December 2025
Taupō Fishery Focus.
By trout anglers for trout anglers.
Issue 44 – December 2025.
Welcome to this Festive edition of Taupō Fishery Focus. With so much on offer, the Central Plateau is a great destination for visitors over the Christmas and New Year break. A spot of trout fishing can be an excellent way to relax, either solo, with mates or with friends and family.
While the emphasis for many at this time of year is boat fishing, there is still plenty of exciting fishing to be had in rivers. Fly anglers can hunt hungry rainbows in stunning backcountry style locations or target large brown trout in lower reaches.
Biosecurity becomes a hot topic as temperatures climb, and visitor numbers increase. It is a good time to remind ourselves of the importance of protecting our lakes and rivers from invasive pest species such as gold clams. Check Clean Dry is a practical approach that everyone can apply. Details below.
Trout in the relatively shallow waters of Lake Otamangakau are vulnerable to summer heat. Anglers can play a role protecting these large trout by avoiding fishing when the temperature approaches 20 degrees C. Head over to our website and check out the water temperatures using the web-based tool – Lake Otamangakau: Lake fishing in the Taupō Trout Fishery region.
If you are fishing in Taupō over summer, please ensure you have purchased and are carrying a Taupō fishing licence before you start fishing. A range of licence options are available to suit a variety of needs. Our online licence store is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:
www.doc.govt.nz/fishinglicence
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to wish all anglers an enjoyable festive break. Have fun and stay safe on and around the water.
Tight lines.
James Barnett
Editor
Harvesting important for sustainability of Lake Taupō fishery.
Harvesting trout plays an important role in protecting the Taupō fishery, ensuring anglers have healthy, good quality trout to catch in the future. This is different from many wild trout fisheries due to the critical relationship between Lake Taupō trout and their primary food source, smelt.
The Lake Taupō catchment was described by former Taupō fishery scientist Dr Michel Dedual as ‘hyper-productive’. He explained how the many headwater streams offer almost perfect spawning conditions for trout, which generate very high juvenile recruitment. The result is huge numbers of young trout arriving in the lake each year looking for food. They quickly identify the smelt shoals and begin a pelagic life pursuing these small baitfish.
After spawning, a large proportion of trout will attempt to return to the lake. These spent fish may have survived the rigours of spawning but can be in very poor condition. They too are eager to feed and recover so will go in search of smelt.
We know 90% of rainbow trout in Lake Taupō feed primarily on smelt. These trout will target smelt most of their life – growing, maturing and recovering. If too many hungry trout are chasing a limited supply of smelt, then something has to give.
Angler harvest is the most important tool when it comes to controlling trout numbers. Reducing the overall number of trout ensures a plentiful supply of smelt for those trout that remain, allowing them to grow rapidly and maintain good condition. These are the trout anglers want to catch.
There are plenty of good trout to be found in Lake Taupō at present, but anglers have been reporting catching significant numbers of recovering fish. With lower lake productivity levels identified in the latest echo sounding survey, predation pressure on smelt could be high. The Waipa trap summary also makes interesting reading, with a clear recommendation at the end about the importance of harvesting this summer.
The message is clear. If you are fishing Lake Taupō over summer, please harvest trout. The legal bag limit at present is 6 trout, with a minimum size of 35 cm.
Waipa trap 2025 summary.
This was the 28th year of consecutive operation for the Waipa spawning trap and follows an upgrade over the summer where new timber and gabions were added to replace old worn-out material. This winter was the third wettest on record, behind the peaks seen in 1998 and 2022. As a result, the trap was out of operation on 9 separate occasions.
Size of the run.
Historically, the actual run used to be adjusted to account for fish missed during flood events but there were a lot of assumptions with the adjusted data. Instead, we have chosen to represent the actual number of trout trapped and also show the number of flood events that occurred each year to show the years where numbers of fish will likely have been missed.
