Fishing Reports

How do you describe the fishing in the Waikato at the moment? Well, patchy is probably the best phrase I can think of. A labour weekend excursion found some pools and pockets that always hold trout to be apparently empty, but then others that might normally give up the occasional fish were now giving up 3.

Most of the smaller Waikato tributaries seem to be running fairly high and fairly coloured, but they do seem to be warming up enough for the mayflies to continue to hatch, albeit not in big numbers as yet.

Overall it would probably be the upper Waihou, with its almost un-floodable spring fed nature that has been the consistent provider of piscatorial fun.

Having said that, the Lower Waikato Fishing Contest has just being held and they have had more Trout caught than ever before. The average size was just under 3lbs (down a little on previous years) but with a very healthy average condition factor of 40. Congratulations to Michael Lynch and the other organisers for another well run competition.  

On the Coromandel the Ohinemuri / Waitawheta rivers have fished reasonably well in recent weeks and by all accounts the Kauranga is starting to fire too, at least when not in flood. No reports as yet of the whitebait entering the Ohinemuri but when they do the smelt fly swung down and across the big pools will result in some spectacular hook ups from some very solid trout