The Star: January 20, 2022

The Star Thursday January 20 2022
16
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Best salmon season in a decade
• By Susan Sandys
RAKAIA RIVER salmon anglers
are revelling in a season they say
is the best in a decade.
“It’s one out of the box so far,”
Simon McMillan of Leeston said.
He is leading the Southbridge
Hotel salmon fishing
competition, having weighed in a
8.95kg fish on January 6.
Hotel owner/operator Harry
Singh said it was the biggest fish
entered in the competition since
1997. The smallest so far this
season was 5.65kg, which would
have been considered a goodsized
fish in previous seasons.
“We have a lot of big fish,
which is really impressive,” Singh
said.
About 30 people were
registered for the competition,
which would run until April
30. Just one entry per person is
permitted, and only about five
people have so far weighed in
their catches, with the peak of the
season not until next month.
McMillan agreed it was
fantastic to see plenty of big
salmon around.
“The last eight to 10 years
of salmon fishing has been
very, very tough in the Rakaia
River, but to see the number
of fish we have seen and the
size of them has been good,”
RAPT: Simon McMillan caught an 8.95kg fish on the Rakaia River, his biggest salmon
since 2013.
McMillan said.
He had been “absolutely
rapt” to catch the biggest fish
he had landed since 2013,
which was hooked on a cold,
overcast and windy afternoon.
He was holidaying at the north
Rakaia huts with wife Vicki
and his two daughters when he
decided to pop out and take the
family pet labrador Ferg
fishing with him.
After jetboating upstream he
cast his rod from the riverbank.
“The fight and the thrill of
getting the biggest fish I have
caught in a number of years
was well worth the cold hands,”
McMillan said.
He was not confident of
winning the Southbridge Hotel
competition.
“I’m not thinking it’s a done
deal, because there’s plenty of the
season to go.”
Meanwhile, Fish and Game said
it was too early to confirm anecdotal
reports from anglers of the best
start to the season in 10 years.
North Canterbury Fish and
Game Council spokesman Richie
Cosgrove said the Rakaia had
enjoyed good river conditions
so far this season, and salmon
generally ran there earlier than
the Waimakariri River.
“There’s certainly a lot of activity
down there at the moment,”
Cosgrove said, referring to
anglers converging on the river’s
two mouths and lagoon area.
Set against a backdrop of a
declining fishery, there is a new
bag limit on sea-run salmon
season in force this season.
Anglers are restricted to just
two for the whole season,
compared to one salmon each
day last season.
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