most popular lures being the ticer and zed spoon (or zeddie), mostly with a silver finish, although more exotic colour offerings have found favour in recent years. Salmon are not eating when they enter fresh water and the lures aim to irritate fish to strike through territorial aggression. Lures need to be fished close to the bottom in prime resting holes and first light has always been a favoured time to catch salmon.

They can also be persuaded to take a large fly, which is usually presented with the assistance of a large banana sinker to reach the bingo zone. Once hooked, salmon fight strongly, but it is the effort involved that makes them so special.  They are known as the ‘‘fish with no mouths’’ or the ‘‘fish of 10,000 casts’’, and some Kiwis take decades to catch their first one.

My last salmon was no monster but when I hooked up in a side channel of the Waimakariri, my mate and guide, Neil Goldie, was even more excited than I was. That salmon was a special fish that represented way more than just a tasty meal. To me, it epitomised everything great about our freshwater fisheries and the anglers who fish them. Long may salmon continue to swim in our waterways for us to enjoy and appreciate.

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