If it's a dry season, river flows get low and trout generally get progressively harder to catch as the season progresses.
Good weather results in some great fishing up until the Christmas period.
However, rivers need rain so some inclement weekends can be helpful to the overall quality of the season.
The trout are generally more vulnerable because they haven't seen any fishermen since last season.
Fish & Game NZ conducts surveys of trout populations throughout Southland's popular fisheries, using various techniques.
What these surveys have shown us is that populations generally don't vary that much from season to season, unless there's a catastrophic event such as an extremely severe flood.
What does vary from season to season is the condition of the trout, which is a result of how much food there has been available over the end of the winter, since the trout has spawned.
The end to last winter and the current spring have generally been very settled, providing relatively stable river flows and consequently a good supply of food for the trout.
So I would recommend inviting your first trout of the season home for dinner.
- Zane Moss, Southland Fish & Game officer.
Family licence
Not too long ago, families used to picnic next to a lazy pool, seeking the shade of a willow tree and kids would have rods propped up with a worm on the end.
Now, once-popular spots are vacant over the weekends. However, this may be changing. Last season, Fish & Game sold more than 2500 family licences in Southland alone.
This licence allows the primary licence-holder to fish alone and the secondary licence-holder to fish with the primary, or they can fish without the primary if they are taking the kids.
This is bringing families back to our great lakes and rivers.
Trout
Trout fishermen know how important it is to look after the fish to ensure a quality dining experience when you return home.
With warmer weather, trout captured on a summer day in Southland require as much care as a snapper in the Hauraki Gulf - you wouldn't leave a chicken un-gutted and lying in the sun for a few hours while you tried to catch another.
Throw a "cool" bag into your pack, along with some frozen drinks to keep the bag and yourself cool throughout the day.
Good catches of whitebait mean good trout. Trout like eating whitebait, just as we do.
