Guides reports

Local Fishing Reports by Rob Henderson – 

Fishing Guide for Riverstone Backpackers  (Pinched [& edited?] from their website)

Fighting Big Fat Wanganui Rainbows

Extreme Heat & Fast Fishing

A recent trip shows that there will be some big Wanganui Rainbows to be caught throughout the remainder of the summer. As the day heated up to what would have been about 30 degrees in the valley the fish really came on the bite, and at one stage about every third cast was getting nailed. Most fish were between 3-4lb but there was a few that were between 4-6lb, which is considerably better than I have seen for the past couple of years at a similar time of the year. With an obvious abundance of food available they can only get fatter over the next few months.

 

Although the fishing was running hot at times a thoughtful and careful approach was still necessary. The fish were concentrated in the faster water and often in places where they were unlikely to have been harassed by other anglers.

If you haven’t fished the Wanganui River before and are looking for a fly fishing guide to get onto some of these big Wanganui Rainbows, the next few months will present a good opportunity to get into these large hard fighting fish.

LAKE ROTOITI & LAKE OKATAINA

Lake Rotoiti Harling

End of Season Early Morning Action

Toward the end of the June Lake Okataina and Lake Rotoiti harling can produce very large high quality Rainbow trout, so before these lakes close to boat fishing some hot fishing can be expected. These are hatchery fish selectively bred for fast growth and then released back into the wild. In autumn when the temperature drops they congregate near release points and become easier for anglers to target.

This year I was lucky enough to fit in one two day trip to Lake Okataina with Mark and John and two day trips on Lake Rotoiti harling with Steve. On Lake Okataina – a lake I have fished often and believe I know well – we found the fishing fairly hard, with only a couple of fish landed, the best of which is the coloured up Jack you can see in the images below.

 
 
More importantly John’s highly customised ‘tinny’ performed like a champ, and I believe even further modifications have now been made! I have always been fascinated by how small boats can be customised and adapted to get the absolute most out of limited space and this is a fine example, this boat is a machine that all fish will now fear!

Both days on Lake Rotoiti harling dawned fairly calm with the wind getting up during the day, though never enough that we couldn’t find somewhere relatively calm to jig as the shallow water fishing slowed during the day. The fishing was impressive, with about a dozen fish hooked or landed ranging from 5lb to the 9.3lb hen taken by Captain Steve on dusk. The best fishing was in very shallow water at change of light. Harling is a very

relaxing way to fish and a great way to introduce newbies to handling a fly rod and playing a fish without having to learn to cast at the same time.

This trip report couldn’t go by without some mention of Steve’s boat, a Haines Signature 485sf with a Minn Koda electric motor – perfect for trout jigging and inshore salt water fly fishing around the harbours of the upper North Island. The potential for an electric motor with GPS to fix you over a position and keep you there is a potential game changer for jigging. Its a quality meticulously planned setup which really deserved some better boat images, so that I guess will require another adventure when the season opens in October.

Rivers Filling Up With Rainbows

Tongariro Spawning Runs Well Underway

 
 
 

Fish are spread throughout the river and with back to back fronts and heavy rain once more rolling across the Central Plateau its likely the quality fishing will continue. Each drop of the barometer brings another run, though fish can often move fast and can be easily missed. Time on the water looking for these schools is eventually rewarded, though over the next couple of months fish will tend to build up and hold more than they have earlier in the season.

Over the past few years September and October have been the best months for the winter runs, so perhaps the best fishing is still to come. Then again people who have fished a lot this season are saying there have been more earlier runs than recent years. Personally I am betting on the next couple of months being sensational.

Many anglers disappear from the Taupo tributaries at this time of year as back country waters open and with the warmer weather other activities compete for our leisure time. That will be great as at times this season the fish have been so plentiful that the greater challenge to success has been avoiding other anglers!

 

Small Stream Afternoon Rewards

Small Stream Afternoon Rewards

Being First On The Water Is Not Always Important

Often being first through the water is especially import if you are chasing fresh run rainbows in winter. This means early starts, sometimes frozen rods guides and the need for a hot drink by mid morning to thaw out! While this effort is usually worth it, sometimes – particularly in high water conditions – its not necessary and can even be counterproductive; because as as the day progresses, the water levels drop and the sun comes out the visibility of the fish and you catch rate can often improve.

The Lake Taupo catchment is blessed with a number of smaller streams, which seem to remain a mystery to many… too many snags, limited access, no back-cast etc are often the usual excuses. That’s a pity as there really is very little mystery to fishing these streams and nothing to fear. What is needed is a sense of exploration to find good water and access and an ability to understand water levels and time your expeditions accordingly.

