Lake Coleridge

Lake Coleridge, Whakamatau, lies between the Torlesse and Mt Hutt ranges at the foot of the Southern Alps, about 35 km northwest of Methven. It is the largest of the Rakaia high-country lakes and the most heavily fished lake in North Canterbury. It supports one of very few New Zealand populations of landlocked chinook salmon, and those salmon are its most common catch. It also holds brown and rainbow trout. Most fish run 0.75 to 1.5 kg. The lake is long and open to both the nor'wester and the sou'wester, and the Coleridge power station takes its water.

Trout are hard to spot here, so blind fishing is the rule, usually along the eastern shore. From a boat, deep troll a spinner or a fly. From the shore on a blustery day, spin from the downwind end, into the wind: a Rapala, a Tasmanian Devil or a ticer. Fly anglers use a Muddler Minnow or a Yellow Rabbit, wets such as a Twilight Beauty or a March Brown, and dries such as a blowfly, a Coch-y-Bondhu, a manuka beetle or a Black Gnat. The tributaries, such as the Wilberforce, Ryton and Harper, all hold trout in their lower reaches, but they are shingly and unstable, so Fish & Game advises sticking to the lake. In calm, bright weather you may spot trout in the smaller lakes just to the east.

The season opens on the first Saturday in November, high-country opening day, when North Canterbury Fish & Game holds a competition at Ryton Bay. This page has no live lake level. The water temperature shown is an estimate from a model fitted to satellite readings, not a measurement.