South Riana Lake has been a very popular early season water this year for anglers in the North-west of the state.

Over winter the Inland Fisheries Service stocked the lake with 600 adult brown trout that were marked by clipping their adipose fin. This years stocking compliments a series of stockings in this water since in was first opened for fishing in 2016 (see table below).

A fisheries performance assessment was conducted at South Riana Lake in August 2025. This involved surveying the lake with 30 box traps over two nights.

During this survey a total of 46 brown trout with an average weight of 1.17 kg and average length of 487 mm were captured.  Of this total, only two fish were fin clipped fish from this year stocking. 

This suggests the lake is currently holding a good number of high-quality fish, making it an attractive fishing destination for anglers in the region. Shore based anglers fishing near the bottom with soft plastics or big wet flies have been successful so far this season.

Additionally there is one tagged fish worth $5,000 in the lake as part of the 2025-26 Tagged Trout Promotion, still waiting to be caught!

Year	Brown Trout Adults	Brown Trout Fry
2025	601
2024	800
2023	590
2022
2021		35,000
2020		35,000
2019	392	70,000
2018	400	45,000