SALMON IN OPIHI

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22202, 20 February 1942, Page 4

SALMON IN OPIHI

Good Sport Near Railway Bridge There has been a tendency in the past to confine fishing for salmon in the Opihi to the mouth and the lower parts of the lagoon, but experience 's proving that even better sport may be obtained further up the river, as the experience of at least one visiting angler has shown. A stranger to Temuka, who asked one of the local tackle-dealers where he would be likely to pick up a salmon, was told that a number had been -een near the railway bridge over the Opihi. Next morning he was on the river at 6 o’clock and was back in a short time with two quinnat weighing 23 and 14 pounds respectively. The fish were caught on a small spoon. Another visiting angler, fishing below the new bridge over the Temuka river, complained that he kept getting salmon on his trout tackle with consequent breakages. This angler was fishing at night with the big fly and the ordinary fly-fishing gear. He stated that the quinnat took the fly and usually broke his fine trout tackle with the first savage perk. Though it is generally believed that quinnat will not take a fly, the experience of many anglers fishing the Opihi during the last two or three years has proved conclusively that the large fly is accepted, especially at night.