Fishing near Queenstown, Otago

Queenstown sits on the shore of Lake Wakatipu in the Otago region of the South Island, surrounded by the rivers and lakes of the Southern Lakes district. The area is one of New Zealand's premier freshwater fishing destinations, with Lake Wakatipu itself stretching 80 km and holding brown trout, rainbow trout, and lake-locked quinnat (Chinook) salmon. Beyond the lake, rivers including the Kawarau, Shotover, Arrow, Greenstone, Caples, Rees, and Dart fan out across the basin, drawing fly anglers from around the world to sight-cast for large, wild brown trout in gin-clear water.

Top waters to fish near Queenstown

Species & education

Learn what type of fish are in Queenstown, Otago and what's needed to catch them.

Find which waters have the species you want to catch

Brown Trout

Salmo trutta

Climbing Galaxias

Galaxias brevipinnis

Rainbow Trout

Oncorhynchus mykiss

Blue Cod

Parapercis colias

Blue Moki

Latridopsis ciliaris

Leatherjacket

Meuschenia scaber

Ling

Genypterus blacodes

Red Gurnard

Chelidonichthys kumu

Sand Flounder

Rhombosolea plebeia

Sea Perch

Helicolenus percoides

Sevengill Shark

Notorynchus cepedianus

Tarakihi

Nemadactylus macropterus

New Zealand Longfin Eel

Anguilla dieffenbachii

Chinook Salmon

Oncorhynchus tshawytscha

Common Smelt

Retropinna retropinna

Fish smarter with real-time insights

Whether you're en route and conditions shift or you're looking for the best spot based on current flows, we enable you to make informed decisions on the fly.