Hi there,
before Didymo I was hiking to the Mokihinui north/south branch and though the trout did not feed so very well it was a dream of a fishing water and I caught very nice fish. Because I would like to hike in again next January, my question is if someone knows about the influence of the algae in this river and if its still worth the long walk. The same with the Karamea and the Deepdale. Still good or down?

Tight lines
concolor

Hi trout whisperer,

many thanks for the first reply to my post.

I fished the Mokihinui about 5 years before Didymo. I can´t estimate how fishing pressure developed since then. During my visit the helicopter with 2 Fishermen and one guide landed directly next to the hut. As I´ve been walking in for 8h I wasn´t too happy. The guide jumped out and asked me where I have already been fished and where I planned to go on fishing. Though I wasn´t very happy I found it fair how we arranged the fishing as win-win.

Sorry that foreign fishermen like me brought you that misery and some more. The only thing I can do is to disinfect my whole stuff carfully before entering your country or - staying away.
Good that you mention the 1080 thing - I didn´t think about that so far.

tight lines, concolor

Thank you puddleduk for your reply.
Good news to hear, that Didymo did not had any noticeable impact there.
According the number of foreign fishermen: Well, I`m afraid to be one of those do it yourself anglers, too. In this holiday I planned to fish only backcountry areas where the most of the other fishermen will be flown in. So I hope the result is not "wrecking the whole thing", since it will be no combat fishing, because my mate is no fisherman and we also need to relax.

tight lines, concolor

Just following up on this thread, over the past two years there has been a rapidly growing number of long term fishing visitors to NZ (stays of 5+ days to a month) 'camped' in the headwaters of these rivers, particularly the one with easy mountain bike access.

It will be interesting to see whether the Government and Tourism Board is brave enough to tackle this issue post CV-19. It would be a shame to see the same Controlled Fishery restrictions placed as the Greenstone/Caples gets, but might be necessary if this ignorance of our fragile catchments remain.