Fishing Reports

A short walk along the shore opposite the old Refuse Transfer Station on Lake Rotoiti was rewarded with the sight of several large rainbows.  While there doesn’t seem to be as many fish spawning along the shore here, there are a couple of large areas of the lake bed that look like they have been turned over by a rotary hoe and it was there that I spotted the fish.  A couple of anglers had pitted their skill prior to my arrival without much success so I wasn’t too confident that I would do much better. 

I chose a green marabou that I had been given by a local angler who did well with it over the closing days of the Ohau channel and flicked it out.  A couple of small rainbows came out of nowhere and had a half-hearted swipe at my offering and few casts later I hooked one of the larger rainbows that had been milling around a redd in front of me.  Unfortunately for me, it turned out that the double figure fish that I landed was also foul hooked so a quick photo was taken and it was released. 

After a few changes of flies I chose a bright red teaser, the type used for trolling with a tassie or cobra, and there was immediate interest from several fish.  Unfortunately, yet again, the fish that took the fly busted off shortly after it took the fly and neither were seen again.  There should be another couple of weeks of sight fishing from the Dump, Transformer and Cafe streams and possibly the Pipe before the number of fish coming into to spawn tapers off.  Fishing after dark should be more successful. 

Few fish have been coming into the beach at Lake Okataina, though one would expect that there should be more to come. 

Catch rates have been slow at Rangiuru Bay, the Landing and at the Te Wairoa Stream mouth but being such pleasant places to be, they are well worth a visit.

Rainbows are still cruising off the shore at Boyes beach, though they are proving a challenge. Olive woolly buggers and grey ghosts on a floating line are still the most likely rig to catch fish here. 

Lake Rerewhakaaitu is starting to fish well for shore-based anglers, especially off the access points on Brett Road.  Size 4 long shank green marabou flies have taken fish as have size 10 and 12 grey ghosts.  Look for rocky areas along the shore as there should be fish starting to spawn on these areas.

Lake Okaro is continuing to provide good conditioned fish from the shore as well, especially off the boat ramp and the main stream to the left of the boat ramp.  The reed bed to the left of the ramp is also worth casting a line along as well.  As the lake bed drops away very quickly off the boat ramp a slow sink or medium sink line can be used here. 

It seems that the last few days of rain has stimulated plenty of fresh rainbows and they are moving into the Ngongotaha Stream at the moment.  The standard terminal tackle of weighted nymph and grey gost is working well, though glow bugs are also catching fish.  Most of the fish being caught have been around the village area but there have been reports of fresh fish being caught below the State Highway 5 Bridge, through to the Streamdale Road access.  It is fairly tight fishing in this area as there is a lot of vegetation on the banks and the banks are quite steep in places.  This area is also open to spin fishing.