Fishing Reports

Lake Pupuke just didn’t play the game on Christmas Day 2011. I was later getting there than I had hoped for my 45thconsecutive Xmas Day fishing. The weather was fine with virtually no wind to speak of so the lake was flat and though trout were taking off the surface, they were well out of range of my casting ability.

I did notice that the water quality of this lake was considerably worse than when I last was there, though it is not surprising due to the large amount of storm water discharge that hits the lake, from the myriad of roads surrounding it. Boxing Day was a much better day, even though I came back reeking of dead fish.

A trip with a mate out of Kawakawa Bay to the 31 metre mark saw us return with a limit of large snapper each, kahawai and gurnard as well. The number of fish returned or lost through broken or chewed off traces couldn’t be counted on both hands and the best part of all was that there wasn’t another boat within several kilometres of us.

While all of this was happening, the Waiteti mouth started to fire. One angler caught 11 fish in an evening’s fishing out from the mouth, with four of those being good sized browns. A small lumo with a touch of flash tied in over the top and retrieved very slowly across the clear lake bottom was enough to create a great nights fishing. Unfortunately the weather has changed to a point where this sort of catch rate has died off, though it will come again.

Further up the stream there are pockets of fresh rainbows and browns though some of the pools that they are holding in are exceptionally deep after last month’s floods and I had trouble getting down far enough to be able to catch many. The Waiteti Stream peaked at around seven metres higher than normal, due mainly to the fact that this stream has high banks compared to the Ngongotaha. It is fishable, especially off the Hamson Drive access.

Hamurana also produced a few fish as did the Awahou but we need a few days of clear blue skies and the accompanying hot sun to bring the fishing on in a big way. Fish are moving in to Hamurana and the Awahou after dark in larger numbers than during the day. With the lake being quite high, access out from the shore is tricky even for those who are tall, especially if there are any waves coming through.

The Ngongotaha has had fresh runs as well, though most of the fish moving into this stream have been brown trout. Several large specimens have been caught at various spots so it is well worthwhile trying anywhere there is a deep pool and/or overhanging vegetation. This stream is still recovering from the deluge of the past couple of days and has dropped a couple of metres since Saturday afternoon’s peak. With the extra water coming down this stream care should be taken as there are likely to be soft spots out in the lake where the flood has scoured out the bottom and silt has filled it in again. This often happens after a major flood.

Outside the entrance to the Ohau Channel has produced a few nice fish over the stormy period. Lots of smelt have been coming through the channel as well and can be seen in the back waters both inside and outside the channel. Inside the channel most of the fish are small but there have been one or two surprises. With the lake level being so high access out into the lake is very restricted.

With the control gates being fully open at the end of Okere Falls Arm there is a lot of water going through. Below the directly below the control gates there are feisty one kilo rainbows in abundance.

Lake Rerewhakaaitu has been fishing well for some. The higher water level still makes shore based fishing a challenge but it has the added advantage of helping to keep this lake cooler than it would normally be at this time of the year. Dragonflies, damsels and waterboatman are all making an appearance as have smelt so there are plenty of fly patterns to choose from. With the wind dying out from the East, there will be much more comfortable fishing conditions for both boat and shore based anglers.

With easing of the storm, lakes Rotoma and Rotoehu should continue to fish as well as they were prior to it. Lake Rotoehu may be a little discoloured from wave action but will settle down fairly quickly so that anglers can target trout cruising in the shallows.