Fishing Reports

Well if you're ever going to target a trophy brown trout in the Bay of Plenty - now is the time. Cancel next week and get out there - but don't expect to enjoy the new longer casting technology of your hot new rod and supershooter line! These huge trout will seldom be found in the open - opting cagily for as much cover as they can find during the day. Once in a while you will find one out in the middle of a long shingle run, usually tuckked in behind a pair of spawning rainbows (sitting duck for an egg pattern), however you are still better off getting as close as possible to take your shot - just don't get seen!

Now is the time that the second run of monster brownies heave themselves out of Lake Rotorua and up all the surrounding tributaries. The first run went up Nov/Dec, and boy were there some huge fish amongst them. To date we've had 14  double figure fish to the bank - best going 18lb's...hooked fish over 20 lb's and broken 3 rods!

Yep - find the gnarliest, most overgrown thickets of blackberry or overhanging willows and make sure you're well versed in pitching heavy nymphs from your hand, or at least familiar with the bow and arrow cast to fire your fly straight through the branches into their lair! Roll casts and tricky flickery are far more likely to see an accurate presentation than any overhead cast at all!

I use a 20lb fine diameter nylon (Pioneer Flexline) when taking shots at the big boys. It holds up against the inevitable snags far better than any 8lb is going to! One trick is to strike exceptionally hard, disorienting your fish so that it blows its first run by thrashing on the surface. This leaves you in a far better position than having it dissappear around the first bend in two seconds flat. When they do bury you in the logs and blackberry, release the tension a little and figure out how to kick them out. It's amazing how manageable most snags are if you jump in there and start lifting branches out of the way... just watch your rod tip doesn't get dragged around any branches - it will snap in an instant. You soon figure out what rods are up to the job in this business.... I wouldn't recommend turning up with your 5 weight Sage dry fly outfit!

Some might say that this is not flyfishing! And yes - it's a pretty different form of the pursuit...however it is highly addictive, and being so up close and personal with such big fish is a real treat for the visual enthusiasts. Czech nymphing techniques are a handy weapon in these circumstances, as heavy nymphs are needed (so the hook doesn't straighten). The nymph is placed no more than a foot infront of the fish so it doesn't really have time to see it properly before it escapes! Dredging that nymph past as many fish as you can find will ultimately find a taker. It's a numbers game, and as they say - there's always one! Ngongotaha and Utuhina are prime hunting grounds, however there are tributaries of the Kaituna River that also enjoy runs of huge trout

Winter rainbow spawning runs are flat out at present... as many as 300 rainbows on one beat at present. But only on the streams...the winter shoreline lake fishing has yet to fire....I spent ten hours at Tarawera last week for one fish - a cracker minter 5lb silver hen. It won't be long though, and I'm off to the log pool on Okataina tomorrow night so I'll keep you posted.

Just got back from a East Cape trip around the traps. The Motu headwaters fished very well, and the Koranga provided rising fish which is always a delight! Still on the lacewing, and quite selectively too. No point going unless you have some in your flybox! Finished up on the Ruakituri - where at least fifty percent of the fish we hooked simply smoked us! Strong fish in strong water....quite the memorable experience! 

Had a client out for a duckshooting warm-up pigeon shoot last Thursday on the maize block. He was frothing about the three days he'd just had on the Tongariro and TT....fit fresh run rainbows, and big bad browns! Looks like the entire Bay of Plenty fishery is going to spoil us for choice again this month!

Looks like everywhere got a good wetting over the long weekend.... Just what we wanted - it's going to be raining trout this week!

Catch you soon