Greenstone River

The Greenstone drains Lake McKellar and runs south, then east, through a wide tussock valley and a long bouldery gorge to the head of Lake Whakatipu. It is a rainbow river first. Fish & Game's late-2025 drift dive over 13 km of the upper and middle valley counted 80 rainbows and 11 browns, and 36 of those 91 fish were over 45 cm. Rainbows average about 1.4 kg (3 lb), and the browns are fewer and run a little bigger, with a few of trophy size. Many of the rainbows are Lake Whakatipu fish that run up to spawn, so the river holds the most fish early in the season and thins out as they drop back to the lake. Numbers are down, though: the same dive was the lowest count on record, just over three catchable trout per kilometre, and Fish & Game points to didymo, the diatom Lindavia and more frequent floods at spawning time as likely causes.

This is sight fishing on foot in clear water. Above Steele Creek the valley opens into tussock flats with braided channels, long glides and fish you can spot from the bank, and the top of the valley runs off Lake McKellar, so it stays steadier after rain than the water downstream. Below Greenstone Hut the river drops into a long gorge of big boulders, deep pools and fast water, broken only by the open ground at Slip Flat, and fish there are harder to spot and harder to reach. It is fly only, with one single-point hook per fly. Nymph with a Hare and Copper, Pheasant Tail or a stonefly or caddis pattern, and carry dries such as a Royal Wulff, Humpy and Dad's Favourite, plus beetle, hopper and cicada patterns for summer.

The whole river from the swing bridge at the Greenstone Station Road car park to the outlet of Lake McKellar is a Designated Water: you need a whole season licence and an Otago Designated Waters licence, the season runs 1 November to 31 May, and the bag is one trout. From 1 February to 31 March the river above the Sly Burn confluence, next to Greenstone Hut, is also a controlled fishery: book one of its three beats online and hold the controlled-period licence before you fish it. The beats are rarely full, and a booking gives you your own piece of river. The road end is 86 km from Queenstown, about an hour past Glenorchy on mostly gravel, and fords past Kinloch can close the road in heavy rain. The valley floors are private land with public foot access along the tracks, so stay on the track and use the DOC huts, which you book online. If the Greenstone is quiet, the Caples joins about 40 minutes up the track and held more than twice as many catchable fish per kilometre in the same survey.