Fishing the Central South

This itinerary starts and ends in Christchurch and takes you through the best of the fishing in the Central South Island. It will take you through a range of landscapes from flat plains to high mountains many of which were used for filming “The Lord of the Rings”. Fishing venues range from small crystal clear streams to large braided rivers and mountain lakes.

From Christchurch you head first to the beautiful Canterbury high country and its pristine lakes. You then spend some time fishing the lakes and rivers of the Waitaki River catchment before setting off for superb dry fly fishing on crystal clear West Coast rivers. The journey back to Christchurch takes you via Lake Coleridge traveling and fishing the famous snow-fed Rakaia River where you can experience the fishing in the headwaters, the middle reaches as well as the tidal areas at the mouth. There are a number of areas where there is excellent salmon fishing from December through to March