Fishing Reports

Having just downloaded Google Earth, I was pleasantly surprised as to how valuable a tool it is for trout fishing.  A quick look at Lake Rerewhakaaitu showed me a number of areas where there is great potential for lake-edge spawning around this lake.  The opportunity to check out this information came last Saturday which I took advantage of.  To my surprise the 400 metre area that I had viewed in great detail, was in fact full of spawning fish. 

Fish that had not been disturbed by anglers and were not spooked by my fly line landing on the water, resulting in a very busy hour’s fishing. The reason that these fish were there is simply because they are not far from one of the liberation points on this lake and the shoreline provides everything that they need to spawn successfully.  I will be looking at the other areas that I picked up on from Google Earth over the next couple of weeks.  I tried a range of flies as I targeted these fish and found that size 10 and smaller flies that were in shades of brown or a very dark green worked far better than most of the standard flies. 

A few fish are still coming out of the stream mouths at Ruato Bay.  The weed has been a real problem this year so casting a short trace and a short line has been more effective.  There are still fish coming into the stream mouths, though they are becoming fewer in number. 

Blue Lake is producing good conditioned rainbows up to 2.5kg at the moment.  Red setters are working for shore based anglers while jigging in the deeper water is providing much sport for those fishing from a boat.  I have heard that fly fishing from a boat has also been successful. 

The Dump area of Lake Rotoiti is another spot where shoreline spawning happens.  Unfortunately a reduction in the natural spawning area through siltation has reduced the number of fish actively spawning in this area and has also compacted them to a point where only one or two hens are able to attempt spawning at any time. Competition is fierce. There was a fresh male and female rainbow back in the area used for a Redd on Sunday, so I spent a bit of time casting to them.

My fly of choice was a size 12 pheasant tail nymph with a bright orange bead at the head. Casting over the fish and letting the nymph settle I then started a very short sharp retrieve which resulted in hooking a rainbow jack well in excess of the magical 4.6kg mark.  Unfortunately the hook pulled, though it wasn’t long after that the hen took my offering and came to the net.  Once she was taken out of the water the other jacks started cruising around, accompanied by 4 others that appeared out of nowhere and after 20 minutes or so they all dispersed to parts unknown.  The lesson here is not to take the only hen in the area out. 

The Utuhina, Ngongotaha and Waiteti Streams benefited from the rain during the previous week and have had good runs through them.  The best fishing is early in the morning, though fish are being caught during the day.  Nymph/wet fly combinations are working well, especially if the trailing fly is a grey ghost or similar.  Wet lining a grey ghost has also worked well.

 A few fish have been hanging around the boat ramp at Kennedy’s Bay on Lake Rotoehu.  Any rain over the next couple of days should improve the fishing here and at other spots on the lake.  Smelt patterns have proven effective.  Over the next month or two fishing from or back to the many beaches on this lake will be a lot of fun as smelt come inshore to spawn and dragonfly nymphs start their journey from the water to the air so that they can change into their adult form.  Hundreds of dragonfly nymphs can be seen at times with many trout feeding voraciously on them.