Freshwater Fishing in Whangarei
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Freshwater Fishing
Forum Name: Freshwater Fission
Forum Description: The place to discuss all matters related to freshwater fishing!
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=135797
Printed Date: 01 Oct 2023 at 11:30am
Topic: Freshwater Fishing in Whangarei
Posted By: SundanceKid
Subject: Freshwater Fishing in Whangarei
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2021 at 2:19pm
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Hello, Can anyone tell me some information about fishing / types of fish if any in the following lakes: Wilson's Dam (near big roundabout of SH1 to Marsden Pt) Whau Valley Dam (Whangarei's water supply) Lake Ora (Kamo, Whangarei) OR: Any other dam/lake/stream in Whangarei you may know where I can catch Trout or Carp. Thanks peeps! ------------- My wife says she'll leave me if I go fishing again - HELL, I"LL MISS HER! |
Replies:
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2021 at 5:09pm
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I've visited Wilson's Dam once and Whau Valley Dam once. Both were very low, muddy and choked with weed. Wilson's had a sign about toxic algae. Uninspiring to say the least. I've seen Lake Ora on the maps, but haven't been there. We are a bit short on freshwater fishing. Don't say the "C" word in these parts, you'll cause mass hysteria  If you find anything out, please share. I'd like a nice, safe spot to take my young son fishing when it's too windy on the coast.
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Posted By: Jofly
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2021 at 7:26pm
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Hopefully some useful info here: https://fishandgame.org.nz/northland/freshwater-fishing-in-new-zealand/fishing-locations-and-access/" rel="nofollow - https://fishandgame.org.nz/northland/freshwater-fishing-in-new-zealand/fishing-locations-and-access/ |
Posted By: Jofly
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2021 at 7:28pm
| Also try nztroutapp.com and nicefish.co.nz |
Posted By: Tamaterau
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2021 at 7:54am
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Following with interest…. I have read about the streams with fish up here too but never actually heard of anyone fishing them. Anyone know if there are still trout about up here? I do fish for snapper in the harbour and catch plenty on the fly so there is that… |
Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2021 at 1:49pm
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Plenty of trout in the rivers that are all part of the Hikurangi swamp watershed. Most fish are small, but many of the rivers are not big. Small jumping rainbows in pools that have weed banks and sunken timber makes for interesting fishing. There is occasional larger browns too... if you know where to look. Also lots of catfish in the swamp itself and plenty of big parore in the estuarine reaches of the Hatea river. The latter might be salty estuarine water but it's still very much river fishing. There are perch, tench, carp and rudd scattered about Northland too, but most are considered pests. Not sure that DOC wants anyone fishing for them. So yeah, Northland freshwater fishing is a bit limited, but interesting enough when you do find it. |
Posted By: Tamaterau
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2021 at 2:51pm
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Cool, will go looking this season. I did all my fly fishing in the south island back country or on the lakes so guessing I have some learning to do in small swampy streams up here. Any clues on what dries or nymphs to start with? Also are the fish reasonably plentiful or like one or two every mile? Small bows are super fun in tight water. |
Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2021 at 3:06pm
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I fish weighted wet flies as it is the best way of dealing with sunken timber. Basically fly first. Weighted wet fly fished on a floating line with leader length adjusted to suit the terrain. There are plenty of rainbows in the swamp and good numbers in the lower part of the Wairau near whangarei, even in water that can be brown, warm and swampy. Upstream it's more erratic. Sometimes it's good, at other times it can be hard to find the fish. Golden flanked browns hiding in amongst sunken trees are a special challenge. Head to the Puketi forest if you want good nymphing water. Again, not big fish, but productive runs to slide a nymph down. |
Posted By: Tamaterau
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2021 at 4:36pm
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Thank you so much for the info! Worth a walk then. When you say wets do you mean streamers/ woolly buggers of wee wets? Will be so nice to chase trout again. |
Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2021 at 5:42pm
Small wooly bugger type flies with saltwater dumbbell eyes  Inverted position helps the fly to bump over snags.
