Buller River - fresh water fishing paradise!

The mighty Buller River starts its long journey at the bottom of Lake Rotoiti near St Arnaud.

For the first couple of miles, it falls steeply and the water is rough and turbulent. You could be excused for thinking this was not brown trout water but you would be wrong.

Behind its many obstructions and obstacles, a 3 lb beautifully-spotted brown trout may well be lying. A bushy dry fly, like a Grey Wulff, drifted over the slack water behind a boulder is liable to produce a violent response. This fast water continues below the first access at the main road bridge and good results can be had fishing bead-head flies through the many turbulent riffles. About 3 miles down, the river slows considerably as it continues on its 50 mile journey to the sea at Westport. There are more classic pools and runs in this section.

There are a number of access points along the stretch below St Arnaud and these are designated by the Fish & Game `Angler Access' signs. Much of the access is through farmland and respect should be shown to stock and property so that we retain this generous access permission. Fishing in this area is better outside the low flows of summer when the fish seem to drop further down the river. But any discolouration after rainfall will see good numbers of hungry trout attack beadhead nymphs that were ignored on the previous dry weather days.

There is good fishing above and below Kawatiri Junction and the river is somewhat larger here, being swelled by the various tributaries. A few miles further down, it becomes a very substantial river after the torrent that is the Gowan River joins its flow. Some good fish will be found in the water above and below the Gowan confluence and they take a dry fly often in the middle of the day. Prospecting flies like an Adams or Irresistible seem to work best.

There is good fishing all the way from here down to Murchison with the dry fly being the favoured option. The fish are all browns and average around 3 lb but many larger fish are taken. Below Murchison, there is a huge gorge, favoured only by kayakers and so not much of interest to flyfisher's.More information - Fish & Game Brochure