 
 
 

Hinemaiaia Runs Slowing

Trout Spawning in Shallows

The Hinemaiaia Stream at Hatepe Village has a well deserved reputation for being one of the better early season rivers for fresh run rainbow trout. Especially in recent years this has meant insane amounts of anglers trying to fit into limited space, such that avoiding other anglers becomes more important to your success than finding and deceiving a few trout!

Having said this though it seems like being first on the water although often very helpful, is not perhaps as vital as some rivers because in low barometer conditions the fish sometimes seem to keep moving through during the day. A pool or run that may have been empty earlier can often have fresh undisturbed fish later in the day.

The fishing hasn’t been too bad

by Mike Hughes
The fishing hasn’t been to bad since the last report. Its that time of year when there’s a real mix of fish in the Tongariro and you never know what you’ll hook into from one cast to the next.

Post spawning fish are slowly making their way back to the lake and with fish still moving up, this combination of hungry kelts and fresh runners makes it unlikely you’ll blank at the moment.

I fished with Lesley and Chris earlier this week and we caught fish in most of the spots we tried, particularly the stretch between Boulder Reach and The Fan Pool.

When conditions have allowed there have been a few mayfly hatching, although most days this week its been a little too windy. But there are plenty of caddis larvae in amongst the rocks and stones of the riverbed. In fact there are so many in some stretches I’ve occasionally been hooking them off the bottom when I’ve been nymphing.

Some of the most common in the Tongariro are Green Sedge larvae.

The posh name is Rhyacophila or “Rhyac’s” for short, but green caddis will do for me. They’re a free swimming variety {no case} and probably the most easily recognizable of all the caddis.

Green caddis prefer cool fast flowing water and because they’re free swimming they routinely enter the drift where they become a favorite food item for trout.

With large numbers of them in the river at present, it makes sense to “match the most” and try them at some time during a day on the river.

If you tie your own and want to give your flies that little bit of “something special” have a look at these from USA based company Lively Legz.

I haven’t had time to get on the vice this week. But I’m looking forward to getting a few tied up to try on the Tongariro. Looking at the tying tutorials most remove the back pair of legs but they definitely give the nymphs a more realistic profile.

There used to be something similar available when I lived in the UK which I think originated in Japan. But I haven’t seen those around for a while. I spotted these online while looking for some other fly tying materials. Fast delivery too … only eight days from the States!

This from their website:

How “Lively Legz” Came About…

It all began last spring. Benny, Andy and I were out fishing on the little Juniata River located in central Pennsylvania. We took a break from fishing and decided to do a little rock turning to get a better idea of what type of nymphs were in the stream. What we noticed were the various size, as well as color of the nymphs, ranging from browns, olives, yellowish browns, to even almost black. The thing that stood out the most to us on all the nymphs we observed was the leg structure of the nymphs! Each and every nymph had very defined legs that stuck out from its body. We thought if there were only a way to represent these legs rather than tying with feathers as a replication we may improve our number of hook ups. After a year of trial and error and a lot of hard work we came up with a product that increased our hook ups beyond our belief. By no means do we claim to be great fly fisherman but our product is extremely effective. We used to go out and it would be great to have a day where we would each catch/land 4-5 wild browns. Now when we go it is nothing to have a 50 day on the J between the three of us. Please view our videos and watch the product in action. Our product is the first of its kind in the industry and is truly unique and very affordable compared to other quality nymph prices. If you have any questions or comments please email us at livelylegz@gmail.com and we would be happy to answers any questions you may have.

Until then……”Tie One On!”

Best of luck, Mike Saxion

This river has a habit of biting me on the bum when I do these reports … but this time I don’t mind.

I ended the last one with “as long as you don’t expect ten fish days you won’t be disappointed” … sods law … next day out … eleven!

And I’m not the only one.

The next few weeks should see some of the best fishing of the year. Most of the fish are nothing special by Tongariro standards but there have been one or two reports of some exceptional rainbows … although I’m not too sure where from.

Despite the dire weather in many parts of New Zealand, its been a cold but otherwise sunny day in paradise today. But this often happens in Turangi and looking out across the lake the wind is only now starting to pick up.

With the flows still hovering around thirty cumecs, conditions are perfect. A few days of settled Spring weather coming up,then more rain on the cards for next week. How the river fishes beyond that will depend on how much we get but it should be pretty good.

And as a footnote, if anyone was in Judges Thursday morning and picked up a fly box please send me an email or give me a ring, I know the owner and he’d very much like to get them back.

See you out there

Tight lines

Mike