by “Hare’s Ear”
Author of trout fishing books in the 1950s, the late George Ferris of Christchurch, described Canterbury’s Selwyn River, in its hey-day, as being regarded as “the best brown trout river in the Dominion.” Sadly, this is not so today. Nutrients leaching in and irrigation demands have depleted and fouled the river in summer with one observation saying the Selwyn River has been “Chernobylised”.
However, toxic slime becomes an issue during the dry summer months with the river reduced to a few disconnected algae infested pools. The Selwyn was a magnificent brown trout river as shown by the photo below from the “New Zealand Fishing and Shooting Gazette” (December 2, 1929). That has now been irreparably lost to “progress”.
