Fellas and Fellesses,

trip into Waikaremoana on my return to NZ.  I am planning a combined tramping, hunting and fishing trip for my family (wife, and three kids under 6) and a couple of mates on my return to NZ.

I am thinking of towing in a boat - Surtees 5.5.  Using the boat as a taxi in/out and around as well as a fishing platform/carcass recovery vehicle.   Kids are a bit young for the whole walk.

Has anyone towed a boat in there (I would approach from the Rotorua end of the road)?  I am trying to figure out if it is reasonable, as the road is not good - or if I should just buy a ~4m collapsable inflatable.

Any boats for charter in there already? 

Also looking for advice on what areas are best for hunting/fishing and gernal advice from anyone who has done this sort of thing or knows Waikaremoana.

Cheers,

The best guy to talk to that way is a chap called Kerry Simpson at Big Bush Campground near Waikaremoana. He's a great guy, has good accomodation, hires boats, runs a ferry service , offers trout guiding, runs a great bar and his restaurant serves bloody marvellous tucker and he is legendary for his breakfasts. They are wonderful people and well worth a visit. I have stayed with them several times and he is in the know whether, hunting, fishing, tramping, kayaking, or just blissing out with a few coldies and some salad rolls. If you come in from Rotorua with a 5.5 metre boat you'll have about 110 k's of the worlds gnarliest and roughest ( esp. at this time of the year) roads. But a damn fine boat for the lake. It gets fung busy over XmasNY though. FWIW.

Vig

Cheers fellas.

Good steers for more info.  I woin't go xmas/new year.   We have a spot we tend to hang out at then that has beautiful beaches, few people, free accommodation and cold ice cream.  I am not big on crowds.

I will definately check out the boats already in there, but we might combine the whole deal with chasing some tuna in BOP.

Worth going out via Gissy?

FWIW?  I am a bit retarded when it comes to chat shorthand.  I can't understand half of what Jo says!

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I strongly advise against using the road from Rotorua if you are towing a boat. the big storms of the past few monmths really knocked that area around and you will, at the very least, have some big delays getting through, if you can.

Even going around the hawkes bay way will probably be faster.

Cicada,

It sounds as if you have been in there recently.

Is it OK coming in from the other end?

Where is a good spot to launch (and safely park car and trailer)?

Do you fish the lake too?  How does it fish - I imagine not many people fish it, too remote for most?

Do you hunt there too?

Hi Matt

I have been fortunate enough to have been going to Waikaremoana for the past 25 years on a very regular basis. Like all fishing there are many secrets to sucussfully fishing this place. My best catch was getting married at the

Te Puna hut when it was still there. If you stay at the camp ground look for the following people at Xmas - A green 6m tin fryan with a 150hp 4 stroke yamaha. This guy camps opposite the kitchen and a couple of sites from the toilet with his wife and teenage kids. He can find the the fish every year even when no one else does. The other guy to look for will be trolling from a little white yacht with no sails. He fishes in shallow water in close to the shore. He uses smelt flies

If you are fishing from the camp ground start at 25ft deep. The two spots to troll are  - from the river mouth around the bay / the far side of home bay is best. The other spot is around the shallow water off the grass flats about 700 meters from the boat ramp heading up the lake / the road side of the lake. Keep heading up the lake and you will find a suken tree log sticking out of the water. This was the hot spot last christmas. Dont be tempted to fish to deep - these same spots also fish will at 45 ft deep if the lake is high and the water warm. You can expect to catch rainbows between 2 - 3 lb and the odd brown. 2 - 4 fish an hour in the evening

As for fly casting for browns use a floating line and Mrs Simpson size 8 - 10. Find a sheltered spot where you can easily see the fish cruising a flat sandy bottom along the shoreline. You will need lots of patients and skill.

To get the best out of your boat head up the lake through the passage and under the bluff. There are some great areas to pitch the tent just look around and find a sheltered spot / be aware the wind can get very nasty so a sheltered spot is recommended. You will hear Kiwis during the night. There are some great spots to fly fish from the shores but the hot spots can only be explained via a good map. There is great trolling around the shallow bays - once again 25 ft or 45 ft are the magical depths.

Best trolling colors are pink, purple, skeletor - white with black skeleton. I only bother fishing the change of light during this time of year.

As for hunting - we found more deer and pigs there last year than an other. All the tourists hunt around the lake edge - the deer are there in small numbers but spookey. Imagine a area with big rooting and tracks everwhere. The are there but you will need to put in a 6 - 12 hour walk to find the animals. The internet is not a good place to tell you where to hunt. The locals have a few secret places - head back to rotorua from the lake - At the top of the summit and any river head away from the lake - once you are 1 hour off the road keep your eyes open.

The road is not easy but can be done - make sure the trailer is in top nick and you have a good 4x4. My bro in law comes in from napier when coming from Wlg with a 20fter.

The other place to camp is Mokau. There are no facilities. I prefer the camp ground or heading up the lack and finding a spot to meself. There are no facilities, but you know you have gone to a remote part of the country.

Hope this helps - the place is magic

I towed my 6.2m tinny (and wife) into Waikaremoana from Auckland a few January's ago on the back of my 6 cyl Holden. We chose to go via Waihau Bay (East Cape area) and spend a couple of days chasing Tuna, then down to Gisborne for a day via the Gis - Opotoki gorge, then into Mokau to launch the boat and set up a base camp next to some friends. Main comments would be:

- great trip, but would launch the boat at the campground next time. The Mokau access was dodgy (for towing) if it rained, and we in fact had to pull the trailer out of the camp without the boat. No problem as we just motored the boat around to the Campsite to put it back on the trailer.

- I found other drivers on that road didn't always allow for fella's towing boats, and we had 2 very narrow escapes in approx 30 mins of towing between the Campground and Mokau. Personally I wouldn't do the tow from the Rotorua end purely for the reason that other road users make it too dangerous.

- Jan fishing can be hard (Spring/Autumn is much easier), so unless some of the excellent sounding advice above works out, don't budget on having trout for dinner every night.

- Next time I am there with a boat, I will be doing as suggested somewhere above and setting up camp in one of the beautiful bays 'through the Narrows' somewhere. Just beware that the track runs close to the shore in places and some places that look quiet and private, may not be as private as you think they are.

- I love Waihau Bay and the camp ground there, and would definitely do the trip via Waihau next time as well. It's nice to spend a few days chasing the Tuna, Kingi's etc, before tackling the slimy bu--ers in the lake.

Overall, fantastic place to go, fishing will possibly be harder than you might think, but I would seriously look at minimising the amount of towing over that road.