Caples River

The Caples is the Greenstone's smaller, bushier neighbour: a clear tributary that runs down a narrow beech-forested valley with grassy clearings and joins the Greenstone about 40 minutes' walk from the road end. Right now it is the better of the two fisheries. Fish & Game's late-2025 drift dive of 6.5 km between Mid Caples Hut and the confluence counted 44 trout, 29 rainbows and 15 browns, and 27 of them were over 45 cm. That works out to about seven catchable trout per kilometre, more than twice the Greenstone's figure. Anglers have noticed, and the Caples now takes much of the pressure that used to go to the Greenstone. It is also down on the past: the last dive before this one, in 1997, counted 39 more rainbows.

It fishes as a sight-fishing river. The track stays on the true left of the river along the bush edge, crossing grassy flats, a few slips and a spectacular gorge just below Mid Caples Hut, so you can walk the bank, look into the pools and runs, and drop in where you see a fish. It is fly only, with one single-point hook per fly. Carry the Greenstone kit: weighted Hare and Copper, Pheasant Tail, stonefly and caddis nymphs, and dries from a Royal Wulff or Humpy down to beetles, hoppers and cicadas in summer. The Caples has no flow gauge, and the river and its side streams rise fast in heavy rain, so plan around the forecast.

The Caples is part of the Greenstone Designated Water, so you need a whole season licence plus an Otago Designated Waters licence, the season runs 1 November to 31 May, and the bag is one trout. It is not part of the Greenstone controlled fishery, so no booking is needed in February and March. The road end is 86 km from Queenstown, about an hour past Glenorchy on mostly gravel through Kinloch. Mid Caples Hut, 2 to 3 hours and 9 km up the valley, is the base for an overnight trip and must be booked online. The valley floor is private land with public foot access along the track, so camp at the hut or on conservation land at the bush edge. If the Caples has been fished hard, the Greenstone is next door, with fewer fish but fewer people too.