| The Greenstone River is a medium sized spawning river for Lake Wakatipu. The upper and middle reaches flow for about 16km through an broad valley. The middle reaches has an excellent variety of runs, ripples and pools, most of which hold fish. Long casting is not required and a #6 weight line is adequate for most occasions. Northwesterly winds can at time hinder anglers, but can be countered with weight-forward lines.
The most productive and easiest water to fish lies upstream from the Pass Burn as the fish are easy to spot and stalk. Before Christmas fish stocks are excellent and walking and casting are easy. Rainbow trout average 1.4kg, with the odd brown slightly larger.
Below the Pass Burn the river becomes more difficult to fish due to its rocky gorges and fast runs. For agile, active anglers, it's well worth the look.
Below the Caples confluence, the river becomes considerably larger, with the mouth offering good lure fishing.
In November nymph fishing is popular, but several anglers also enjoy success with a dry fly. Throughout the season green stonefly, mayfly and caddis fly imitations are all good nymph patterns, but some anglers have the most success with Hare and Copper and Pheasant Tail.
Rainbow trout dominate the river and are most abundant during the spring, but as the season wears on many of these fish emigrate to Lake Wakatipu and return the following year to spawn.
A back-country licence is now required to fish the Greenstone River upstream of the swing-bridge at the rivers mouth where the river enters Lake Wakatipu and all tributary streams entering the Greenstone including the Caples River. |
