Had an evenful day at Rotoiti chasing mudfish around the Lake on the jig (flies).

Hi there - just a Day trip for me from North Harbour , Akld . Long day for sure but worth it most of the time.

Nice looking fish Redfinger - sounds a bit tricky to catch.  Me I have been chasing Snapper in the Manukau.

Just back from 2.5 days at Rotoiti.  Fished from day light until dark but not at night.    Sore bum material   Found fishing a lot harder than a month ago with very few fish around the Pipe and along the Nothern Cliffs    Eventually we found reasonable concentrations off the willows before the turnoff to the Pipe.    We drifted from 30m into the shallows to about 17 m and caught  fish regularly around the 20m mark.   In fact most of them were holding at 20m.   Huge smelt were so common that we often  snagged up on all three hooks.    I had several monsters that were actually hooked in the mouth.     While we did not catch the number of the previous trip all the fish were big ( no 2 year olds) around 5lbs with a couple over 7lbs and one just under 8lbs.    Outstanding quality fish when compared to Taupo.

Yes, Once we found fish at the eastern end we came back to that area after twice exploring the northern cliffs without finding much fish sign.    As they say :"Never leave fish to find fish".    No point in paddling for miles exploring new areas when we only had a couple of days and a bit.    The rangers at the hatchery told me that some big fish are coming out of Okataina but Tarawera has been a bit sad with smelt only half the size of the Rotoiti smelts.   I could not believe when I caught a few big smelt of around 4 inches with a hook in their  mouths, hooked from the inside!   Not just snagged somewhere on the body.    Interestingly we never caught a trout on a snagged smelt.

A few photos from our last trip to Rotoiti.

Brent Sharp's video of our recent Rotoiti trip. 

Nice one Yoti, I had a bit of a different weekend but still a couple of nice fish.

Sat morning fished down by the Willows at Hinehopu jigging, 1 nice 6lber and 3 smaller 3lb models between 7am - 9am.

Had a crack back there middle of the day and also tried Ruato Point for a couple of hours - not a touch.

Went out again for an hour in the evening and got another small one.

Sunday morning decided to focus around the Ruato Bay point area and got 1 nice fish just under 7lb, but that was it for 2 hours.

Where were you fishing Yoti?

RC17 wrote: Nice one Yoti, I had a bit of a different weekend but still a couple of nice fish. Sat morning fished down by the Willows at Hinehopu jigging, 1 nice 6lber and 3 smaller 3lb models between 7am - 9am. Had a crack back there middle of the day and also tried Ruato Point for a couple of hours - not a touch. Went out again for an hour in the evening and got another small one. Sunday morning decided to focus around the Ruato Bay point area and got 1 nice fish just under 7lb, but that was it for 2 hours. Where were you fishing Yoti?

Fished around Gisborne Point - Ruato. Fish were spread out over deep water right out to 40 meters, but holding around 22 to 25 meters deep.  Best fishing late morning until midday.Saturday morning was best, Sunday slower. You probably saw us Trailersailer with no mast on, easier fishing without it

I was out today on Rotoiti. Nice light northerly and overcast.