Jigging for Trout

They say a change is as good as a holiday. A few months back, I felt myself walking around with what felt like a big dark cloud over my head. With a couple of big projects going on that were sucking up all my time and energy and a long run of bad weather stopping me doing charters and filming, a little bit of the winter blues started to set in.

I then got a phone call at what seemed like the perfect time from Mike Davis (one of the owners of the Rotorua Hunting & Fishing New Zealand store), who too was maxed out at work and in a similar space to me, so we both needed a break and a recharge. Mike said the fishing was good on the Rotorua lakes and there was a good weather window in the next few days. When he then said to come down for a few days of trout fishing, my immediate thought was, “Screw it, everything that’s going on right now can wait – I am going fishing.”

Now, I can safely say I am no trout specialist, so I was a little nervous to be fishing for trout in a way I have not done before alongside a bunch of guys that do this style of fishing day in day out. To make it worse, there was also the possibility of meeting and fishing beside local legend Pat Swift.

After talking to Mike about how they jig for trout and the tackle they use, we decided to use our saltwater Engetsu rods. With the super sensitive nibble tips these rods have, it seemed they would do the job, and this also meant we could utilise the rods we already owned.

For a reel, I decided to use my Shimano Curado DC. It is a bait caster style reel that, when spooled with Kairiki 10lb multi colour braid, we thought would be a great fit for our planned style of fishing. If this gear worked well, my Engetsu gear would suddenly become a multipurpose saltwater and freshwater setup. Mike had all the rigs/flies and weights, so I decided to stock up on these at his store once I got to Rotorua.

It did not take long to pack all the gear into the 4.5m Extreme, hook it up to the back of the Ford Ranger and set tracks for Rotorua.

With all the excitement of fishing in a new way and planning what tackle to use, I was already feeling a bit better. After another check of the forecast on the way down, which was still showing variable winds on the lake for the next three days, my excitement levels rose even further.

Arriving in Rotorua, I met up with Mike at the store. He rung around a few of the local guides so we could get an idea of where the fish were biting. We then went over the gear and stocked up on a good selection of Pat Swift’s jigging flies. These jigging flies are a work of art and as with all tackle, they come in a range of colour patterns and sizes. The rig is made up of a three-metre fluorocarbon leader with one of Pat’s flies tied to droppers at one metre intervals.

The trout jigging rig After talking with Mike about how to rig these up, he recommended having a light seven metre fluorocarbon leader tied to the braid, which connects to the swivel at the top of the jigging fly rig, making the total length exactly 10m (a very important part of the system as I would learn later). At the bottom end of the rig, we clipped a 2oz to 3oz sinker (the type with a swivel attached to the top of the sinker).

We now had the rods and reels ready and a tackle box full of jigging fly rigs ready to go, but it was not quite time to hit the water. I just needed to get my trout fishing license for the next three days (the friendly staff at the store helped me with this), and then we were off!

The launching and run out to the area we would be fishing was stressless. There were no tides or swells to worry about and as it was midweek, I think we were the only boat at the ramp. I was liking this more and more and feeling even more chilled out. After arriving at our first spot, the reality of fishing a new way set in and I felt like a student arriving at a new school.

At our first spot, we cruised around the general area scanning the sounder looking for structure, bait and fish (just as I do when hunting kingfish). Once we found schools of smelt on the sounder, we deployed the Minn Kota to hold us on the spot. It was already becoming apparent that the Garmin sounder was going to play a big part in our success over the next few days.

Instantly, we started marking trout at different heights in the water column. It was now time to drop our rigs to the depths below. I then realised why we had our total leader length at exactly 10 metres long. If the trout were holding at 30 metres, it was easy to drop to that depth – just let out the leader plus two colours of multi-colour braid (this changes colour every 10 metres).

The nice light Engetsu-style rods and reels were great to fish with. The baitcaster style reel allowed me to have all the controls in the palm of my hand, making it easy to adjust the height of my rig, and the sensitive nibble tip on the rods made it easy to subtly work the lure and detect bites.

The next three days pretty much consisted of this: two guys standing on a small boat on a flat calm lake, both staring at the sounder looking for trout, discussing what depth they were at and adjusting the depth of their jigging flies.

Staying on the fish
The Minn Kota also proved to be a great asset when targeting these trout as it enabled us to hold on the fish, bait or drop offs. If we were not marking fish, it would then allow us to quietly move around looking for better areas. Another advantage is that it gives you the option to control your speed. We would slowly move between spots and leave our rigs in the water, so we were fishing while we prospected.

Mike sure did teach me a lot about the techniques in those three days – a lot of finesse was required to hook up. Sometimes the fish would bite when the lures were sitting stationary, and at other times we would get more bites when the sinker was hard on the bottom. A little movement even worked better at points and a lot of fish bit when the lure/fly was moved up or dropped down slightly away from them. It sure was great to watch how Mike fished and this shortened my learning curve dramatically. We even got to spend some time sitting beside Pat Swift’s boat and watch first-hand how a true expert in this style of fishing goes about his trade.

Over the next three days, we boated and released a huge amount of fat rainbow trout. I was amazed as to the condition these plump fish were in. The trout in the Rotorua lakes are certainly well fed and with the massive amount of feed and bait these lakes have, you can understand how this style of fishing is so productive. I even managed to put a bunch of fish on ice to take back to Mangawhai to smoke up for the family, which was a true reward for a great few days on the water.

All in all, this trip was perfect in so many ways. I got to learn a new way of fishing, I got to fish in a new area in one of the most stunning parts of New Zealand, and I got to hang out with a good mate. But most importantly, I got a chance to clear my head, do something different and take some time out for me. It is important to sometimes self-check, be a little selfish and look after your brain. Thanks Mike for the phone call and inviting me into your part of New Zealand for three super chilled out days! And if you want to check out the videos of this trip, you can find them on my Journey of a Fisherman YouTube channel.
Adios,
Tony