The actual number of browns trapped this year was the third lowest on record at just 214 browns. The lowest number of browns was trapped during 2021 (95 browns) while the most browns (648) were trapped during 2001 (Fig.1).
For the same period, the number of rainbows trapped this year was the tenth lowest on record at 1,375. In comparison to recent years, it was comparable with years 2022 and 2023 but down considerably on the 2,131 rainbows trapped during 2024. 2005 was the peak season for rainbows with 4,628 trapped (Fig.2).
Fish size and quality.
Brown trout trapped during 2025 averaged 582mm and 2.4kg with an average condition factor of 45.9. In comparison to last season, the browns trapped this year were identical in terms of their length but 100g lighter and in slightly poorer condition overall.
Rainbows averaged 504mm and 1.45kg with an average condition factor of 40.8. Overall, these rainbows were again similar to those trapped last season in terms of their length but were 250g lighter on average this season. This was the lowest average weight recorded since 2018.
Both the brown and rainbow trout populations were broken down into 2cm length categories and the lengths plotted in Figures 3 & 4 to show the length distributions.
Condition Factors are graphed in Figure 5.
For context, average condition factor scores between 40 and 45 represents a trout population in average to good condition while anything above 45 indicates a population in excellent condition. Condition factors less than 40 generally reflect trout that are in poor condition. A slim kelt that had spawned and lost all condition may have a condition factor in the low as 20’s.
Towards the end of the trapping season, it was evident that some of the previous spawners had not recovered that well. With reasonable numbers of rainbows in the system as identified by both the trap run and escapement counts, it is important that anglers continue to harvest fish this summer to improve the overall size and quality of both browns and rainbows across the Taupō fishery.
Soft baits can attract a fine not just trout.
Soft bait lures are regulated in the Taupō fishing district, so anglers need to know what to look out for.
In recent years fishing tackle manufacturers have invested a considerable amount of research and development time into refining soft bait lures. Much of this work has revolved around adding chemical attractants to enhance their fish catching potential. While this may appear innocent enough, this change is very important, shifting the nature of the lure.
When a chemical attractant is added, it transforms a soft bait from a lure to a bait. Bait fishing for trout is prohibited throughout the Taupō Fishing District.
The ‘Anglers Notice for the Taupō Fishing District’ outlines the regulations anglers need to be familiar with when fishing for trout in any Taupō lakes or rivers.
Lake Taupō productivity, Spring 2025.
The late-spring 2025 echo-survey of Lake Taupō was completed on 5 November. The survey was calibrated using the most recent available calibration.
Overall, lake productivity was low (Figure 1), though comparable to that observed in spring 2024. The spatial distribution of productivity showed a pronounced south–north gradient, even more distinct than in November 2024 (Figure 2). The consistently lower productivity in spring compared with autumn is becoming more evident, although this contrasts somewhat with expectations based on classical lake turnover theory.
However, previous observations indicate that low spring productivity does not necessarily predict poor conditions later in the year. In fact, in 2024 a productive season followed what had initially appeared to be a poor spring.
The most productive areas in 2025 were located southwest of a line running from Whareroa to Motuoapa. Productivity in the remaining areas of the lake was uniformly low, with the notable exception of Whaiora Bay.
These patterns provide evidence of the important role that inflows from tributaries play in shaping the lake’s productivity distribution. Last winter was particularly wet, with frequent floods, which may have delivered substantial quantities of nutrient-rich material into the lake from upstream catchments.
Suspension bridge replacement.
Last month we notified the angling community about plans to replace two iconic suspension bridges over the Tongariro River. We are now pleased to provide further details.
The Major Jones Bridge and the Red Hut Bridge have both served anglers and other recreational users for seventy years, but time and floods have taken their toll, so the bridges need to be replaced.
Major Jones will be the first, and detailed plans are now in place. Visually the new suspension bridge will retain the traditional characteristics, but from a structural perspective will be more robust with additional safety enhancements, such as structural redundancy in the event of component failure. The new bridge will be located at a fresh site close to the current bridge, allowing anglers to use the original while construction work is underway. Works are scheduled to begin in late February 2026 and should take approximately four months to complete.
