Ah, good, I was pretty much on target then. An associate was trying to convince me the lower river was what Dion is calling the canal. I find I fish the upper river more than half of the time, probably close to 70%, and the mid river about 25%. Very rarely do I fish the lower or canal, but that is somethine I'd like to learn more about this year.
Don't bother canal is a gong show full of snaggers
Pretty much anywhere from the Lickman Road down is a complete mess when the fish are running, and I try to get as far away from all the people out there as possible.
Just for example, yesterday there were hundreds of people out on the river (Lickman Road down). I would say 75% of these people were either fishing 10 foot leaders under a float thinking they were "float fishing" and getting the fish to bite or they were trying to get the 2 once weights to roll in the slow water under the train bridge
Guess what 25% of the fisherman out there actually caught fish
There arn't enough fish right now to floss, or for that matter even hook right now.
I should also not that during the fall rush places like Wilson Road, Tamahi, Limit (year round), Prison, etc all get the same crowd. Best to walk a bit and avoid these areas, at least that way the fish arn't spooked from cannon balls coming down on them.