(Specially for MAF – Cattle Rustlers Pool yesterday – looking upriver to Barlows Reach on the mighty Tongariro River)
It is raining! – not just cold wispy misty dampness but real wet stuff. It rained all last night. The ground is so dry it will absorb the first few hours. But now we have run off going into the river and colouring it up and giving thousands of fat trout the message – that now is the ideal time to start their spawning runs.
You have to hand it to Chris Young of the Auckland Fly Fishing Club. Months ago he booked the club in for a weekend’s trout fishing for this weekend. Even way back then I suggested it would help if he had a word to the big fella upstairs and arrange some wet stuff a day or two before he gets here. No problem – he must have had a chat with someone as it rained all last night and continues today.
So I am posting the weekend report now. For Saturday & Sunday the fishing is superb with fresh run silver bullets being landed everywhere. But naturally TRM are booked out….
Late Cancellation (must have been snow bunnies!) two bedroom family unit is now available – double and single bed in main bedroom, 2 singles in second bedroom, (sky TV to watch Dingo Deans beat the Boks?) less than $40 per person per night @ $155/night. But you will need to be quick – phone SWMBO 07 386 8555)
(Images below of the upper upper Tongariro River below Tree Trunk Gorge – taken yesterday about 20 km south of Turangi – stunning scenery.)
Moulding DoC’s Management Plan…
Meanwhile for those still pondering about the future of the Taupo fishery – following, copied and pasted from Sporting Life’s website report, should be of interest to all fishos and give you something to think about….
(Above & Below) These graphs I have taken from the Department of Conservation December 2009 Target Taupo Magazine (above) and (below) the recent issue of Target Taupo Magazine July 2010. The graph above is taken from trap data at Lake Otamangakau and the graph below is taken from the trap data from the Waiapa Trap on the Tongariro River. What does this tell us? Quite a lot actually. The Fishery Management Plan is looking at the next 10 years and may require submissions from anglers as to the direction the fishery may need to go so your input may be vital. Long term anglers know that the size of fish have decreased over the years (apparently) but none can actually lay a finger as to why. These graphs are a very good indication of this. The culprit is the fish numbers. The Taupo Fishery is a huge production fishery and as a result the trout have to compete for the food supply. A way of keeping the fish in top condition and in good size and weight is to harvest the fishery (read latest issue of Fish and Game Magazine Issue 69 Page 36 titled – Elitist Rubbish) which is a very good article about catch and release in this fishery. The trouble is we haven’t been keeping enough !! Over the course of the fishery (120 years now) this increase and numbers has accounted for about three or four big declines in the fishery (1913ish, 1925ish, 1960ish and present – supposedly). To me it is a balance that needs to be constantly monitored. The culprits I believe are the rainbows. They seem to be voracious breeders and in turn will eat out the food supply. I believe the 3 bag limit is not enough of a harvest, and catch and release has been too prevalent here (need to understand that you may definitely have to catch and release in the backcountry or low population areas). Anyway the other thing that these graphs tell me is that the browns seem to be a constant factor. Their populations do not seem to fluctuate like the rainbows. As a result I think that bag limits need to be looked at for the Taupo Fishery. This may depend on A. The number of licence sales and popularity of the fishery (ie in the 1980′s the fishery was popular with apparently 83,000 season licence holders and the bag limit was 8 fish a day and nearly everyone kept those fish in those days and anglers fondly remember the size and condition of fish as being very good) versus today – not too sure what the annual sale of licences are but with a 3 bag limit and most people returning their fish, and B. Natural events such as the eruption and major floods etc. I think the browns possibly need a bit of protecting and the rainbows a lot more harvesting, so would a bag limit for the likes of Lake Otamanakau and Taupo be better at 1 brown per day and 5 rainbows ? for example???
If you look at the graph below showing the huge numbers of fish going through the trap especially for the 2004 year then this a few years later would have probably have the effect of producing smaller poorer conditioned fish for 2007-2009 (similar to what happened in the 1960′s). The good thing is the downward trend of numbers through the trap for 2008 / 09 which will probably bring us back down to the average size and condition of fish and is an indicator in the improvement of the quality of the fish anglers are now experiencing. So, will things stay good? bearing in mind we had an exceptional summer and a river with huge amounts of nymph life to give the juveniles a great start plus the ability to mend a lot of the kelts from the spawn of last year? My theory is if we don’t get major floods in the Spring to wipe out the slab / kelts and to destroy the Redds to knock back the juveniles then will we start to experience the decline again? Bearing in mind this data is taken from a small tributary on the upper Tongariro that is abut a quarter of the size of the Tongariro not to mention the other 25+ spawning streams that enter Lake Taupo!!!!
Should we also look to introduce and upper size limit for fish as well? Meaning anything over a certain size should be put back? to protect the better fish to try and increase their numbers. This may need to be done for only two or three years to get the numbers up a bit then you could relax this regulation? I think that it takes two to three years for an effect to show up in the fishery so it would need to be done for at least two years to start to notice any change.
Do we need genetic introduction or would simply thinning the population out to allow the food supply to expand thus the existing fish could gorge and grow big be enough? I believe the trout already have the make-up to get big but this depends on the amount of food available to them.