Once the new bridge has been successfully tested, approved and formally opened, the decommissioning process will begin for the old bridge. It is hoped the site will be tidied and rehabilitated by the end of June 2026.
Signage will be in place along the river trail prior to works, ensuring anglers and other users have accurate information about the replacement plans.
The Red Hut Bridge is a more complex project, requiring an increased span to cross the river, therefore planning is still underway. Further information will be made available later.
Blue lights on lake patrol.
Anglers can now easily identify Taupō fishery patrol vessels on waterways. Introduced this summer, blue flashing lights are now attached to the canopy of fishery vessels and will be used when approaching other vessels to carry out compliance checks.
The new approach is in response to feedback from anglers who reported difficulty differentiating fishery patrol vessels from other private vessels. As a result, time was often wasted as angler’s boats took evasive action to maintain space between vessels.
The change will offer clarity for anglers and reduce wasted time for both anglers and Fishery Rangers alike.
Check Clean Dry to protect your fishery over summer.
The rules for Check Clean Dry (CCD) have been updated. CCD is a proven way to protect our freshwaters from invasive aquatic pests. The arrival of gold clam in NZ has prompted an update to the steps. This is particularly relevant to boaties at this time of year.
As the names suggests, there are three steps:
- Check – look over your vessel and remove any weed or other material.
- Clean – there are various options but blasting the hull with tap water, dipping other wet gear in hot water or bleach solution, or freezing overnight are the key things to consider.
- Dry – allow the vessel and gear to totally dry, ideally in sunlight before using again.
Further details are covered in the handy video clip from MPI:
How to ‘Check Clean Dry’ your boat and gear – North Island – YouTube
Full details of the CCD steps and options can be found on the MPI website:
Check, Clean, Dry: preventing didymo and other pests | NZ Government
Classic video series.
It’s an oldie but a goodie – our ‘how-to’ video offers a great introduction to jigging. A perfect method for relaxed summer trout fishing sessions, equally effective from a boat or kayak, and a great way to introduce kids to trout fishing. As an added bonus you don’t need an early start – summer vibes!
Importantly, it is a highly effective way to target summer trout as they hunt smelt in deeper water.
Check out the video clip on YouTube>
Tongariro recreational releases for 2026.
Genesis have just shared their plans for recreational releases on the Tongariro River for 2026. This will increase flows in sections of the river:
- Saturday 31 January 2026, Poutū release 9:00-15:00, 30 cumecs
- Sunday, 1 February 2026, Rangipō release 8:00-16:00, 30 cumecs
- Saturday, 25 April 2026, Poutū release 9:00-15:00, 30 cumecs
- Sunday, 26 April 2026, Rangipō release 8:00-16:00, 30 cumecs
- Saturday, 19 September 2026, Poutū release 9:00-15:00, 30 cumecs
- Sunday, 20 September 2026, Rangipō release 8:00-16:00, 30 cumecs
Further information is available from Genesis – Rivers, lakes and rainfall | Genesis NZ
Tagging trout for fishing club.
The Taupō fishery team supported the 50th anniversary of the Taupō Fishing Club by contributing to a fishing competition. Specifically, our technical staff tagged and released 10 trout at various locations around the lake. Each fish carries a small metal tag at the base of the dorsal fin, with a unique code.
From a fishery management perspective, the motivation behind this tagging work is to support the local angling community and encourage participation in trout fishing. We hope anglers enjoy the competition and it encourages lapsed anglers to pick their rods again and maybe even encourage a new people to give trout fishing a go. The scientific value of monitoring the recapture of ten tagged fish in Lake Taupō is limited but it will be interesting to hear where and when they are caught.
Each tagged fish caught could earn a prize from the club – contact the Taupō Fishing Club for full details.