Fishing Reports

Reports in from Lake Okataina suggest that there is some fairly good fishing to be had. Access to the lake for boats is a little easier as the Water level is now upon the steeper part of the ramp. The only challenge, apparently, is the nib wall that runs the full length either side of the ramp, as it can do some serious damage to fibreglass boats especially. Jigging isn’t going all that well but trolling at 12 metres or so in 24 metres of water is producing mostly very good conditioned fish. Smelt numbers are really high in this lake at the moment, giving trout plenty of food to eat.

Trolling is also out fishing jigging on Lake Rotoiti, perhaps due to the distance travelled when trolling more than the fact that trout are not at the bottom of the lake. Look for signs of bait fish on your fish finder and set your depth accordingly.

Lake Okaro fished very well for several days during the middle of last week but seems to have gone off the boil with the south-easterly wind change and an increase in alga since last weekend. There seem to be lots of insects on the surface of the lake, including cicada, damsel, dragon and bees but nothing seems to be feeding on them during the day. There are also huge numbers of smelt and bullies which bodes well for the condition of trout in this lake over the next few months.

Rerewhakaaitu is still producing some good fish from the shore as well as by boat. The better fishing is after dark when trout come into feed on the large numbers of smelt and bullies that are themselves feeding. Mayfly nymphs as well as dragon and damsel fly nymphs are in abundance, especially in any of the sheltered bays. Shore based fly fishing is really only able to be done around School Arm at the moment as most other areas with room to back cast are under water still. Spin fishing is still a good option with zed, zebra turbo, bingo and veltics spinners all worth trying anywhere on this lake.

Catch rates are nowhere near as high as expected for this time of the year at either the Awahou or Hamurana. With the lake temperature fluctuating a few degrees right down to the 20 metre mark, there is nothing to push trout out of the depths into the cooler water of the streams. As well, the variable winds of the past few weeks continue to move the cold water plume to the left and right side of the mouth, causing a large pool of cold water with no demarcation point, where rainbow trout tend to hold, between the warm lake water and the spring water, at least not within reach of land based anglers. Trolling well off the drop-off between Hamurana and the Awahou mouths has been reasonably successful over the past few days.

The Waiteti Stream has had a large influx of trout over the past couple of weeks. With a lot of fish holding in the pool below the road bridge, they seem to be moving through fairly quickly. The next lot of rain should bring fresh rainbows into this stream again.

The Ngongotaha mouth has been reasonably quiet after dark, with few fish being caught this week. There are a few brown trout still lurking near the mouth and those with spinners should be able to cover a large area of water with their casting, so may do better than those fly fishing during the day.