Where to catch a trophy trout

Where to Catch a Trophy Trout by Ron Giles

One of the most common questions I get asked is: where is the best place to catch a trophy trout? That is getting harder to do and so harder to answer. One thinks of rivers in the popular Nelson region such as the Wangapeka; of the mighty Buller and the boisterous browns that it has aplenty; of the regal Grey River and it’s horde of big fish tributaries; of the myriad of hardly-fished West Coast waters; rivers like the Ahuriri over the pass in Central Otago; and the many fine rivers in the home of the brown trout – Southland. But for me, the best chance of catching a big fish is in that region a couple of hours north of Christchurch where a large number of superb trout rivers originate on both sides of the cleft in the Southern Alps that is the Lewis Pass.
By basing yourself at either Hanmer Springs on the east side of the pass or at Springs Junction on the west, there are several rivers nearby where you have a good chance of picking up your trophy trout. And you won’t have a huge number of competing anglers, especially if you avoid the weekends. That is not the case with many other of the recognised ‘big fish’ waters where a tramping trip is needed to get away from the like-minded hordes. Even then, there is no guarantee that as you reach the targeted stretch of remote river, you see angler and guide alighting from the chopper in front of you. That is becoming a common experience in many of our backcountry rivers. So much so that there are now plans to restrict access to remote Otago rivers because of the pressure coming from visiting anglers. As yet, the Lewis Pass area does not suffer from such problems and most of the best fishing spots do not require an overnight expedition.
The most well known river in this area is probably the Maruia. Fortunately this lovely river has 70 km of fishable water so it can take a lot of angling pressure. The Maruia rises on the west side of Lewis Pass and flows down past Maruia Hot Springs. It is not very stable in this stretch and better fishing is to be found a few km down the road from Springs Junction downstream. Around here the river is swelled by several important tributaries – the Rahu, Woolley, Rappahannock and Warwick Streams. These are all serious trout waters in their own right and well-worth fishing, especially early season.
At Ruffe Creek, the river leaves the road and it is a good day’s fishing down to the next access point near the Warwick Stream junction. From here, it is possible to fish all the way down to Murchison.

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