Electrocuted carp catch

The Director of Inland Fisheries, John Diggle has ordered the closure of Lake Sorell for fishing this coming season due to the outbreak of juvenile carp last summer. This special closure is enabled under the Inland Fisheries (Delay or Prevention of Spread of Controlled Fish) Order 2003.

The restriction covers public access to Lake Sorell and on land surrounding the lake down to its high water mark as wells the outlets of both Lakes Sorell and Crescent, and on land around these outlets below their high water marks. It applies to all activities that might result in contact with the water, including hunting, angling, boating, wading and swimming.

The closure is required to support the IFS in its work to control carp in the Lake during the coming season, when a major operation is planned to eliminate juvenile fish and prevent further spawning during spring and summer.

By Leigh McKenzie | Trout anglers fishing in the southern parts are coming into one of the most eagerly anticipated times of the year – the peak annual whitebait run. What’s so good about whitebait? Well, it’s not their fighting abilities! It’s got more to do with the fish that accompany them, trying to scoff as many of these miniature delicacies down as physically possible … searunners!

Sea runners in the Derwent River are a year-round prospect, but there are definitely better months than others. They start to appear in the system with around April/May as they head up-river for spawning, then when the jobs done, we pick them up on their way back down towards the sea.

July’s pretty quiet but come August they’re starting to increase slowly in numbers, culminating in a population explosion when the main whitebait runs occur, normally during September and October.

The sight of these awesome looking trout swirling vigorously or getting airborne while smashing up bait in the middle of the river is simply incredible.

Big bow waves charging in at full speed are a precursor to a shower of baitfish leaping out of the water on mass, trying to escape these silver bullets as they round up the baitfish.

Sea runners are encountered the entire length of the estuary and into the freshwater all the way up to the base of the Lake Meadowbank Dam and the tributaries that flow into the Derwent below this obstruction like the Plenty, Styx and Tyenna Rivers.

The lower estuary is in reality a hit and miss affair, and I don’t think it’s really worth the time and effort as the fishing pales into insignificance compared to further upstream. Its saving grace however, is the Atlantic salmon that are regularly encountered, especially a couple of weeks after a salmon farm mishap and thousands of these tasty behemoths take the opportunity to roam free. Many Atlantic salmon are incorrectly identified as sea runners, due to their similar appearance.

The middle estuary starts at the Tasman Bridge, and is a far better proposition than downstream. I like to hit the eastern shore here early in the morning due to the shadows cast from high banks and surrounding terrain. The sun doesn’t shine directly onto the shore as soon as it comes up like it does on the opposite side of the river. This keeps the sea runners active longer. When venturing out closer to dusk, I’ll switch sides and target the western shore for the same reasons.

Geilston, Lindisfarne and Cornelian Bays are all hotspots early into the whitebait run. Rocky shorelines sloping to a silt bottom characterise these areas till you reach the Bowen Bridge, where decent weed beds start to occur, providing great cover for baitfish.

They’re not as single minded with their diet in this area either, as crabs and shrimp are another source of food. Weed becomes more prevalent the further upstream you go, especially around the Derwent Entertainment Centre, Rosetta, Berriedale, Austin’s Ferry and Old Beach, with great little shallow bays full of weed, and fish mooching about as well!

The weed starts getting a bit annoying from here, and doesn’t thin out until a couple of kilometres past the start of the upper estuary at the Bridgewater bridge, where mudflats on either side slowly change to a decent drop off directly off the bull rushes that provide ample ambush points for both resident and sea running trout.

While Cadbury’s point and Bridgewater Bridge are the two main bottlenecks in the estuary, the rivers width narrows here and slowly tapers off all the way to the end of the upper estuary at New Norfolk. This concentrates fish into a smaller area.

If this wasn’t good enough, Bridgewater Bridge to New Norfolk is also the scene of the saltwater wedge, which in laymen’s terms is where the saltwater meets the fresh and rises and falls underneath.

This is prime sea runner real-estate and where the most action occurs during the spawning whitebait runs. They’re so abundant at this time of the year that the sea runners feed almost exclusively on them — creating exceptional fishing opportunities for anglers.

If you can’t see any signs of the baitfish, don’t think they’re not there. Boat owners can locate the schools on a sounder and fish around them at the depth they’re holding.

Coming soon — Part Two: Trolling, plastic lures and flyfishing …