TRM have received lots of interesting questions and comment and invite your feedback on this increase in the Taupo daily limit – the first increase since 1991 from 3 to 6 per day. i.e.
Hi Ross
I enjoy your reports. I am a regular visitor to Turangi.
I was somewhat surprised to see that the new 6 per day bag limit also applies to Lake O.
I was wondering if you could undertake one of your local investigations to see if the effect of the new limit on Lake O can be predicted.
I always apply catch and release ( if trout tasted as good as snapper I might change) and find it odd to have a six bag limit in a trophy lake.
As indicated above, anglers have been asking about the reasons driving DOC’s (Taupo Fishery Managers) new regulations re doubling the daily limit from 3 to 6 since 1 July. Our feedback is about 50/50 for and against. Many are afraid that a clean out of the trout will result. Others complain they cannot carry six trout back to the car. Some have suggested 6 is not enough. The 2017 season has been so good that the increase is not needed. Or maybe DOC are much smarter than anglers give them credit for? Imagine a return to the good ol’ days when 10 pound trout were common…
A glance at historic catch records in the Taupo region is sobering to indicate what might happen if the balance between the number of trout and the amount of food available is increased in favour of the trout.
In South Island locations where there is surplus food from the salmon farms – albeit manufactured pellets from freezing works containing all manner of growth hormones, etc. – in the concrete canals around Twizel the evidence is plain to see.
So what happened back in the 1920’s when the trout had been released about a decade earlier. The anglers did not have DOC regulations and were more mercenary with tackle. The most common ‘lures’ were Devon Spinners consisting of a metal minnow with two or three treble hooks.
A typical record of an anglers catch for that period that of Charles C. Percival of England, fishing from 26 March to 25 May 1911. He caught 354 trout wth a total weight of 1376 kg. at an average of 3.9 kg. (8.5 pound) the largest being 6.8 kg.
Captain W. Shannon (of the 16th Queens Lancers) was one of the few ‘fly fishermen’ at the time and in one day he caught 24 trout weighing 98kg. All the trout were caught around the Hut Pool – which was located about the end of Herekiekie Street in what is usually referred to now as the lower Bridge Pool.
By 1912 the bubble had burst and the fishery deteriorated rapidly until smelt were introduced.In the early 1920’s the the fishery made a remarkable recovery and by 1924 the size and condition of the trout exceeded the peak of 1910 when the average weight was 3.74 kg.
If the Taupo fishery ever returned to those BIG trophy trout days then it should result in a remarkable increase in tourist fishing numbers. Everyone will need to invest in salmon rods.
The largest recorded rainbow trout caught on a rod was taken from the mouth of the Waitahanui River in 1924. It weighed 12.5 kg.
The largest brown trout was speared at Kuratau and weighed in at 23 kg. (50 pound)
Looking for some feedback? TRM have received many comments on the new daily limit. What do you think?
Following history chart of Daily Bag Limits copied from the Trout Centre…