Fishing nirvana
The Canterbury High Country is a magic alpine wonderland of vast inland valleys, high peaks, dry climate and oversize brown trout. North Canterbury boasts six major river systems of interest to anglers and there are dozens of lakes scattered to every point of the compass for enthusiastic stillwater anglers.
The river systems include the Waiau, Hurunui, Ashley, Waimakariri, Selwyn and Rakaia, and I’ve been fortunate to have hiked, biked, 4WD driven, helicoptered, rafted, and jet-boated all over them and their numerous and exciting tributaries.
Like some boy’s own adventure I was fortunate to experience the Canterbury high country in all of its splendour and majesty before it was ‘‘discovered’’ by mass angling effort fanned by the internet age and social media. These days there are no angling secrets and the full extent of the fishery resource has been mapped and exploited.
Mother Nature still plays a hand in protecting her resources though, with the North Canterbury weather and wind often guarding the trout from serious angling effort, often for weeks at a time.
North Canterbury lies in a rain shadow area and receives far less rain than the West Coast and summer weather is dominated by dry winds that sweep over the western ranges and regularly