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Posted By: Fishb8
Date Posted: 23 Aug 2021 at 12:48pm
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Where are some steams in the Puketi forest? Heading up to Whangaroa early December for sea fishing so might take a 4 wt fly rod for a look. ------------- Be yourself; everyone else is already taken |
Posted By: bazza
Date Posted: 23 Aug 2021 at 3:06pm
In Dec the water temp of those streams could be rather high & if so fish will either be at best lethargic or have moved well upstream in search of cooler spring water. Also it is generally recognised the fish population in nthland streams often suffer from relatively extensive poaching. I used to travel around Northland regularly on business & spent a lot of time trying to suss out various locations but finally decided was far more productive x 10 putting the time in to fishing south of Auckland. Kaiiwi lakes could be moderately kind at times but it is no longer being stocked so fish numbers are well down. Stream wise had best results at a far sized bush clad stream close to Kawakawa one day, however on subsequent repeated forays ... nothing. IMO you would be far better off saltwater land based fly or spin fishing. ------------- When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!! |
Fishb8 wrote:Posted By: FishMan
Date Posted: 23 Aug 2021 at 4:16pm
Waipapa stream flows right through the middle of it. Forest Pools access road. Walk well upstream in December to get away from the swimmers. Don't leave any valuables in your car. |
Posted By: Fishb8
Date Posted: 26 Aug 2021 at 9:32am
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Cheers for that.Will have a look at that👍 ------------- Be yourself; everyone else is already taken |
Posted By: Reel Deal
Date Posted: 26 Aug 2021 at 10:54am
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looking forward to exploring also. Does anyone know where I can get fresh water crayfish. Planning on stocking some paddock and bush pools around the house. ------------- The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb |
Posted By: Reel Deal
Date Posted: 26 Aug 2021 at 10:55am
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sorry in the whangarei area. Believe their are a few native varieties. Unfortunately Northland has one of the smaller types but still would be great to breed some. ------------- The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb |
Posted By: Reel Deal
Date Posted: 06 Sep 2021 at 12:38pm
cancel that. I just walked up a tiny stream in some bush on my property and surprisingly there is a population already here.  ------------- The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb |
Posted By: Fishb8
Date Posted: 07 Sep 2021 at 3:37pm
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------------- Be yourself; everyone else is already taken |
Posted By: Tamaterau
Date Posted: 01 Oct 2021 at 3:35pm
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So I found out today that Northland trout do exist. Went for a walk up a locall river. It was a little coloured to spot fish, a kind of emerald green, after recent rain but some lovely water. I started out nymphing the slots and foam lines around undercuts but nothing really doing. The pools were really slow and as mentioned full of punga logs, so a change in approach and I fished back down with a olive grizzly bugger and in the first pool had this guy on. Small but very lively and beautiful coloured fish.  So definitely not a South island back country experience, but there are trout and they take flies quite readily. Checked out the dam on the way back into town and there was a rise on to Chironimids, couldn't tempt them but saw 5-6 trout taking the emergers. One was atleast 5lb. Will tie up some better imitiations and get back up there. So it is worth taking a stroll along the rivers and having not fly fished in the fresh since I moved north nearly a decade ago I'll be doing a bit more exploring around these parts for sure.
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Posted By: Reel Deal
Date Posted: 01 Oct 2021 at 7:30pm
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that river looks mint your adventures are very interesting. Thanks for sharing ------------- The gods do not subtract from the allotted span of men's lives the hours spent on fishing - Assyrian Proverb |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 01 Oct 2021 at 10:51pm
| Yes, excellent! Well done Tamaterau! |
Posted By: Fishb8
Date Posted: 03 Oct 2021 at 9:56pm
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Great stuff for sharing - thanks👍
------------- Be yourself; everyone else is already taken |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2022 at 12:27am
Hey Tamaterau, I've been doing my own exploring. Have a feeling I ended up in that exact same spot and probably caught the same fish too!  |
Posted By: Tamaterau
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2022 at 8:34am
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Well done! Was that recently? Would have thought the water was a bit warm by now. Have found a few fisheries up here now and looking forward to autumn. |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2022 at 1:42pm
Day before yesterday. Water was warm enough for me to wade without waders, so pretty bloody warm! Water levels were a lot lower than in your photo though. Have you found any coarse fish? Cheers
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Posted By: Tamaterau
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2022 at 4:05pm
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I’ve tried to find perch but haven’t yet. Have caught trout out of 7 streams in 3 systems including a couple of browns. Nothing worth raving about but great that they are still there. The best water in the stream you caught a fish in is further up, they were taking off the top in November. |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2022 at 8:19pm
Cheers. Someone was telling me about perch in lakes at South and North Head. It aroused a little interest, but a long way to go for a perch.
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Posted By: Tamaterau
Date Posted: 23 Jan 2022 at 8:24pm
| Plenty of sea perch (snapper) in the harbour now anyway and they are good fun on a six weight. Some are quite large too. So haven’t bothered heading across to poutu. |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 18 Oct 2022 at 5:04pm
| I visited Lake Ora today just for a look. Nice spot, but muddy water. Having seen the place and looked on WAMS maps, doesn't look like there is any legal public access to the water. Maybe the landowners don't mind, maybe they do! Could go door knocking I suppose. Anyone had any experiences there? |
Posted By: Stickybunz
Date Posted: 15 Apr 2023 at 10:48pm
| Hey was this whau valley dam? |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 17 Apr 2023 at 3:26pm
No.
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Posted By: Stickybunz
Date Posted: 17 Apr 2023 at 3:56pm
| Where were these pictures taken? Looks familiar! |
Posted By: Stickybunz
Date Posted: 17 Apr 2023 at 3:56pm
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Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 17 Apr 2023 at 5:58pm
| Wairua catchment. |
Posted By: Stickybunz
Date Posted: 17 Apr 2023 at 6:45pm
| Oh really where abouts I’ve been trying to find places to go any give a go been struggling to find some trout :( |