More than 20 anglers face prosecution so far this season after breaching fishing regulations in Otago.
Sixteen anglers were caught by Fish and Game rangers from the start of the fishing season in October to Christmas, Fish and Game Otago operations manager Ian Hadland said.
"It's the worst start to the season we've had in a number of years."
Many of those cases happened on waterways and reservoirs in the Dunedin and Taieri areas.
A range of offences had been committed, he said.
In one case, a man previously prosecuted for fishing without a licence had allegedly been caught for the same offence again.
However, anglers' compliance in Central Otago during the holiday season was very good, Mr Hadland said.
While though the weather was poor for fishing, rangers still managed to complete more than 400 licence checks.
From those checks, six offences were picked up, including one where a man was fishing with two rods on Lake Wakatipu, he said.
"That is pretty good compliance for us. Everyone was very well behaved."
A major effort had been put in to ranging this season, which was reflected in the figures, Mr Hadland said.
"We've been more dedicated and organised and we're pretty pleased with the result."
Licence holders could expect to see rangers more frequently.
They aimed to offer advice and generally be more visible, he said.
"It pays off. Generally, people are more compliant."
Other offences detected included the stretching of a family licence which allowed two adult partners and two dependants under the age of 18 to fish.
"I had one man locally with his 50-year-old brother and his father, who was about 80, claim they were all under his family licence."
