Kai iwi lakes

In a land of spectacular trout fishing, where shining Taupo steelheads bound up snow chilled rivers, and monster Aniwhenua rainbows bust up anglers fishing nine weight gear, the remote, and sometimes overlooked, Kai Iwi lakes generate more fishing excitement than many a southern angler thinks they should. But once you’ve been to Kai Iwi and fished a glassy iridescent beach corner with bull rushes framing pine tree reflections and trout swirling in early morning light, you’ll understand why so much has been written about these lakes — and why they continue to attract trout anglers from Auckland to the Far North year after year.

The thing that sets the Kai Iwi lakes apart is that they are some of the oldest and largest dune lakes to be found in New Zealand with surprisingly deep water (thirty-five metres!) and exceptional water quality. There are no in-flowing streams of any size, only a surrounding porous countryside that soaks up rainwater and then filters it into the lake. As a result, the clarity in Taharoa, the largest lake, has to be seen to be believed. It makes for problematic fishing during daylight hours when the visual appearance of your terminal rig can be the deciding factor in whether you receive strikes or not. At other times it can be an advantage — stalking rainbows in gin-clear shallows becomes an exciting reality.

Indeed, much has been made of the need to wade at the lakes and fish far and deep. And this is certainly so on those rare busy days when boaties and trampers are spooking fish. But on quiet days, on those midweek days when you can have a whole lake to yourself, the fish can be found right amongst the reed beds, and it is the cover provided by the weed beds that stops you scaring the fish completely. A fly placed alongside the reeds can result in a feisty strike and a stirring battle with the fish leaping about and running strongly in tight, dangerous corners. The next well-hooked Kai Iwi lakes rainbow that secures its freedom by making a full blooded leap into the reeds won’t be the last. It’s frustrating, exciting, and altogether compelling fishing. Not surprisingly Kai Iwi is known as a float tubers’ paradise. In a float tube many more possibilities are opened up, especially on the smaller reed-rimmed Lake Kai Iwi where no power boats are allowed.

The other factor that sets the Kai Iwi lakes apart is that they are in Northland and, as such, are the jewels in the crown of Northland’s patchy trout fishing. There are a couple of reservoirs in Northland that are stocked with trout, and plenty of totara-shaded streams with lots of willing fish. But nothing else like Kai Iwi. Only ‘the lakes’ have produced fish up to four kilos on a consistent basis and only ‘the lakes’ has the type of environment that is so very fishable. Yours truly learnt to flyfish on these lakes and continues to be drawn back there, despite the fact that there are easier waters where the fish are not quite so blessed with the visual acuity provided by crystal clear H2O.

A good reason for returning recently was the annual Kai Iwi lakes trout fishing contest. Also, my brother had built nearby an appealing rental unit for the many holiday makers that visit the lakes in summer. Consequently, I wouldn’t have to be sleeping in the streets. Neither would the kids: the tribe had managed to adhere themselves to their car seats before I left; Mum remained at home. Fishing would be a haphazard child minding affair.

Not to worry; the lakes were still as I remembered them. My last trip had been a long six years ago, when I had suffered the indignities provided by the tortuous Tutamahoe Mountain Road. That was an experience. Now, with a relatively new and well formed sealed road extending all the way through the Waipoua Forest, I could travel to Kai Iwi in relative comfort and enjoy some of New Zealand’s most spectacular scenery along the way. If you have never travelled from the Bay of Islands, through Waimate North, through Kaikohe, past the amazing sand dunes and harbour entrance of the mighty Hokianga, through the forest of giants, and onto sparkling Kai Iwi, then I strongly recommend you do. It’s a trip equal to any I know of in New Zealand.

When you get to the lakes, fishing begins. Trout constantly patrol all parts of the shoreline so anywhere and everywhere can produce fish. Some spots do produce more fish than others do — but this can have more to do with the vagaries of the bottom contours bringing fish up and within reach of your fly than any special food-rich attribute of the location itself. Koura are a hot meal item for fish in these lakes, especially with fish from Taharoa, and the trout are very nice to eat as a result. A large bushy fly fished deep is therefore very prone to being consumed by a big aggressive fish seeking koura for its dinner. I like to move from spot to spot but the most successful flyfishers wade deep, fish deep, and stay put. Especially so during the contest. This popular contest can have more than one hundred anglers vying for space along the shore. Sitting tight on a good location is therefore imperative.

The fishing contest this year was slightly down on attendance (a wild storm on the day before may not have helped) but the fishing results were very good. In all over 80 anglers landed 150 fish. Many fish were lost. In between child minding duties yours truly managed around three hours fly fishing and lost three fish. The last one was a big two kilo Lake Waikare fish that I held hard (too much swoffing!), busting my light leader. Serves me right: I had run out of Seaguar invisible fluorocarbon trace material and had instead ‘invested’ in some cheap nylon alternative from a cut price store. But other anglers dropped fish too. One guy I talked to landed three on day one but dropped eight. Suddenly, I didn’t feel so bad.

A lot of anglers experienced trouble with the fish in Lake Waikare. These were big fish. An experimental non-stocking of the lake for four years had resulted in an explosion in the population of the introduced (and decidedly noxious) Gambusia (Mosquito fish) but no increase in the number of dwarf inanga that the non-stocking was supposed to aid. One year old rainbow fingerlings were therefore re-released into a lake overflowing with food. Within one year they were attaining weights in excess of two kilos! That is a remarkable growth rate and is strong evidence of the weight gain that trout can achieve in food-rich lakes. Naturally enough, Lake Waikere became a popular destination. The lake is small, however, and the increase in boating and shore fishing activity seemed to put the fish down as the contest progressed.

Despite the size of these Waikare fish, the word was that the winning fish would come from Taharoa. And so it proved — a hen of 2.3 kilos took line honours but was one of few fish from either Lake Taharoa or Lake Kai Iwi to match or better the Lake Waikare fish. Also, I was told that the fly fishers would take the larger fish, and this also proved true, but again, it was a close-run thing on Lake Waikare. The exciting prospect for next season is that these Lake Waikare rainbows are, like all the fish in the Kai Iwi system, ‘R-strain’ trout and therefore still have one or two year’s fast growth potential remaining before they mature. This raises the prospect of there being some seriously large trout in Waikare in years to come (who says trout don’t like mosquito fish!). Next year’s contest should therefore be a ripper. See you there.