Clutha River Mouth Kahawai – Excellent Aerial Photographs

Clutha River Mouth Kahawai

By Peter Davy

Massive Kahawai School Viewed from Above

• The Clutha River Mouth is a great spot for kahawai, especially just inside the river entrance.
• The tide behaviour is important:
• The incoming tide comes in on the north side (towards Kaitangata). 
• The outgoing tide rushes out on the south side.
• There’s a “slack water” eddy where the incoming and outgoing tides meet — kahawai tend to hold in that area, circling. 
• Water clarity matters a lot. If there’s too much fresh water (e.g., after rain), or water is “dirty,” the big schools move away or won’t come in as far.
• Best times: around dawn and dusk, and especially ~2 hours after low tide. But once the fish school moves in, you can catch them all day if conditions are good.

Practical Fishing Tips

• Fish the north side of the river mouth — that seems to be where kahawai come in and hold. 
• If you fish from the south side, cast across to the north side to reach where the fish are — but beware that hooked fish tend to run into the strong outgoing current, which makes the fight heavier. 
• Keep an eye on the tide and river flow — avoid times just after heavy rain when water is murky. Clean water brings the fish in.

Kahawai at the Clutha River Mouth

The tide comes in on the north side of the Clutha River mouth and rushes out on the south side. This never changes, regardless of what the tide is. The Clutha River is so big and powerful that it always has a fierce outgoing current on the south side. Huge schools of Clutha River mouth kahawai can be caught just inside the entrance.

The kahawai always come in on the north side (Kaitangata), and they sit in the slack water where the incoming tide meets the outgoing in the middle of the river. This forms an eddy, and they just sit in it going around in circles, which I have on drone video.

Kahawai Hate Dirty Water

Kahawai can show up at any stage of the tide, but they hate dirty water. As soon as a fresh comes down bringing dirty water, they’re gone. If it isn’t too bad, they will sit outside the bar all day but not come into the river itself.

Due to all the rain we just had, they are gone, and I would guess that unless the river cleans up really fast, that is the end of the Kahawai season at the Clutha mouth for this year.

There will always be the odd Kahawai running up the north side, even in dirty water, but not any big schools. These fish are travelling, not just sitting there.

Sometimes, Anglers Can Cast Into A Huge School Without Hooking A Fish 

Even when a huge school comes into the river, they may not take a lure. I have drone video of fishermen casting lures into literally thousands of kahawai without hooking up… over and over. I don’t think the fishermen even knew they were there.

Sometimes, if the water is clean enough, the kahawai are only about two metres off the bank on the north side. Again, I have a drone video to prove it. Fishermen were casting out into the middle of the river when there were thousands of fish at their feet. They could have waded out and just grabbed them by the tail.

If you want to fish the south side, then the secret is to cast over to the North side, but be warned, if you do hook up, then the fish will get into that fierce outgoing current, and then it is like fighting a shark.

Respect Our Kahawai – Never Kill Fish You Don’t Want

I was reluctant to post any of these photos or give any tips because I saw a lot of very greedy people slaughter a ridiculous amount of fish. Nobody needs 15 kahawai for every family member there, and most of them are just thrown up on the sand to cook in the sun while they carry on fishing. Not bled immediately or gutted, or kept cool. This is what gives fishermen a bad name.

I post this for the others who take their kids down to catch their first fish, who eat the kahawai they catch, who practice catch and release, or are just getting into fishing and want to catch a fish that puts up a good fight. I was you once, so I know what it’s like, and I post this for you.

Dawn and Dusk Are The Best Fishing Times

The best times were dawn and dusk, two hours after low tide… but when the school moves into the river, you can catch as many as you like all day long off the north side.

Finally, I tracked the schools with a drone for 3 weeks, so I have a lot of video footage that will be processed into a video that I will be putting on YouTube eventually. I will post a link here when it’s done, but it could take a while because I’m very busy. Best Kahawai Fishing Lure.