I have first hand report from pagrus catching 2 x 3-4lbers in their first hour at Rotoiti. Very nice of him to call me immediately, while I was working at the office. Congratulations to Mrs Pagrus on catching her first . Apparently it was "assisted" by a baby stroller but I'll let pagrus share the details if he reads this.

herring. several large browns ,up to 12lb have been taken around the channel mouth last week, but most have found the wind a killer, gusting at 60kph not for the average fisho. The guides report the rainbows off ngongotaha are fat as butter and average around 5lb. fly fishing has been hard at rotoiti and oki but the odd fish is still being caught. I have been catching snapper and tarakihi out in the BOP and not wasting my time with mud fish!.

As i know the guides personally they may tell me a different story. But i have always reported it as i see it. If you dont take my word then get stuffed!. I have always shared my info with anglers of all types from learners to "experts". I posted reports all summer as to the fishing in the whole rotorua area as i was on the lakes 3-4 days a week. Winter fishing this year has been crap, as i predicted. Lake rotorua is the best fishing lake in the world bar none, and i bet any amount of money i could go on the lake and catch fish, in any conditions. One fishing guide i know gaurantees a fish so he must know what hes doing. if he says use a black toby at holdens bay i believe him. However that may sound like bs to you.
thats your choice but dont ever say i mislead anglers on this site as i have been given heaps of grief for giving away too much info by some locals.
All the guides i know are only too happy to share info as there is plenty of fish in rotorua to go around. The fishing shops all provide good info to all who ask and will show you how to set up gear etc. Alf from stormy seas caught a big brown last week (12lb) and released it, near the chanel mouth. Three of us caught 62 fish in 5.5hrs jigging on rotoiti in may. work out the catch rate of that. Or you may think i'm bs as well.

SORRY RODHOLDER !!

forgot to mention we always take note of rodholders report, the 2 to 3 hours we  fish is per day

fishing was good on saturday,

bearfoot, try fishing your fly in front of your lure. by hanging it off the lure hook you can stop the lure from performing its wobble effect.
put a small swivel about 2m up your line from the end and slip the fly on your main line . it will pull down to the swivel and it will track there due to the force of the water. last week most of the fish i caught took the fly, a blood red rabbit. try mrs simpson, grey ghost, parsons, hamills killer, green orbit for a change. also try doing circle loops over drop=off from 2-5m of water around channel area. the fish tend to feed just on the edge or in the deeper water.

i dont use lead line. i run a deep water xpress in front of an L.E.D. line this gives a depth of about 2m with 30m of line out. and 5m with it all out. the deep water xpress ensures the lure runs nose down in the water and gives a better action at a slightly faster than normal trolling speed. the L.E.D. is much more sensative than lead and gives the fish more feel on a lighter rod than you can use with lead. i use at least 8=10m of trace nylon. dont use flourocarbon as the lure wears it away in very short time and you will break of most times.
even though the fish splash on top they quickly go back to 3 to 5m deep and so you wont catch many on top.
i use a figure eight track over the drop offs going from 2m to 5m and back with the lure often turning. you get a lot of takes when the lure turns.

lead is legal in all lakes except waikaremoana. there is no weight restriction. you can use wire, downrigger etc.
never tried two tassies. but when fishing is hard i go back to one lure or fly. you can spoil the fish for choice it seems. the black toby (turbo) is one lure i run on its own, the fly seems to change the action and it fishes better solo.
i never use teasers on my lures either, if the lure is the right colour it shouldnt need one.

oops would help if i got the days right .. wednesday afternoon and thursday on the water...