Fishing Reports

 

In the last couple of months I've been fishing the tributaries of the Whanganui river with some great success. The fish down here start at 2lb and make there way up. I've been lucky enough to land rainbows up to 7lb and hve been busted off by larger. They were all eager to take Carty's GT's off the surface and are only now going back to subsurface feeding. The Whanganui itself is fishing very well around Mananui and if you want mega rainbows, the Whakapapa is also fishing well. Rumour has it that a 14lb rainbow was landed in last couple of weeks. There are certainly brownies up there of that size. Closer to Hamilton the Mangatutu is still packed with fish and going well. The Maokurarua is also fishing well with good numbers of both browns and rainbows. Both the Kani and the Ngakoahia are full of fish with large brownies in both of them. They tend to sit in the tails of the pools so approach them with caution. The Waihou and Waimakariri are still full of fish and continue to fish well even though they are receiving more pressure than I've ever seen on them. The feeder streams of the Waihou around Matamata will be starting to get large numbers of brownies moving up them and will be well worth an explore in the next month. I fished the very top of the Awakino a few weeks back where it is bush on both sides. Walked for 2 km and only saw 2 fish. The river was the lowest that I had ever seen it and the fish must have dropped lower down. So, I went and explored the Mangaokewa at the reserve and nailed lots of fish with the biggest at just under 4lb. So if things aren't going well be versitile as there plenty of streams close by that don't get any fishing pressure and they all contain heaps of plesant surprises. I've been lucky enough to get down and fish the Tauranga/Taupo twice in the last 2 weeks and timed it around the recent rains. The fishing went off and I landed heaps of fresh fish up to 7lb. Most of the fish were between 4-5.5lb and in great nick. A good friend of mine landed a 10.8lb rainbow in the Tongariro a couple of days ago and the fishing was awesome there also. I managed to do some poaching down the Rotorua district with a few days on Okataina as well. The first couple of mornings I worked hard for 5 and 6 fish up to 6.5lb. But yesterday a mate and I landed 12 fish up to 8.5lb in the morning and they were as fat as can be. We were fly fishing from the boat. Fish are still smelting on the lake' but most of it is fishing deep with shooting heads over drop offs with a smelt fly or a wolly bugger with a booby fly trailing it. If you enjoy the salt water scene as well, both coasts are fishing well, as is the Coromandel, so there are know excuses. The fish are all there, we just have get out there and do it. If you need a hand with anything please pop into Fish City and we shall do our best to get you going. Tight lines Mike Davis.

 

From The Fishing Website

Report type: Saltwater and Freshwater

Report date: 01 May 01