Gore’s bid to become the ‘Brown Trout Capital of the World’

The trout statue has been there for years and now Gore has a five-year plan to make itself known as the Brown Trout Capital of the World.

The plan is to attract more international anglers, who are often high spending visitors and to grow the sport of angling by teaching people how to fish.

If the plan takes fruition, visitors will be able to watch trout from a viewing platform on the river, eat trout at a long lunch event or have their catch cooked in the town’s restaurants, take part in angling competitions and attend fishing festivals.

A report, tabled at the council’s community and strategy committee meeting this month, says the Gore district has been known internationally and domestically for decades as the “Brown Trout Capital of the World”, and the Mataura River was regarded as one of New Zealand’s top brown trout rivers.”

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Committee chairman Richard McPhail said the five-year strategy had been in the pipeline for about 18 months.

“It’s got some good ideas to build on an asset that not everyone realises has so much potential,’’ he said.

“Maybe not everything in it will happen, but it’s pretty exciting.’’

The committee has endorsed the report, and it will now go to a full council meeting, he said.

A group including council staff, Southland Fish and Game, Hokonui Runanga, and Great South have been investigating how to build on the river’s reputation.

The campaign will also work with other northern Southland towns like Athol, Garston and Waikaia to build on the river’s reputation, so that more areas of Southland can benefit.

The report says New Zealand’s brown trout fishing is regarded as one of the world’s best, attracting big-spending international markets, and it’s thought the industry is worth about $2 million each year to Southland.

Non-resident anglers have to apply for a special licence, which includes a levy to contribute to fisheries management and habitat protection.

Fish and Game data shows that between 2014 and 2019, there was a 60% increase in non-resident licence sales in Southland, accounting for 25 percent of all licences sold in the province.

Southland Fish and Game manager Zane Moss said it was nice to see recognition of the value of trout fishing had been recognised.

“One of the things that is curious about fly-fishing is that you can be out on the river and the people that you run into aren’t from here. North Americans fish our river far more than we do,’’ Moss said.

The report notes that water quality, the cost of a fishing licence and perceptions about gaining access to the river could be issues with the campaign.

It’s not the first time Gore has built on its image in a bid to attract tourists.

In 2019 it built on the reputation of the New Zealand Gold Guitar Awards, which had been running for more than 40 years, to run the first nine-day-long Tussock Country Music Festival.

Mayor Tracy Hicks said Gore could easily be the country music capital of New Zealand and the Brown Trout Capital of the World.

”At the same time, absolutely it can. The two complement each other and there’s a lot of history with both,’’ he said.

The first step was to make sure the council had the rights to the domain names online, and it would build on that, he said.

While Hicks said he might take up fishing ‘’in my dotage,’’ he said the river was an untapped resource for tourism.

”I’ve lived within walking distance of the Mataura my whole life and I’ve always admired the skill, just on dusk or early in the morning, of people doing the business of coaxing the trout out of the water, it’s quite fascinating.’’