The fishing in the Hawkes Bay region for the Opening week of the season was rather mixed and it really depended on where you went fishing. Many of the Central rivers were in high flood as a result of the heavy downpours in the Tararua Ranges and were unfishable all week. Similarly, the Mohaka had a huge volume of water through it on Opening Weekend and was completely unfishable all week. Some locals were saying that it was the highest they had seen the river for many years. The streams to the north of the region fared better and offered good fishing conditions and hungry fish. Those anglers lucky enough to choose streams in this area did much better. Mangaone – the stream was in perfect condition for Opening Day with good, clean flows. There was not as many anglers as usual on Opening Day and that made for pleasant and relaxed fishing. Most anglers encountered on the river got a few fish and some did a lot better than that. One in fact broke his rod landing his 10 th fish around 10:30 am and that was his fishing for the day (yes, I was the unfortunate one!). The fish were in good condition and averaged around 1.75 kg with the odd 2.5 kg fish around. One or two larger fish were seen but not caught – they don’t get that big by being easy to catch. Beadheads were the flavour of the day as you would expect early season and the old faithful Hare’n’Copper beadhead accounted for most of the fish taken. Fish were seen taking natural dries but none of our party convinced any trout to take their artificial dry. The howling gale that was affecting most of the country did not worry us down in the river valley and the warmness of the day no doubt resulted in a hatch of some insect. A good Opening Day for all those anglers on this popular river. Mohaka – naturally with other rivers being closed until October, the Mohaka has received a lot of fishing pressure, especially in the more accessible areas such as Glenfalls, McVicars, the ‘Gold Mine’ and up at Puketitri. The continued closure of the forestry road to the Waipunga confluence has seen a concentration of anglers at the remaining access points. Despite this pressure, the river has fished reasonably well although the fish are in rather poor condition. My local mate puts this down to unstable flows for much of the winter. The recent floods will not have helped their condition so it might be a good plan to avoid the big river for a while and concentrate on it’s many tributaries. I fished one of these a couple of days after Opening Day and was very disappointed with the results. Again the fish were in poor condition and many of the resident fish had disappeared. There were some fish holding in the lower reaches but otherwise it was poor returns. For nymphing the main river during the day, best results have been had fishing the riffles with a weighted size 12 Beadhead Hare’n’Copper with a size 14 Pheasant Tail as a dropper. Waipunga – this river has also had its share of angling pressure with the Taupo guides visiting often. Despite this, the river has fished well for those willing to ‘bushbash’ into the less accessible parts of the river. The immaculately-attired and expensively-equipped visitors are not so keen on crawling on hands and knees through the blackberry to reach the river. Once at the river, it is usually necessary to stay in it until the next exit point is reached. A light weight pair of neoprene waders helps to combat not only the cold of constant immersion but also to reduce the impact of the blackberry. The river has been running high for much of the last fortnight and this makes it even more difficult to work your way up the river. Similar flies to the Mohaka are recommended. Now that the temperatures are starting to increase, a Cicada dry fly is always worth trying whenever shallow ‘riffly’ water is encountered. Esk – the lower reaches are pretty much a waste of time now as there is no longer the depth of water to give shelter to resident trout. Flood after flood has seen most of the old pools filled in with shingle and the stream has a barren look to it now. The upper river has been less affected but trout are still few and far between. The walking involved to find one decent trout is a lot more than on most other rivers in the region. If you do catch a fish in this river, play it hard and return it quickly without touching the fish if possible. Now that stocking of the river is no longer taking place, it is vital that every good-sized fish survives to spawn. Ron has a free information service on any aspect of troutfishing in New Zealand at www.troutnz.com

 

From ron Giles

Report type: Freshwater

Report date: 13 October 00

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