Fresh water fishing in Hawkes Bay

Gary Kemsley knows he’s raved about the fishing in Hawkes Bay before, but is happy to reveal more of its delightful treasures!

Some friends visited recently and were interested in looking at some of the area’s trout-fishing possibilities.

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In fact, they wanted to sample it all, so they could return at a later date to enjoy the trout fishing on offer. To make it an interesting challenge, they only had two-and-a-half days available. (I’ve spent 40 years fishing here and haven’t seen it all!)

As it turned out, they ended up visiting a dozen different rivers and fished seven of them – not a bad result given our time restraints.

I decided to start them off with the Tukituki River’s lower and middle reaches, where we caught several, mainly small fish.

I was disappointed, but my guests couldn’t believe it: they loved the river, the scenery, the easy access, and the fact that virtually no one else was fishing. (This experience followed a winter on the Hinemaiaia River in Taupo, where even finding a carpark was difficult, let alone a vacant pool!) Over the three days, we only saw three other fishermen, apart from a flurry of activity on the Mohaka on a Sunday afternoon. We fished some lovely water on the Tukituki, including the 100 Fish Pool, where we spotted one other fisherman in the distance.

The middle Tukituki’s runs and pools held fish, but they were reluctant to play, so we left them and moved on.

We looked at the Waipawa and Manganuku, but didn’t fish them, as I had an idea that the Tukipo might be holding some good fish after a fresh the week before.

We approached it in its middle reaches; the levels were up but the water was clear enough for spotting. So I drove to the end of the access track, and in the first pool I saw a 1.5kg rainbow. It was holding in the depths and ignored well-presented nymphs for a while before slipping in under some deadfall.

The high sun made spotting easy, and half the good pools held at least one fish. The slotted tracks of a red deer yearling led us up the river; she wasn’t far ahead, but stayed clear of us.

One pool had a small tributary joining it, which dropped in as a mini waterfall. The water aeration and cover from the bubbles created an ideal spot for the dominant fish in this part of the river. We stopped and looked, and looked some more, but could not see any fish in the pool.

I suggested waiting a while in case the fish was cruising his domain. We saw nothing, and as the water was so small, we were sure that there were no fish present. I suggested to my mate that he fish it anyway; it would be good practice for presentation into small waters, and there might be a small fish hiding in there anyway.

Two perfect casts went untouched and the third went into a branch of an overhanging tree. One good thing about fishing small waters is that you can go and get a fly if it gets hung up. We stood up and were preparing to wade in, when a big brown (for the size of this water) slid out from under the little fall’s curtain, swam downstream and disappeared under a fallen tree. That fish was probably the biggest – and the only – brown trout I have ever seen in this stream. It amazes me how some big fish can live in tiny waters.

We fished on for an hour and saw a few more fish, but they remained sullen in their pools. The fresh had been a decent one, so maybe they hadn’t settled from that yet.

The next morning I took my friends to the Maraetotara River. The stock in this river is liberated each year and are all brown trout, offering Hawkes Bay anglers with a different type of fishery to others nearby.

We parked at the bottom of the gorge and fished our way up to the waterfall a couple of kilometres upstream. This stretch of the stream has never produced many fish in a single trip, but is very scenic and challenging. It is a place where anglers need to be at the top of their game, with accurate casting, subtle approaches and sharp observation being essential.

The small river’s waters drop about fifty metres while running through the gorge, and include several plunge pools and deep rocky runs. All can hold fish at times, so we looked in all the likely spots as we scrambled our way through on a track that hadn’t seen any use for months. I expected fish all the way, but didn’t see one!

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The culmination of our journey was the scenic Maraetotara Falls. Here, the stream is wedged through a rocky gap, then plunges 10 to 12m into a large pool. As the largest pool on this part of the river, it’s a popular swimming spot in summer; I expected it to be holding hungry trout, but my mate’s nymph went unnoticed, and we left the river without a single fish-catching opportunity.

Back we went to the 100 Fish Pool on the Tukituki (was it just the name luring us back?). The pool was fished thoroughly from top to bottom with nymphs and streamers, but only one fish took hold – a 1.5kg rainbow that took to the air and threw the hook. Just as well we were just looking at fishing waters and not deadly serious about our catch rate!

The Ngaruroro River teased us with some big sea-runners in the lower reaches. We hooked one, which started a slugging match and ended with a broken line. Oh well, better to have hooked and lost than never hooked at all.

The Ngaruroro was a bit dirty, so with no more responses from the fish, we moved on to a small farm stream, a tributary of a bigger river (I can’t remember its name). This water has been a consistent producer, and is set between grassy banks with some native bush on the corner pools. On this occasion the water was far from clear, being tanin-stained, but it was clean.

The first run, usually a good one for me, was vacant of fish, while the Neverfail Pool above produced a savage take that was missed. Fortunately, the very next run gave up a 1.5kg rainbow – a welcome catch.

The next corner pool should have produced, too, but I only saw the tail of a huge eel poking out from under the bank at the pool’s tail end. Maybe that was the problem?

We fished up to the bottom of the gorge then headed back. The Neverfail saved the day, and its reputation, with a beautiful 2kg rainbow. We were soon back on the road again.

The next morning, we were met with rain. What to do? We fished a bit of the Tutaekuri, then shot up the Napier-Taupo Road and dropped into the Mohaka River above the road bridge. While some other anglers had the same idea, we sorted out a nice 100m stretch for ourselves. After fishing through that, the guys decided they had a good drive back to Auckland ahead and pulled the plug.

However, it had already been a great trip covering lots of ground and water, resulting in lines being wetted in seven rivers. Sure, we didn’t catch many fish, but that was never the idea. Instead, we visited some great waters, encountered some good fish, and saw a bit of Hawkes Bay’s wildlife. Such experiences keep me in the area, with many of the other local waterways able to provide similarly wonderful experiences, too!

   This article is reproduced with permission of   
New Zealand Fishing News

January 2018 - Gary Kemsley
Re-publishing elsewhere is prohibited

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